What Is a Tech Pack? The One File Your Factory Reads.
A tech pack tells a factory exactly how to make your product. Here is what goes in one, how to build it step by step, and how to keep it accurate across seasons and suppliers.
A tech pack (short for technical package) is the document a factory follows to make your product. It holds the sketches, measurements, materials, colours, construction details and labelling instructions for one style, so a supplier can produce it without guessing.
When something is missing, unclear or out of date in the tech pack, the factory fills the gap itself, so the sample comes back with the wrong fabric, a pocket in the wrong place or a size that does not fit.
Key takeaways
- A tech pack is the factory's instructions for one style: sketches, measurements, materials, colours, construction and labelling.
- Most bad samples trace back to a tech pack that was incomplete, unclear or out of date.
- A complete tech pack has about ten sections, from the cover page to the revision history.
- Version every change and send it to suppliers in one place, not in separate emails.
- As the range grows, brands move tech packs from spreadsheets into PLM software so specs, materials and approvals stay together.
One file. Every team on the same version.
Think of it as the single source of truth between your design team and the people who make your product. Without one, decisions live in emails, WhatsApp threads and phone calls, and the factory builds whatever it understood last.
A clear tech pack does four jobs:
- It cuts sampling rounds. Fewer questions from the factory means fewer samples sent back and forth.
- It makes quotes comparable. Every supplier prices the same product, not their own reading of it.
- It protects quality in bulk. The factory checks bulk production against the same specs you approved.
- It keeps your team aligned. Design, merchandising and sourcing all work from one version.
Ten sections. Nothing left to guess.
The exact pages depend on the product category, but most fashion and consumer goods tech packs include these sections:
- Cover page. Style name and number, season, brand, designer, supplier and version date.
- Flat sketches. Front, back and side technical drawings in black and white, with no styling or models.
- Design details and callouts. Close-ups of pockets, seams, closures and trims, with notes pointing to each detail.
- Bill of materials (BOM). Every material and component: fabric, lining, thread, zips, buttons, labels and packaging, with supplier, colour, placement and quantity.
- Colourways. Each colour version of the style, with colour references (for example Pantone codes) for every component.
- Measurement specification and grading. Points of measure, the base size, tolerances, and how each measurement changes across sizes.
- Construction details. Stitch types, seam allowances, stitches per inch and finishing.
- Artwork and prints. Placement, size and colours of prints, embroidery or logos.
- Labels and packaging. Care label content, brand label placement, hangtags, folding and packing instructions.
- Revision history and comments. What changed, when and why, so the factory always knows which version is current.
Five things teams say about samples. And where the tech pack went wrong.
The update was sent in a separate email, so the factory never matched it to the tech pack it already had.
Version every change and send the whole tech pack again, in one place, with a note in the revision history.
The main fabric was specified, but labels, thread or polybags were not, so the factory used what it had.
List every component in the BOM, down to the care label and the polybag.
The tech pack had measurements but no tolerances, so nobody could say whether a sample passed.
Give every point of measure a plus or minus tolerance.
The colour was described in words, and "navy" means different things to different mills.
Use colour references, such as Pantone codes, for every component.
Sketches were in one file, the BOM in a spreadsheet and comments in chat, so each person worked from a part of the spec.
Keep sketches, materials, comments and approvals together on one record.
Follow one jacket from sketch to factory
Imagine Leila, a technical designer at an outerwear brand, preparing the tech pack for a new field jacket:
- She waits until the silhouette is approved, then starts writing specs.
- She draws clean flats and adds callouts for the pockets, zip and cuffs.
- She walks the jacket from collar to hem and lists every component in the BOM, including the care label.
- She writes the base size measurements with a tolerance for each point.
- A colleague who did not design the jacket reads it and asks two questions. Leila answers both in the tech pack.
- The factory gets one file, with a version date on the cover.
Nothing in that list is unusual. It is the order that matters.
Lock the design. Then write the specs.
- Start from the approved design. Lock the silhouette before you write specs. Changing the design after the tech pack is sent is the most common cause of delays.
- Draw clean flat sketches. Show every seam and detail the factory needs to see. Add callouts instead of long paragraphs.
- Build the BOM. List every component, even small ones like thread colour and care labels. Missing trims are a classic reason samples come back wrong. Our guide to the bill of materials in fashion covers each line.
- Define measurements and tolerances. Write the points of measure for your base size first, then add grading for the other sizes.
- Add colourways and artwork. Give each colourway its own row and reference real colour standards, not screen colours.
- Write construction and finishing notes. Be specific: "double-needle topstitch, 6 mm from edge" is better than "topstitch".
- Review it with someone who did not design it. If a colleague has questions, the factory will too.
- Send it, then version it. Every change after the first send gets a new version and a note in the revision history.
Three documents. Often mixed up.
A spec sheet usually means the measurement and construction pages only. A BOM is the list of materials and components, with quantities and costs. A tech pack is the complete package that contains both, plus sketches, colourways, artwork, labelling and revisions.
Spreadsheets first. PLM when the range grows.
Most brands start with spreadsheets or design files, and for a handful of styles that is fine. It breaks down as the range grows: every style has several versions, every supplier needs the latest one, and nobody can see at a glance which tech packs are approved.
A PLM (product lifecycle management) system keeps the tech pack on the product record itself, so specs, materials, comments and approvals stay together and every version is saved. If you are new to PLM, start with our guide to what PLM is.
How Polluxa helps
Polluxa PLM is product lifecycle management software for fashion, footwear, beauty, consumer goods and manufacturing brands. Polluxa PLM software for consumer brands keeps tech packs, BOMs, comments and approvals on the product itself, with every version saved.
- Tech packs no longer take a day to format. With the Tech Pack Generator, pick a product from your PLM or catalogue, add images, annotations, markups, specifications and comments, and download a supplier-ready file in a few clicks.
- Every supplier no longer gets a different layout. Customise template fields by product category or supplier, and reuse templates for future launches.
- Data no longer needs chasing. Tech packs draw on more than 1,000 product attributes, so there is no manual formatting or data chasing.
- Factories no longer guess from screenshots. Send downloadable files with clear annotations and specs.
Start this week
- Take one style that came back wrong last season and check which of the ten sections was missing or out of date.
- Add a tolerance to every point of measure in your next tech pack.
- Put a version date on the cover of every tech pack you send from now on.
For more ways to cut rounds, see how to reduce sampling rounds. When you want to see this on your own products, book a demo.
Frequently asked questions
A cover page, flat sketches, design callouts, a bill of materials, colourways, measurements and grading, construction details, artwork, labelling and packaging instructions, and a revision history.
Usually the designer or a technical designer, with input from merchandising and sourcing. Some brands hire freelance technical designers; others create tech packs inside a PLM system.
It depends on the product. A simple T-shirt takes far less time than a jacket with many trims. Reusing templates and existing product data cuts the time for each new style.
Yes. Sending a tech pack before the first sample is the best way to get a sample that matches your design and to keep sampling rounds low.
You can, and many brands start there. As the number of styles and suppliers grows, keeping versions in sync across files becomes the main source of errors, which is why brands move tech packs into a PLM.
