A tech pack is the single document that carries your design intent from studio to factory floor. If it is incomplete when it leaves your hands, every gap becomes a question your factory answers on its own — and rarely the way you intended. The eight sections below are the non-negotiables: the ones the cutting room, sewing floor, and QA team reach for first, and the ones whose absence causes the most expensive mistakes.
This list is for production coordinators, technical designers, and anyone responsible for signing off a tech pack before it goes to a manufacturer.
Key takeaways
- A tech pack without a complete Bill of Materials forces factories to substitute materials, which changes cost, hand-feel, and compliance status.
- Missing or ambiguous grading rules are the single most common cause of fit failures across a size run.
- Construction details and stitch specifications belong in the tech pack itself, not in a separate email thread that gets lost before bulk production.
- A clear QA section with measurement tolerances and defect classifications reduces the back-and-forth on final inspection by giving both parties the same pass/fail criteria.
- The cover page is not decoration: a version number and release date on page one prevent factories from working from a superseded file.
Why do factories need all eight sections?
Factories operate on the information you give them. A cutting room supervisor reads the technical flat sketches and construction details to set up spreading and cutting. A sewing floor supervisor uses stitch specifications and assembly sequence to allocate machines and operators. A QA inspector uses the measurement chart and tolerance table to accept or reject finished goods. Each section serves a different person in a different part of the building. A tech pack that skips one section does not slow down the whole factory — it sends one department into guesswork, and that guesswork compounds.
The FIT Technical Design program describes the core output of a technical designer as a document that communicates how a garment is to be constructed "in language that is clear to the manufacturer" — and that clarity comes from completeness, not from length.
What are the 8 required tech pack sections?
1. Cover page and version control
Every tech pack needs a cover page that carries the style name, style number, season, colorway, target market, fabric category, and — critically — a version number and release date. Factories receive multiple revisions of the same style. Without a version number on page one, a factory may cut from an old file and you will not know until the samples arrive wrong.
Include: style name, style number, season, colorway, designer or brand name, factory name, version number, release date, and the name of the person who approved the release.
Best for: Establishing a single source of truth before any other page is read. Limits: A cover page only works if your version control discipline is consistent — update it every time you revise any other section.
2. Technical flat sketches (front, back, and details)
Flat technical sketches show the garment's construction lines, seam placements, topstitching, pocket positions, hardware locations, and any design details that cannot be described in words alone. They are drawn to proportion but not to scale, and they must include both front and back views as a minimum. Detail callouts — a zoomed view of a collar stand, a pocket flap, a cuff opening — belong here, not in a separate attachment.
The sketches are the visual contract between your design intent and the factory's pattern team. Ambiguous lines produce ambiguous patterns.
Best for: Communicating construction logic to pattern makers and sewing supervisors simultaneously. Limits: Sketches alone cannot convey fabric drape, weight, or hand-feel — those details live in the BOM and fabric specification sections.
3. Bill of Materials (BOM)
The Bill of Materials lists every component that goes into the finished garment: shell fabric, lining, interlining, threads, labels, trims, hardware, hang tags, and packaging. For each item it records the material description, supplier or reference, color, width, weight or gauge where relevant, placement, and estimated consumption per unit.
As Fashion Index explains, a well-built BOM page covers placement, cost breakdown, and sourcing — giving the factory everything it needs to price the garment accurately and source approved materials. 383 Design Studio notes that the BOM is crucial for getting accurate costing, because a factory that substitutes an unapproved material will price and produce something different from what you specified.
Best for: Costing accuracy, material compliance, and preventing unauthorized substitutions. Limits: A BOM is only as useful as the supplier references it contains — vague descriptions like "woven polyester" give the factory too much latitude.
4. Colorway and material callouts
This section maps every color in the garment to a specific color standard — a Pantone reference, a physical lab dip approval, or a fabric swatch with a dye lot number. It lists which material in the BOM carries which color, and it specifies the approved color standard for each component separately, because shell fabric, lining, and thread are often dyed by different mills and need independent references.
Color callouts prevent the factory from matching colors visually, which is unreliable under different light sources and across different substrates.
Best for: Ensuring color consistency across components and across production runs. Limits: Pantone references on screen are not reliable — always confirm against a physical standard or an approved lab dip before releasing.
5. Construction details and stitch specifications
This section translates the flat sketches into assembly instructions: the seam type for each seam, stitch type (ISO or ASTM stitch class), stitch density (stitches per inch or centimetre), seam allowance, pressing requirements, and assembly sequence where order matters. It also specifies any special techniques — bartacks, reinforcement stitching, bonded seams, or heat-sealing — and the equipment type where the factory needs to use a specific machine.
Without stitch specifications, a factory defaults to its own standards, which may not match your quality level or your compliance requirements for the target market.
Best for: Controlling seam strength, appearance consistency, and compliance with performance standards. Limits: Stitch specifications only work if the factory's QA team is checking them — include them in your in-line inspection checklist as well.
6. Measurement specification chart
The measurement chart lists every point of measure (POM) for the base size, with a description of exactly where and how each measurement is taken. It is the document a QA inspector uses to check a finished garment, so the measuring method must be unambiguous — "chest measured 1 inch below armhole, laid flat, doubled" leaves no room for interpretation.
The chart should cover all key structural measurements: chest, waist, hip, length, sleeve length, armhole, neck opening, and any style-specific points. Each POM gets its own row and a unique reference number that matches the callout on the flat sketch.
Best for: Giving QA inspectors a repeatable, objective test for every garment. Limits: A measurement chart without a grading table only covers one size — see section 7.
7. Grading rules and size run
Grading rules specify how each measurement changes from one size to the next. The size run table extends the base-size measurement chart across every size in the range, showing the actual target measurement for each POM at each size. Grading is not simply adding or subtracting a fixed increment — different parts of a garment grade at different rates, and those rates must be explicit.
Missing or incomplete grading is among the most common causes of fit failures across a size run. A factory that grades by eye or by a generic rule will produce a size range that fits differently at the extremes than your fit model sessions suggested.
Best for: Ensuring consistent fit and proportion across the full size range. Limits: Grading rules must be validated against a fit model or dress form at both ends of the size run before factory release — a grading error compounds across sizes.
8. Quality assurance criteria and tolerance table
The QA section sets the pass/fail criteria for finished goods. It includes the measurement tolerance for each POM (the acceptable deviation from the target, typically expressed in centimetres or fractions of an inch), a defect classification table (critical, major, minor), an Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) reference, and any specific appearance or performance standards — pilling resistance, colorfastness, seam strength — that apply to this style or market.
Without a tolerance table, your factory and your QC agent are using different standards to judge the same garment. The result is disputes at final inspection and delayed shipments. A clear QA section means both parties agreed on the criteria before production started.
Best for: Reducing inspection disputes and giving both factory and QC agent the same objective benchmark. Limits: AQL levels must be appropriate for the product category and the target market's regulatory requirements — a children's garment and a fashion accessory do not share the same defect classification logic.
How do you know your tech pack is ready to release?
Run through this checklist before you send:
- Cover page has a version number and a release date.
- Front, back, and all detail sketches are present and labeled.
- Every item in the BOM has a supplier reference or approved alternative.
- Every color has a Pantone or lab-dip reference linked to a specific component.
- Stitch types and densities are specified for every seam.
- Every POM has a measuring method description, not just a label.
- Grading rules are present for every POM across the full size run.
- Tolerance table and defect classification are included and agreed with the QC agent.
If any row on that list is blank, the tech pack is not ready. Send a placeholder or a "TBC" and you are handing the factory a decision you should have made.
For broader context on how documentation quality affects supply chain outcomes, the McKinsey State of Fashion report and PI Apparel News both track how brands are investing in more structured product development processes as a response to margin pressure and sourcing complexity — and tighter tech pack discipline is consistently part of that picture.
What happens when a section is missing?
Here is what factories typically do when a section is absent:
- No BOM: Factory sources materials from its preferred supplier at its preferred price point. You get a garment that may look right but costs differently and performs differently.
- No grading rules: Factory applies a standard grade from its own library. Fit at the size extremes is unpredictable.
- No stitch specs: Factory uses its default settings. Seam strength and appearance vary by machine operator.
- No tolerance table: QC agent and factory use different criteria. Inspection disputes delay shipment.
- No version number: Factory may work from a previous revision. You discover the error when samples arrive.
None of these outcomes require bad intent from the factory. They are the natural result of a document that left decisions unmade.
FAQ
What is a tech pack and why does it matter for factory production? A tech pack is the complete technical document a brand sends to a factory to specify how a garment should be made. It covers materials, construction, measurements, grading, and quality criteria. Without it, factories make their own decisions — and those decisions may not match your design or your cost target.
How many pages should a tech pack be? There is no fixed page count. A simple T-shirt tech pack may be six to eight pages; a structured jacket with multiple components may run to twenty or more. What matters is that all eight required sections are present and complete, not that the document hits a particular length.
What is the difference between a spec sheet and a tech pack? A spec sheet typically refers to the measurement chart and grading table — one section of a tech pack. A full tech pack includes the spec sheet plus flat sketches, BOM, colorway callouts, construction details, and QA criteria. Sending only a spec sheet to a factory leaves most of the production decisions unmade.
What is an AQL and where does it go in a tech pack? AQL stands for Acceptable Quality Level. It is a statistical standard that defines the maximum number of defective units acceptable in a batch. It belongs in the QA section of the tech pack, alongside the tolerance table and defect classification, so both the factory and the QC agent are working to the same standard from the start of production.
Can a tech pack be sent as a PDF or does it need to be in a PLM system? Both formats are used in production. A PDF is portable and easy for factories to print and share on the floor. A PLM system keeps versions controlled and makes updates traceable. The format matters less than the completeness of the content — a well-structured PDF with all eight sections is more useful than an incomplete PLM record.
Further reading
- What Is a Tech Pack? The Complete Fashion Guide
- Tech Pack BOM: Bill of Materials Guide
- What is the BOM for a Fashion Tech Pack?