Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
If you’re starting your own label from zero, going into production is
Maybe you’re working for a brand, and while past seasons went into
But you make excuses that you don’t have the time to learn and tell
started. “How to create a fashion tech pack” gives you some results (some
So you click through to the various tutorials, read blog posts on Maker’s
But when it comes to actually putting your tech packs together – you still
have questions.
To answer questions like what is a tech pack is? What does a tech pack
part of the tech pack process, and my free tech pack template that
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
ltimate
familiar with…but don’t worry, I’ve got you covered with the U
Good? Ok, now let’s get some of the essentials out of the way.
entire product perfectly without having to ask any questions. The goal is
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
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
sites selling templates like this for $50. Mine is totally free, no strings
attached.
2. Tech Sketches
4. A Graded Spec
5. Colorway Specs
Not sure what all of that means? That’s ok! Let’s take a look at each one,
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:
● Season
● Vendor
● 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
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
worse case scenario that they mess up in production (it happens), you
specify design details. They should include every detail from stitching
commonly drawn in Adobe Illustrator. You may need to show more than
Once you’ve finished your sketches in AI, this is how you want to bring
like this:
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
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
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
all sizes.
It’s crucial to how your garment will fit and should be created by a
I personally don’t create graded specs, and it’s ok if you don’t either.
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
Colorway Specs
The colorway specs show each of the colorways and what color goes
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,
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
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
about various samples (protos, fit sample, sales sample, photo sample,
etc).
any measurements that are out of tolerance so the factory can easily see
Don’t trick yourself into thinking that tiny comments can “just
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
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
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 got this – and I’m here to help make sure you succeed.