Quotes
Factories price from your tech pack
Send three factories a sketch and you will get three guesses. Send them a complete tech pack and you get comparable quotes for the same work — the only kind you can actually negotiate with.
Why start-ups can't skip this
Plenty of founders try. The pattern is always the same — a sample arrives wrong, the factory points to the vague instructions, and the founder pays for the correction. Here is what these documents actually do for you:
Cost
Materials and labor get estimated
A bill of materials and construction details let a factory calculate consumption and time — and let you challenge a quote that doesn't add up before production starts, not after.
Quality
Disputes resolve against the document
When bulk goods differ from your approved sample, the tech pack is the reference. Without it, "quality" is one opinion against another — and you are the one holding the inventory.
Speed
Revisions stop multiplying
Most sampling rounds exist to answer questions the tech pack never answered. Answering them once, in writing, is the cheapest timeline reduction available to a small brand.
You do not have to become a technical designer to benefit. Many founders hire a freelance tech pack designer — but the founder who understands what the documents mean can review them, catch errors, and approve them with confidence. Learn the concepts, then decide what to outsource. For the full walkthrough, see our step-by-step guide on how to create a tech pack.
What a tech pack contains
Flat sketches
Clean, proportional technical drawings of the garment front and back — every seam, pocket, and closure shown. Artistic sketches inspire; flat sketches instruct. They are what the factory's pattern maker actually works from.
Construction details
Stitch types, seam finishes, thread, and assembly sequence — the difference between a garment that survives washing and one that puckers after a month. Spell out what "good" looks like, because the factory cannot read your mind.
Bill of materials
Every component with its specification: main fabric, linings, trims, labels, thread, packaging. This is your materials checklist for quotes and your record when a substitute appears without your approval.
Size specification chart
The measurement table — every point of measure for every size, with tolerances. It is the most argued-over page in any tech pack, and the one that most determines fit. More on it below.
Artwork, labels & packaging
Print and embroidery placements with measurements, care and brand label positions, folding and packing instructions. The details nobody thinks about until 500 garments arrive hung instead of folded. Our apparel labeling rules guide covers what those labels must legally say.
The size specification chart, decoded
The measurement chart is where new designers most often confuse themselves. Four distinctions prevent most of that confusion:
- Body size vs. finished garment measurements. A "size M" is an abstract body standard; your spec sheet lists the actual garment dimensions — which are usually not the same numbers.
- Base size vs. graded range. You develop one base size (commonly the middle of the range) and grade the rest — adding or subtracting increments per size, not inventing each size from scratch.
- Grade increments vs. tolerances. Grading is how measurements change between sizes; tolerance is the acceptable variation within one size during production. They are different ideas doing different jobs.
- How you measure matters as much as what. A chest measurement can be taken flat (half-width) or around (full circumference) — specify which, in which units, with a measuring diagram. For a start-up's first chart, our guide on how to create a size chart walks through base size, points of measure, grade rules, and tolerances step by step.
One caution: there is no universal tolerance or grade rule. They depend on the product, the fabric's stretch, the fit intention, and the factory's process — which is exactly why they must be written into your documents rather than assumed.
The approval workflow
Concept brief
Describe the style, fabric, and fit intention. Even this first document saves rounds of confusion.
Sample-ready tech pack
Complete documents with style identifiers, dates, and revision numbers — so the factory is never working from an outdated version.
Fit session & comments
Measure the sample, try it on real bodies, and record comments against each point of measure. Our guide to running a fit session covers the process in detail.
Revised & approved version
Update the tech pack with a change log, re-issue it with a new revision number, and get written approval before production. Bulk goods are checked against the approved version — and against your tolerance table, ideally through a formal quality inspection.
"Send three factories a sketch and you will get three guesses. Send them a complete tech pack and you get comparable quotes for the same work."
Start-up mistakes to avoid
- Assuming the factory's "standard" is yours. Every brand's idea of a medium is different. Yours must be in writing.
- Measuring without a diagram. If the sample maker measures from a different point, every number downstream is wrong.
- Skip-grade shortcuts. Copying another brand's chart onto your garment usually produces a fit you did not design. Charts are built per garment, per fit.
- Verbal revisions. "Make it a bit longer" is a new sample round. A revised spec row is a revision number and a change log.
- Treating the tech pack as a one-time cost. It is a living document — and reusing its structure for your second style is where the real savings appear.