What Belongs in a Tech Pack for Clothing?

A tech pack is the technical description of a garment. The producer uses it to quote, build the sample and run production, and our team later checks the finished goods against it. The less the factory has to guess, the closer the very first sample comes to what you had in mind. This guide covers what goes into a tech pack for clothing, how producers in China work with it and which gaps come up most often in practice.

Why does a producer in China need a tech pack?

First of all for the quote. A price only covers what has been described. If details on fabric weight, labels or packaging are missing, every factory fills them in with its own assumptions, and the quotes can hardly be compared. Next, the pattern maker at the factory builds the sample from the size chart and sketches. When we inspect during and after production, we measure and compare against the same details.

A good tech pack mainly saves time. Every question the document already answers never has to be asked. Every assumption the factory does not have to make cannot turn up later as a surprise in the sample.

What belongs in a tech pack for clothing?

A complete tech pack has these parts. A plain T-shirt often needs only a few pages, while an outdoor jacket with pockets, zips and reinforcements needs a lot more.

• Cover page with article name, article number, version, date and contact person
• Flat sketches of front and back, plus detail views
• Size chart with points of measure, measuring method, all sizes and tolerances
• Material with fibre composition, fabric type and weight (GSM)
• Colours with Pantone numbers for fabric, trims and decoration
• Trims such as zips, buttons, drawcords, rib cuffs and interlinings
• Stitching and construction
• Labels plus print and embroidery positions with measurements and files
• Packaging, cartons and marking

Flat sketches and detail views

Flat sketches show the garment laid out flat, with no model and no folds. They are what the factory works from. Mood images or AI-generated product pictures convey a feel, but they contain no measurements, seams or construction. They are a useful extra, yet to build a sample from them the factory would have to decide a lot on its own. Draw collars, pockets, hem finishes and closures as separate detail views whenever they differ from the standard.

Size chart with points of measure and tolerances

The size chart is the most important part. Every point of measure (POM) needs a name, a small sketch and a measuring method. “Chest width” on its own is not enough. It might be measured 2 cm below the armhole, side seam to side seam, as a half measurement. Without that, the factory may measure somewhere else, and in the end both sides have measured correctly by their own method.

Give the target measurements for every size and a tolerance for every point of measure. Around ±1 cm for widths and lengths and ±0.5 cm for small measurements such as cuff height or collar width are common. State whether the measurements apply before or after washing, because cotton shrinks in the first wash. If you mean European sizes, say so, since many factories in China work with their own standard charts that come out differently. Women’s and men’s cuts need separate charts, even when the fabric is the same.

Material and fabric weight

Name the fibre composition and fabric type, for example 100 % cotton single jersey, French terry in 75 % polyester and 25 % cotton, or piqué for a polo. The weight in grams per square metre (GSM) determines hand feel, drape and price. Whether a heavyweight T-shirt is 220 or 260 g/m² is something you notice straight away. Producers sometimes recommend a different weight because it suits the cut better or is available as stock fabric. That advice is valuable. Take it into the next version of the tech pack as a conscious decision.

The fibre details have to match the labelling later on. For textiles, Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 sets out how fibre composition is stated. A care label without fibre content can be flagged at customs or at a retailer’s goods-in check. More on this in textile labelling on import.

Colours and Pantone

Colour names like “dark green” or “navy” mean something different in every factory. So give a Pantone number for every fabric and every trim. For fabrics, Pantone’s textile colours with the suffix TCX are the right reference; for print inks, the Pantone C colours. If fabric is dyed to order, the factory first sends a colour sample for approval, known as a lab dip. If it works with stock fabric, you pick the closest shade from the fabric supplier’s colour card.

Expect two items made from different fabrics not to hit exactly the same shade, such as a hoodie in sweat fabric and a T-shirt in jersey. Record in the tech pack which deviation you accept and which piece is the colour reference.

Trims

Trims include zips, buttons, snaps, drawcords and cord ends, eyelets, rib cuffs, interlinings and elastic. For each trim you need material, colour, size and position. Mark which trims must not be swapped without your consent. Otherwise, under time pressure, a factory may reach for a similar fastener in a different metal finish. For babywear, details such as nickel-free snaps belong in explicitly.

Stitching and construction

Describe seam types and visible details: overlock on the inside seams, coverstitch with a twin needle on the hem and sleeves, flatlock for sportswear, stitch density in stitches per centimetre, thread colour and the width of topstitching. A detail sketch with arrows is usually clearer than a paragraph of text.

Labels, print and embroidery positions

Every decoration needs a method, position, size and colour. The position is measured from a fixed point, for example “8 cm below the collar seam, centred”. It pays to be precise about the method: screen print with the number of colours, digital print, puff print, flat or 3D embroidery, transfer print. Labels come in variants too. A wordmark on the sleeve can be applied as a transfer, while a small woven label is sewn into the hem seam. Note for each element how it is to be made.

Logos belong in the tech pack as vector files, meaning AI, EPS, SVG or PDF. Over WeChat, the messenger almost every factory in China uses, these files often do not arrive intact, and the recipient can only open an image. So send vector files by email or cloud link, state the measurements and Pantone values in the accompanying text, and ask for confirmation that the file could be opened.

Remember the care label, size label, brand label and hangtag. Many factories charge wash labels and hangtags separately from the unit price. If they are in the tech pack, they show up in the quote as well.

Packaging and marking

Specify how items are folded and packed: one polybag per piece or several per bag, with or without a warning text, barcode or EAN sticker, pieces per carton and sorting by size and colour. Without instructions the factory packs the way it always does, and that rarely suits Amazon FBA or your warehouse. The General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 requires a type, batch or serial number that allows a product to be identified. An article or batch number on the label and carton therefore belongs in the tech pack.

How do producers in China work with a tech pack?

At the factory, sketches and numbers get read first and text second. Short English sentences and labelled sketches work better than long paragraphs. The pattern maker builds the pattern from the size chart. The factory calculates fabric consumption, trims and labour and flags anything that is technically difficult. A high elastane share in terry towelling, for instance, is not something every factory can do.

Our team in China sorts out these questions directly with the producer, in Chinese and, when needed, on site at the factory. Your European contact passes the open points on to you in one go. Some items can only be made properly with a physical reference sample, because photos are not enough for the factory. In that case you send us a piece that comes close to the result you want.

The tech pack becomes the sample. Samples and their shipping are charged, and we tell you the cost beforehand. The sample is measured against the size chart, and deviations and change requests go into the next version. The item only goes into bulk production once you have approved the sample in writing. The sampling page describes the process.

Which gaps show up most often in tech packs?

• Measurements without tolerances or without a measuring method
• Colours given only as a name, with no Pantone number
• No breakdown of planned pieces per colour and size, so the factory may quote one colour instead of three
• Care label without fibre composition
• Hangtag, woven label and packaging missing, which makes the quote look lower than it ends up
• Logo only as a screenshot instead of a vector file
• Metal finish of zips, eyelets or clips not specified
• Several versions in circulation, because changes were only discussed in chat

Each of these gaps is easy to close as long as it is spotted before the sample. It only gets expensive once the sample or the bulk run reveals it.

How should a tech pack be versioned?

Every change gets a new version number and a date, for example V1.0 for the enquiry, V1.1 after the factory’s questions and V2.0 after the first sample. A short change log on the cover page shows what has changed since the previous version. Anything agreed in chat or on the phone only counts once it is in the next version.

The written sample approval names the version it refers to. After that the tech pack is frozen. Later changes are possible but usually cost a new sample and time. Reorders use the same version together with the approved sample, so the factory works from the same reference on the second order as on the first.

What if you do not have a tech pack?

Then we talk. A missing tech pack is no reason to hold back your enquiry. We offer you a call and work out the details together: what the item needs to do, which existing piece comes closest, what your favourite garment measures and which colours and labels you have in mind. A reference item, a few photos and a simple sketch are enough to start. From that we build a specification the factory can work with and that you approve before the sample.

For your own cuts or several variants, a digital model helps. On the 3D sampling page you can see how cut, colour and logo position are agreed on a 3D model before the first physical sample is made. What the method can do and where its limits are is explained in 3D sampling for apparel.

To tick things off, use our tech pack checklist. How a private label project runs from start to finish is covered in importing private label clothing. Send your enquiry, with or without a tech pack, via contact.