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A spec sheet describes the product, a tech pack describes how to make it. A spec sheet lists measurements, materials and colours. A tech pack adds the construction detail a line needs: seam types, stitch density, cup construction, elastic tension, labelling position, packing method and the acceptance standard.A spec sheet is enough to quote from. It is not enough to produce from, and the gap between the two is where most first samples fail.

That has to be written into the contract rather than assumed. Our standard term is that once development is paid for, the patterns and the tech pack belong to the buyer, and we do not reproduce them for another customer.Put the sentence in the purchase order as well as in the development agreement. Ownership that only exists in an email thread is ownership you will have to argue about later.

With a complete tech pack, pattern making and grading are fast, and the constraint is the first sample, which we run in about seven days. A sales sample for a confirmed style takes two to three weeks. Bulk then runs 60 to 90 days depending on fabric lead time and line capacity.With an incomplete tech pack you add a rebuild round before sampling can start. That is the single most common cause of a launch date slipping by two weeks.

Yes, through reverse development. We deconstruct the reference sample, digitise the pattern, build the first prototype and then write the tech pack from what the prototype proves: consumption, construction, seam types and grade rules.It normally takes two to three sample rounds, because a photograph does not tell you what the inside of the garment does. The tech pack that comes out of it belongs to the buyer and can be reused on the next order.

Eight sections. Flat and construction sketches. A point-of-measure table with grade rules for every size in the range. A fabric and trim BOM with supplier references. Cup and wire specification. Seam and stitch types. Label and care instructions. Packing and carton details. And the acceptance standard, meaning the AQL level and the list of critical defects.The part most often missing is grading. A measurement table that only covers the base size cannot be turned into a production pattern, it has to be rebuilt before sampling starts, which is where a week disappears.

A tech pack is the document that tells a factory how to make one style: flat sketches and construction details, a measurement table with grading rules, a bill of materials, seam and stitch instructions, labelling, packing and the acceptance standard.Without one, a factory does not quote your product, it quotes its guess at your product. That guess is where the price gap between two quotes usually comes from, and where the first sample goes wrong.

Five that recur. A first reply that answers price but ignores the construction questions. Refusal to show the cutting room or the pattern room. A quote with no validity period. Unwillingness to accept an inspection clause with a stated AQL level. And any request to pay into a personal account.None of these is proof of fraud on its own. Together they describe a supplier who cannot show you how the garment will be made, which is the only thing you are actually buying.

Thirty percent deposit with the balance against the bill of lading copy is the common structure. It moves with order size and with whether the fabric has to be specially dyed, but the shape stays the same: money follows evidence of progress.Two protections matter more than the percentage. The beneficiary name must match the business licence exactly, and it must be a company account rather than a personal one. And the order should define inspection before the balance is released, with the AQL level written into the purchase order.

Take the certificate number and the holder name and check them at the issuing body, not at the factory. OEKO-TEX certificates can be looked up in the OEKO-TEX public label database, and BSCI audit reports are verified through the amfori platform against the auditee ID.Check the scope as well as the validity. A certificate may cover certain product classes or certain production sites and not others. A certificate that is genuine but out of scope for what you are buying is the failure mode that most often gets missed.

Four stops cover most of it. The cutting room, where fabric rolls and lay height tell you the order sizes they really run. The sewing floor, where you count stations and look at what is actually in progress. The pattern and sample room, which is where a factory's development capability lives. And the finished goods area, where packing and carton marking show what the export process really looks like.Ask them to keep the camera moving and to answer questions while walking. A tour that is edited, or that skips the cutting room, is a presentation rather than an inspection.

Ask for a live video walk-through rather than a recorded tour. Look for three things: a cutting room with fabric rolls, cutting tables and markers; work in progress at every station on the line; and the actual number of operators present. Ask the camera to show the factory gate and the business licence on the wall.A trading company can show you a showroom, a catalogue and a sample room. It cannot show you a cutting room with your fabric laid up on the table.

Ask for the business licence, the most recent social compliance audit report with its date and the auditing body, the ISO 9001 certificate, and the OEKO-TEX 100 certificate number so you can check it in the public database yourself.Then ask for two things that are harder to fake: production and shipment records for the last three months, and the contact details of two existing customers in your market. A certificate proves a factory was audited once. Shipment records prove it is producing now.

Put both quotes against one document: the same tech pack, the same size range, the same quantity per colour, the same Incoterm and the same payment terms. Then ask each factory to state what is included and what is excluded.The quote that survives that comparison is the comparable one. Two numbers on two different scopes are not a price difference, they are two different products.

Samples are charged, and the charge covers fabric, trims and the line time taken off production. Development from a sketch or a reference sample, meaning pattern making, grading and the first prototype, is quoted separately because it is engineering work rather than sampling.Sampling itself runs about seven days, and a sales sample for a confirmed style takes two to three weeks. Sample charges are normally credited against the bulk order once it is placed, and that should be stated in the quotation rather than agreed verbally later.