Many newcomers to the fashion industry often have the misconception that making a garment is a straightforward process. However, there are numerous methods to create clothing, which is why the quality, details, and prices of similar garments can vary significantly across different brands.
Creating clothing is complex, and unclear instructions can present challenges for both brand owners and their garment manufacturers. It is crucial for brands to start developing their collections the right way, either by collaborating with professionals or by learning how to create tech packs.
A tech pack (short for technical package) is like a blueprint that contains all the technical specifications of a garment design. It serves as a central reference point for designers and production teams, helping to communicate every detail of the design during development and manufacturing.
Why Are Tech Packs Important?
Many brand owners or designers try to skip this process, thinking it is an unnecessary expense or a waste of time. However, providing just photos or sketches and expecting the manufacturer to guess what they want can lead to disastrous results, as they may end up dissatisfied with their samples.
Avoid Costly Mistakes and Reduce Sample Costs
Tech packs are essential because they help ensure that designers and manufacturers are on the same page and clearly understand what needs to be done. Detailed tech packs minimize errors and guesswork, reducing the number of sample iterations needed, thereby saving time and costs.
Without a detailed tech pack, manufacturers will not accept orders.
Improve Communication
Bringing a design to market usually requires several rounds of sampling. All changes made throughout the process will also be updated in the tech pack, reducing any communication gaps and ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Provide Accurate and Timely Quotes
A detailed tech pack with material specifications allows manufacturers to provide cost estimates more quickly without back-and-forth confirmations. The detailed information makes it easier to estimate the cost and time required for fabrics, trims, and other materials, and it also serves as a guide for recommending and suggesting how to improve the design.
Enhance Quality
Providing detailed garment measurements improves the quality and fit of the first prototype sample, reducing expensive resampling fees and helping you get to market faster. It also serves as a quality assessment tool during the sampling and production process.
Save Time for Future Collections
When starting a new collection or reordering, tech packs can be modified with slight changes to details and reused, allowing manufacturers to start orders promptly.
What Should a Fashion Tech Pack Include?
A detailed tech pack should include the following:
- Accurate Design Sketches: Include annotations or construction details.
- Colorways
- Artwork, Artwork Dimensions, and Placement
- Bill of Materials (BOM)
- Garment Measurements
- Fabric Reference Images
- Packaging and Labeling Instructions
Design Sketches: Design sketches or fashion flats should showcase every design detail, including stitches, artwork, and types of trims used. Flats should be provided from different angles (front, back, side, and even inside) to visualize how the actual design will look. The more detailed the sketch, the easier it is to understand the design vision and minimize the need for verbal explanations. Including detailed illustrations in the sketch will help make the first sample as close to the design as possible. Therefore, fashion illustrations are not very useful in a tech pack as they don’t show details like seams and stitches. Reference images for construction details should also be included to clearly illustrate how a particular detail should look.
Bill of Materials (BOM): The BOM lists all materials and components used to produce the design. Fabric, trims, and other components make up most of the garment’s production cost and impact quality. When materials are specified clearly, sourcing and sampling will align closely with your design vision. Images of fabric types, trims, and decorations will help manufacturers understand what you are looking for, making the sourcing process more efficient and allowing for better choices or alternatives.
Garment Measurement Specs: Garment measurement specs are a crucial part of the tech pack. They are important because they are used to create patterns. Garment measurements detail the dimensions of different parts of the design. Poor fit requires additional sampling, wasting time and money. Unfortunately, there is no universal sizing standard for garments as different brands and demographics require different sizes. Size charts using body measurements are not helpful as they don’t provide information on how the garment should look for pattern makers. Typical measurement points include:
- Garment Length
- Outseam Length (for bottoms)
- Shoulder Width
- Bust/Chest Width
- Waist Width
- Hip Width
- Front and Back Rise (for bottoms)
- Armhole Width
- Sleeve Length
- Cuff Width
- Neck Width
If your design is more complex, providing measurements for necklines, pocket sizes, etc., will be helpful.
Conclusion
Creating a garment without a tech pack is like building a house without blueprints. You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint, so why risk launching a fashion brand without one? I hope this article has helped you understand the importance of tech packs and the benefits of creating them for your collection. If you need any assistance in creating tech packs, feel free to contact us!
