Quick answer

A tech pack is the instruction document for your garment: design flats, a bill of materials, finished measurements, size grading, artwork with exact placement, and label and packaging specs. It is what a manufacturer prices from and sews from. The more complete the pack, the more accurate the first quote and the fewer sample rounds you pay for in time. And the honest counterpoint: you do not need a formal tech pack for every order — team uniforms are routinely ordered from a photo, a logo and a size list. A tech pack earns its keep on brand and OEM products, where the garment itself is yours.

What a tech pack is — and what it is not

A tech pack is a specification, not a piece of artwork. A logo file is not a tech pack. A photograph of a garment you like is not a tech pack. A mood board is not a tech pack. Each of those is one input; the pack is the document that combines all inputs into instructions precise enough that a factory can buy fabric, cut panels and sew a garment it has never seen, and produce the thing in your head.

Think of it as the contract between your design intent and the production floor. The quote is calculated from it, the pre-production sample is made from it, and bulk is checked against it. When a sample comes back wrong, the first diagnostic question is always the same: was it wrong in the pack, or wrong against the pack? A complete pack makes that question answerable in minutes.

The six parts of a tech pack

1. Design flats and construction details

Flat front, back and side views of the garment — hand-drawn is acceptable if it is clear — showing every panel line, seam, pocket, placket and closure. Call out the construction details a flat cannot show on its own: stitching type where it matters, reinforced points, elastic, drawcords, linings. If a detail is not drawn or noted, the factory will make a reasonable choice — and their reasonable and your reasonable are different garments.

2. Bill of materials (BOM)

A list of everything that goes into the garment: main fabric (composition and weight), contrast and lining fabrics, and every trim — zips, buttons, snaps, drawcords, eyelets, elastic, thread. The BOM is what lets a factory price your garment exactly instead of estimating. Leave the fabric weight out and two factories will quote two different fabrics, which is why “the same” product comes back at wildly different prices.

3. Measurement specification

Finished garment measurements for the base size, point by point: chest, length, sleeve, shoulder, waist, hip rise — whatever defines the fit of that garment. Measurements are the single most valuable page in the pack. “Make it like a normal large” is not a measurement; every brand’s large is different, and factories cannot sew an adjective.

4. Size grading

How the measurements change from size to size, across your full size range. Grading is where fit lives or dies at the ends of the run — a garment graded carelessly fits the middle sizes and nobody else. If you do not have grading rules, say so and ask the factory to propose them at the sample stage, then approve them in writing. What you cannot do is leave grading unmentioned and expect it to match your market.

5. Artwork and placement

Your logo and graphics files — vector AI/EPS/PDF preferred, high-resolution PNG workable — with the size of each piece of artwork and its exact position on the garment, plus the decoration method for each: sublimation, embroidery or screen print. “Logo on chest” produces arguments; “logo 9 cm wide, centred 8 cm below the neck seam, embroidered” produces garments. Our decoration comparison helps you choose the right method per placement.

6. Labels, packaging and finishing

Woven label artwork and position, hang tags, size and care label content, and how each piece is packed — individual polybag as standard, or your printed packaging. This page is routinely forgotten and then rushed; label artwork that arrives after bulk is sewn cannot be applied during production. If you are ordering under your own brand, our private label activewear manufacturer post covers this finishing layer in full.

The six parts at a glance

Part	What it settles	What happens without it
Design flats	Shape, panels, construction	Factory interprets your design its own way
Bill of materials	Every fabric and trim, priced exactly	Quotes estimate — or quietly substitute — materials
Measurement spec	The fit of the base size	“Standard” sizing, which is nobody’s standard
Size grading	Fit across the whole size run	Ends of the run come back wrong
Artwork & placement	Logo size, position, method	Right logo, wrong place, on 500 pieces
Labels & packaging	Retail-ready finishing	Branding rushed or applied after the fact

What if you don’t have a tech pack?

Then you are in the majority, and there are three workable routes:

Send a reference garment. A physical sample of what you want made is the closest substitute for a pack — the factory measures it, examines the construction and prices from the real thing. This is how many OEM orders start; our OEM sportswear manufacturer post explains what you supply versus what the factory supplies on that route.

Send photos plus measurements. Clear photos of the style, your measurements for the base size, your logo files and your quantities. Enough to quote most sportswear styles accurately and start sampling.

Start from a factory style and specify your changes. Choose an existing style and document what changes: colours, artwork, labels, small construction changes. The existing pattern carries the fit; your document carries the differences.

Team uniforms are the standing exception to all of this: a design reference, your logo and a names-and-numbers list are the whole requirement, as our step-by-step ordering guide sets out. Tech packs matter most when the product itself is original — which is why brand founders reading our guide on how to start a sportswear brand meet the tech pack before their first order, not after their first mistake.

How a tech pack changes your quote

A factory quoting without a pack is pricing uncertainty, and uncertainty gets priced in — padded fabric assumptions, decoration guessed large, trims guessed safe. A complete pack removes the padding: fabric consumption is calculable, artwork size is known, every trim is listed, so the quote can be an exact tier price instead of an estimate with armour on it. It also speeds the sample stage. Our pre-production sample takes 5–7 days and a free sample is available; a complete pack means that sample is usually the approval sample, not the first of three rounds spent discovering what you meant.

Tech pack mistakes we see repeatedly

Measurements described instead of numbered. Photographs and adjectives do not cut fabric. If a dimension defines the fit, it needs a number and a unit.

Artwork not to scale and not placed. A logo file with no finished size and no position forces the factory to guess both — and to be blamed for guessing.

No grading section. The base size arrives perfect and the XS and 2XL arrive as different garments. Grading is one short table; write it.

Silent revisions. The pack is changed after sample approval but the document is never updated or re-dated, so the factory sews version one and the buyer inspects against version two. Date every revision and resend the whole pack, not a message saying “also make the sleeves longer.”

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a tech pack to get a quote? No. A photo reference, logo files, quantities and a size breakdown will get you a real quote for most styles — that is the normal route for team uniforms. A tech pack makes quotes for original brand products more accurate and sampling faster, but its absence is not a blocker.

Who creates the tech pack — me or the factory? You, or your designer, own it: it describes your product. A factory can help build one from a reference garment and will propose grading where you have none, but the specification is yours to approve — because bulk will be judged against it.

What format should I send it in? PDF is the working standard — one document, every page, dated. Send artwork source files (vector AI/EPS/PDF) alongside it, not embedded screenshots of them. Keep the pack and the artwork files together in one message or folder so nothing separates.

How detailed do the measurements need to be? Every point that defines the fit of that garment, for the base size, plus the grading between sizes. If a measurement would bother you when it came back wrong by two centimetres, it belongs in the pack.

Can I send the same tech pack to several factories? Yes — that is one of its main purposes. Identical packs produce comparable quotes: same fabric, same construction, same artwork, so price differences reflect the factories, not different interpretations of your product. It is also why a pack is worth building before you compare suppliers on an original design.

What happens if my design changes after sampling? Update the pack, date the new version, and tell the factory explicitly what changed. Changes before bulk production are normal and cheap; changes after sample approval may restart sampling, and changes after cutting restart the order — the discipline that applies to every order, covered in our MOQ guide and ordering guide, applies twice over to spec changes.

Send us what you have

A finished tech pack, a reference garment, or photos and measurements — any of the three starts a real quote. Send it through the Request a Quote page with your quantities and size range, and we will come back with tiered pricing, the MOQ for your styles (many from 100 pieces, some from 500) and a sample timeline. Browse the shop for the styles we already produce — and if your pack describes something we cannot make well, we will tell you that instead of quoting it anyway.