If a pattern is the recipe, a tech pack is the entire cookbook. It tells the factory not just what shape to cut, but what trims to use, how to construct it, what tolerances to hit, and what to do when something goes wrong. A great tech pack saves you days of back-and-forth and protects you when production goes sideways. A bad tech pack guarantees those problems.
After years of building tech packs that have been executed by factories from Miami to Bangladesh, here's what I've learned about what actually works.
The Four Pillars
1. Technical Flats
Flats are the visual foundation. They show every view—front, back, side, and detail callouts—in clean line drawings without shading or fashion illustration tricks. A factory tech doesn't need to know how the garment looks on a model; they need to know exactly where the seams go, how the closures function, and which side of a pocket is the inside.
Good flats include callouts for stitch types, topstitching distances, label placement, and any construction detail that isn't obvious. If a factory tech has to ask what something means, the flat needs more annotation.
2. Bill of Materials (BOM)
The BOM is the list of every component in the garment—fabric, lining, interlining, zippers, buttons, snaps, labels, hangtags, polybag, all of it—with vendor, color, code, placement, and consumption. The level of specificity matters: "metal zipper" is not enough. "YKK #5 antique brass coil zipper, 7 inches, separating, color-matched to body" is enough.
A complete BOM eliminates the most common cause of production delays: waiting on a trim that wasn't fully specified.
3. Construction Specs
Specs are the measurements and tolerances. Point of measure, dimension, grade rule, allowed tolerance. They cover things like chest width, body length, sleeve length, neck opening, and any critical construction dimension where fit depends on hitting a number.
The trick with specs is to be specific about what's critical and forgiving about what isn't. If a factory knows that chest width has a tolerance of 1/4 inch but pocket placement has a tolerance of 1/2 inch, they can prioritize their quality control properly.
4. The Cutter's Must
The cutter's must is the document that goes to the cut floor with the pattern and marker. It tells the cutter exactly which fabric goes with which pieces, the lay direction, the cut quantity, and any special handling. It's the bridge between the pattern and the production cut.
This is the document a lot of tech packs skip—and it's the one cutters will tell you they need most.
What Else Belongs in a Great Tech Pack
- Care instructions and care label specifications
- Fit and grading rules across the size range
- Color callouts with Pantone or lab dip references
- Label placement diagrams
- Packaging and folding instructions
- Quality control checkpoints and acceptable defect standards
What Kills a Tech Pack
- Vagueness. Words like "approximately" or "similar to" cost you fit accuracy and trust.
- Inconsistency. If the spec sheet says one thing and the flat says another, the factory will guess—and they will guess wrong.
- Missing trims. One unspecified zipper or thread color can hold up an entire production run.
- No revision control. Factories need to know which version they're building. Every page should carry a version and date.
"A tech pack isn't a sketch with notes. It's a contract."
Bottom Line
A tech pack is the document that defends your brand when production goes wrong—and the one that prevents most of those problems in the first place. If you're shipping product without one, or with a thin one, you're operating on hope instead of process.
Want help building tech packs that travel? See our tech pack development service or get in touch.
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