THE STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO CREATING A TECH PACK

THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS CAN BE DAUNTING

Trying to figure out what to include in your tech pack or not sure if it’s

complete? Get the free fashion tech pack template plus step by step video

tutorials on exactly how to use it. I’ve used this template to successfully

product 1000’s of garments, and it’s customizable for any industry.

If you’re starting your own label from zero, going into production is

intimidating. The thought of putting together a fashion tech pack – a

term you only recently learned – is intimidating.

Maybe you’re working for a brand, and while past seasons went into

development without tech packs (you were manufacturing locally), you

know errors in sampling and production would be minimized if you

spent the time to put these “blueprints” together.

But you make excuses that you don’t have the time to learn and tell

yourself it can wait.

BUT WHAT IF TECH PACKS WEREN’T THAT HARD (OR SCARY)?

You stare at the google search bar wondering what to type in to get

started. “How to create a fashion tech pack” gives you some results (some

of them are even mine!).

So you click through to the various tutorials, read blog posts on Maker’s

Row and Startup Fashion. It feels like you’re making progress!

But when it comes to actually putting your tech packs together – you still

have questions.

And you have no one to ask.

So your frustration builds. Which is why I created this guide.

To answer questions like what is a tech pack is? What does a tech pack

include? Exactly how do I assemble all the pieces and parts?

I’ve even included step by step video tutorials to help you with every

part of the tech pack process, and my free tech pack template that

you can use for all of your designs.

Before we get to that, let’s go through some of the essentials to make sure

you’re solid on what a tech pack is and why you need one.

Note: This article references terms and abbreviations you may not be

familiar with…but don’t worry, I’ve got you covered with the Ultimate

Guide to Fashion Industry Terminology & Abbreviations. Use it as

reference for a complete understanding of what a fashion tech pack is

and all the things that go into it.

Good? Ok, now let’s get some of the essentials out of the way.

What is a tech pack? A tech pack is a blueprint or spec sheet to get your designs made. Think

of it like an instruction manual with the exact steps and materials

required to manufacture your product.

What’s the goal of a tech pack? With a complete tech pack, the factory should be able to make your

entire product perfectly without having to ask any questions. The goal is

to minimize the number of protos / samples, decrease costs and speed up

production time. It also serves as a master document to track production

development including comments, revisions and changes made.

Why do I need a fashion tech pack? If you’re working with a FPP (Full Package Production) factory, they can

help you create your fashion tech pack. But if you’re working with a CMT

(Cut Make Trim) factory, they’ll expect you to provide one. If you show

up empty handed, they’ll see it as a red flag that you’re unprofessional or

don’t know what you’re doing. Most of them won’t give you the time of

day.

Think of it like the instructions you get from Ikea. Without a step by step

guide, how would you know how to assemble a bunch of wood, nails and

screws?

Or what if you got a photo of a finished product and were told to make it?

How would you know what materials to use? What size pockets should

be and where exactly they go on the product? What the inside of the

garment looks like?

This is exactly why you need a tech pack.

Now, before you go any further, stop!

Download the free tech pack template to follow along. I’ve used it to successfully take 100’s of designs from idea to production, and

you can too. It’s fully customizable for any garment, in any industry. I’ve seen other

sites selling templates like this for $50. Mine is totally free, no strings

attached.

GET THE FREE TECH PACK

So first things first. What the heck even goes in a fashion tech pack!? Here’s the quick checklist. Don’t worry, we’ll go into each part in detail. But to get started, let’s do a 10,000 foot overview. Your tech pack should include these 6-7 parts:

1. A cover page

2. Tech Sketches

3. A BOM (Bill of Materials)

4. A Graded Spec

5. Colorway Specs

6. Artwork Specs (if relevant)

7. A spot for proto / sample / fit comments

Not sure what all of that means? That’s ok! Let’s take a look at each one,

complete with tutorials on how to assemble all of them…starting now.

A Cover Page A cover page is an overview of your design, this page should include high

level details about your design with a finished color flat sketch. This

includes:

● Your Company Name & Contact

● Style Name / Number

● Season

● Vendor

● COO (Country of Origin)

● Date

It also includes an area to track any changes or revisions.

Your tech pack acts as a living breathing document to track the entire

product development process, so anytime you make any change (no

matter how small), you’ll want to make a note of that in your fashion tech

pack. Best practice is to note what you changed something from and

what you changed it to and a reason, if applicable. This helps keep your

factory accountable and responsible for implementing all changes. In the

worse case scenario that they mess up in production (it happens), you

can often use your tech pack as leverage for negotiating.

Example: “Changed decorative side seam stitch from contrast color to

tonal per request of Design Director.”

Tech Sketches Tech sketches are flat black and white sketches with text callouts to

specify design details. They should include every detail from stitching

and trims to construction techniques and placements and are most

commonly drawn in Adobe Illustrator. You may need to show more than

one angle (front, back, side, inside) or closeup sketches.

The best practice is to create them using layers in Illustrator. Here’s

exactly how to do that:

Once you’ve finished your sketches in AI, this is how you want to bring

them into your tech pack in Excel:

And now your flat sketch page in your tech pack should look something

like this:

A BOM (Bill of Materials)

A BOM is the master list of every physical item required to create your

finished product and where it goes on the product. This includes

everything from fabric and labels to hangers and poly bags.

This can be one of the most tedious parts of the tech pack to fill in,

especially if you’re creating product with lots of details and trims like

outerwear or complex bags.

One of the best tricks to fill in the BOM is to reference a similar product

in the market. Examine it closely and make sure your BOM includes

every material used, whether it’s on the outside or inside of your product

(even on the very inside like interfacing or elastic), or part of the

packaging materials.

It also helps to close your eyes and do a mental scan of your design in

your mind. Envision each and every part of your product as it would

look when it leaves the factory (remember, this includes things like

hangers, tissue paper, cardboard inserts for stability, etc) and make sure

you’ve included all materials in your BOM.

A Graded Spec A graded spec is a chart of POMs (Points of Measure) for your product in

all sizes.

It’s crucial to how your garment will fit and should be created by a

technical designer or pattern maker, so unless you’re skilled in this area,

it can be best to hire this task out.

I personally don’t create graded specs, and it’s ok if you don’t either.

Remember, you don’t have to know how to do everything!

If you do want to learn more about Graded Specs so you’re familiar with

how they work, The Spec Manual by Michele Wesen Bryant and Diane

DeMers is the best (and only one that I know of) reference book. Check

out the video below to see why it’s a must have for fashion designers:

Once you have all the numbers from a technical designer or pattern

maker, here’s exactly how to use Excel to auto-calculate your grade rules

to avoid any math mistakes or make sure your sizing auto updates if you

do make any changes:

Colorway Specs

The colorway specs show each of the colorways and what color goes

where in the garment. Pantone is the most common color reference in

the industry and what most designers use to spec colors for their designs.

After you’ve loaded Pantone colors into your AI workspace, use this

video to quickly create colorways that you can add to your tech pack:

Once complete, the Colorway page of your tech pack may look something

like this:

Artwork Specs (if relevant) Shows details for any textile patterns or prints including colors, scale,

repeat, placement, etc. I typically spec these in Illustrator and provide

the factory with native artwork for development.

If you’re working with repeating patterns, you can spec them like this:

If you’re working with placed / engineered artwork or cut and sew

panels, use this trick to mock them up at full scale to make sure they

execute correctly in production:

For a repeating pattern, your artwork spec page may now look something

like this:

A Spot for Proto / Fit / Sales Sample Comments Since your tech pack serves as a master document for tracking, these are

pages you will enter measurements / comments / approvals / rejections

about various samples (protos, fit sample, sales sample, photo sample,

etc).

It’s common to include photos of samples marked up with comments to

communicate changes or construction issues. Be sure to also highlight

any measurements that are out of tolerance so the factory can easily see

corrections that need to be made.

You can duplicate this page as many times as you need for however many

samples you get.

Don’t trick yourself into thinking that tiny comments can “just

be made in email” because it’s quicker!

No matter how small, any feedback to the factory about samples should

be made right in the tech pack. Trust me – two months or two years

down the road, you won’t remember the comment and probably won’t be

able to find the email. It’s just too easy for things to get lost this way!

So there you have it. All the various pieces and parts of a tech pack plus

step by step videos of how to put them together.

I know it feels like a lot of moving pieces and parts + industry

terminology to wrap your head around. Instead of getting overwhelmed

and worrying how everyone else does their tech packs or what the best

way is, start by understanding the components and pieces of a tech pack

that I outlined above. How you assemble them is ultimately up to you –

and once you’ve created a few, you’ll figure out a system that works best.

I promise each one you do will be easier than the last. You’ll get faster, be

able to recycle work you’ve already done, and everything will become

second nature.

You’ll probably even start having dreams about them. Guarantee it 😉

You got this – and I’m here to help make sure you succeed.