How to write a tech pack for clothing manufacturing (free template)

Write a tech pack in the order a merchandiser reads it, covering everything a factory needs to build your garment: style and quantities, fabric, trims, measurements with tolerances, construction, branding and labels, packing and compliance. Every gap becomes a decision somebody in Bangladesh makes on your behalf, and those decisions surface as a fit problem, a wrong shade or a price you did not expect. This guide covers each section and includes a free template: fill in what you can, and leave blanks where you want a recommendation.

Download the tech pack template (Excel file) — it also opens in Google Sheets and Numbers. Fill what you can and leave the rest blank; blanks tell us where you want a recommendation.

What a tech pack is, and what it is not

A tech pack is a specification, not a design brief and not a contract. It tells a factory what to make and how to judge whether it has made it: the fabric, the measurements with tolerances, the construction, the trims, the branding, the packing and the tests. It does not need to be beautiful, and it does not need to be long; a clear one-page sheet with a measured size chart beats a twenty-page presentation with none. It also is not fixed: it is revised at every sample stage, and the version approved with the pre-production sample is the one bulk is made to. If you have a reference garment, a sketch and a size chart, you have most of a tech pack already, and the sections below are the order to put them in.

1. Style and commercial basics

Start with what the garment is and what the order looks like: style name, product category, target market, quantity per style, quantity per colour and the size range with a ratio. Quantity per colour matters more than total quantity, because fabric minimums and set-up costs apply per colour. Add your target price and your required delivery date. Naming a price is not a weakness; it lets a supplier tell you immediately whether the specification and the price can meet.

2. Fabric

Specify composition, weight in GSM or ounces, knit or weave structure, and any finish. If you want a certified fibre such as GOTS organic or GRS recycled, say so here, because it changes the supply chain and requires transaction certificates for your shipment. Give colour references as Pantone TCX numbers rather than screen colours or names: "navy" means a dozen different shades. If you do not know the weight, describe a garment you like and ask for knit-down swatches that match it.

3. Trims

List thread, ribs, cuffs, collars, zips, buttons, snaps, elastic, drawcords and interlining, with colours and sizes. Branded zips and custom buttons are a real cost line and have their own minimums, so decide early. For anything that touches skin, note if your market restricts nickel release or specific chemicals.

4. Measurements

This is where most disputes start. Attach a size chart in centimetres for every size you will sell, state the base size the pattern is made in, and give tolerances, for example plus or minus one centimetre on body length. If you have a garment whose fit you like, send it: a physical reference removes more ambiguity than three pages of description.

Grading and the size ratio

Two things sit next to the size chart and are often missing. The first is grading: how each measurement changes from one size to the next. A tech pack that gives only the base size leaves the factory to grade by its own rules, and the result is a medium that fits and an XL that does not. Give the full chart, or say which standard grade to use. The second is the size ratio: how many of each size you want per style and colour, for example 1-2-3-2-1 across XS to XL. It decides fabric consumption and cutting, and a missing ratio is one of the questions that delays a costing by a day. If you sell in more than one market, say which size system the chart uses and whether the label shows one size or a conversion.

5. Construction

Note seam types by seam, stitches per inch, bar tack positions and hem depths. If you are not sure, say what matters to you, such as a flat seam that will not chafe, and let the factory propose the construction. Written intent is more useful than a wrong specification copied from another tech pack.

6. Branding and labelling

Cover neck label type, care label content and languages, hang tags, and any print or embroidery with method, size and placement measured from the high point of the shoulder. Send artwork as vector files. Label content is also a legal matter: fibre composition in the right language, country of origin, and for some markets an importer identity, a tracking label or a sorting mark. Our market guides list what each country requires.

Artwork and placement: how to specify decoration

Decoration is briefed by method, and each method needs different things. For screen printing: vector artwork, colours as Pantone references, print size in centimetres and the placement measured from the high point of the shoulder and the centre front. For embroidery: vector artwork or an existing stitch file, the finished size in millimetres, and thread colours. For digital printing: raster artwork at 300 dpi at the printed size, with a transparent background. For sublimation: artwork at full panel size, and the rule for matching across seams. In every case, say which garment colours the design goes on, because a print on black needs an underbase and a print on white does not. Our method pages for screen printing, embroidery, digital printing and sublimation each carry a briefing list you can paste into the tech pack.

7. Packing

State whether garments ship folded or hanging, the polybag type, carton assortment, barcode format and carton marks. Packaging is not a detail: in Germany, Italy, Denmark and the UK the importer pays a fee based on the packaging placed on the market, so lighter and recyclable choices made here save money later.

8. Compliance

List the tests your buyer or market requires, such as shrinkage, colour fastness or restricted substances, and any audit the factory must hold. For children's clothing, note the rules that apply in your market, including drawstring safety and flammability. Ask for the origin documents you will need at import.

A worked example: a basic t-shirt, section by section

• Style: CMB-TEE-02, men’s regular-fit crew-neck tee, UK market, 3,000 pieces in three colours (1,000 per colour), sizes S–XXL in ratio 1-2-3-2-1, target price and delivery week stated.
• Fabric: 100% combed cotton single jersey, 180 GSM, bio-washed; colours as Pantone TCX references; GOTS organic if the label will claim it.
• Trims: self-fabric neck rib 1x1, 2 cm; twin-needle hem 2 cm; shoulder-to-shoulder tape in matching colour; sewing thread to match body.
• Measurements: a chart for every size, base size M, tolerance plus or minus 1 cm on chest and body length, plus or minus 0.5 cm on neck width.
• Construction: overlocked seams, 12 stitches per inch, twin-needle cover stitch on hem and sleeve, taped back neck.
• Branding: printed neck label with size, woven side label with fibre content and care in English, one-colour chest print 10 cm wide placed 7 cm below the high point of the shoulder, hangtag on the side seam.
• Packing: folded, one per recycled polybag with a warning print, 40 per carton in a solid size and colour, carton marks and barcode to the retailer’s specification.
• Compliance: shrinkage to ISO 5077 after ISO 6330 washing, colour fastness to washing and rubbing, and a current social audit for the factory.

That is one page. A factory can cost it the day it arrives, because every question that changes the price is already answered.

Common mistakes in tech packs

• Measurements in inches on one page and centimetres on another, or no tolerances at all.
• Colours named rather than referenced: "navy", "off-white" and "forest" each cover a dozen shades.
• Total quantity given without the split per colour and size, which is what the minimum and the price depend on.
• Fabric described by feel, "soft and heavy", rather than by composition and GSM.
• Artwork as a screenshot or a JPEG rather than a vector file, so it must be redrawn before it can be printed.
• A tech pack copied from another product, with construction that does not suit this one.
• No revision number or date, so the factory cannot tell which version it is making.

Keeping it current: revisions

A tech pack changes at every sample stage, and the risk is that the factory works from one version while you comment on another. Put a revision number and a date on the first page, change it every time anything changes, and send the whole document again rather than an email that says "make the sleeve 1 cm longer". When the pre-production sample is approved, mark that revision as final; it is the one the sealed sample is made to and the one every inspection is judged against.

If you do not have a tech pack

Send what you have. A reference garment with a note of what to change is the most useful single thing a factory can receive, because a physical sample removes more ambiguity than pages of description. A sketch with a size chart is the next best. From either, the factory’s sample room builds the pattern and makes a proto sample, and we return a working tech pack that you own and can take anywhere. Our free template lists every field; fill in what you can and leave the rest blank, and the blanks become our questions.

What happens after you send it

We read the tech pack, ask about the gaps, and return a costing. Once you approve it, the factory makes a proto sample, then a fit sample, then a size set, and finally a pre-production sample in bulk fabric on the production line. That last sample is sealed and becomes the standard every inspection is judged against. A good tech pack shortens that cycle by removing the questions that would otherwise take a day each to resolve.

Fill in what you can and send it to us. If you only have sketches, send those instead: the factory’s sample room can build the pattern, and we turn it into a working tech pack you own.