Tech Pack, Patterns & Development Files

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.