UPDATED IN SEPTEMBER 2025!
Ever wondered 'What is a tech pack for clothing?', or 'why do I need a tech pack for my fashion brand'?
Here's our ultimate guide to everything you need to know about tech packs in fashion...
Getting into the world of owning your own fashion brand is a tricky one and there's loads to learn! One of the terms I'm sure you'll have heard thrown around is 'tech pack', I totally understand that it seems like a lot of fuss over a what essentially is just a digital instruction sheet.
In short, your tech pack is the 'recipe or instruction guide' for the creation of your garments. Bad instructions equals bad samples and bad bulk clothing manufacture so its vital to make sure you have a solid tech pack for every item of clothing that you want to sample or bulk produce for your fashion brand.
Here's a few pointers for what a good tech pack for clothing should include:
1. Style Name (Fit requirements)
A tech pack for clothing should have a description of fit requirements (and that's best to include in the style name if you can). This could be: oversized, slim fit, regular fit etc.
This seems unimportant so is easily overlooked but this quickly guides the unit cost as it gives the manufacturer a good indication of fabric usage. Slimmer fitting garments use less fabric and therefore generally cost less, for example an oversized hoodie would use much more fabric than a slim fitting one.
2. Colour Illustration
Your tech pack should have a clear font, back and (if required) side view. This is usually the first page of the tech pack. It's to give the manufacturer (and anyone else in the team) an easy overview of the style. Construction details and differences in fabric must be drawn correctly on this page as it's often quickly referred to.
3. Technical Details and Fit References
A black and white drawing with annotations guiding construction requirements is a must in any good tech pack. This helps the garment workers construct your samples and bulk production correctly. Adding images of specific details is very useful. Including images of how you want the overall fit to look is also important.
4. Construction Details / Amendments log
Direction on garment construction is vital. There are lots of different ways to finish a garment and this needs to be clearly noted in your tech pack. It can be quite technical and cause endless rounds of sampling if you get it wrong! Put your trust in a designer with good garment construction knowledge.
At Hook and Eye UK our tech pack and design sessions are one-to-one with our designer so they can talk you through the best options for construction methods and help guide your decision. Click here for more information on our tech pack design sessions!
The amendments log is something new designers often do not think about. In industry a sample would be fully reviewed and each tech pack is updated to include a chronological log to kept track of any changes. The changes are then checked in each sampling round until the sample is approved for bulk production. Tech packs are marked with version numbers to ensure all team members are working to the most up to date one.
5. Bill of Materials (BOM for short)
Your bill of materials includes all fabric choices as well as any trims such as, drawstrings, hardware (like eyelets and aglets) and zippers. There are often lots of fabric (and trim) choices to choose from and its important that you have this information on your clothing tech pack. The last thing you want is your clothing manufacturer to use the wrong type of fabric, or the wrong zip size! If you're not sure on best choices you should pick a designer with good fabric and trim expertise to guide you (every H&E employee has this knowledge as standard). Click here to read more about our fabrics.
6. Graphic Application
Another key piece of info to include on your tech pack is the way you want your graphic to be applied to your garment. This could be; screen print, embroidery, badge application etc. Also include the graphic size, colour and code (graphic coding is especially important if you have the same graphic in multiple sizes or colours).
7. Labels
Any inner and outer labels need to be included in your clothing tech pack as well as the size, colour, type and position. When designing your care label, ensure you have the right instructions for the fabric used in your garment, remember that different fabrics (and graphic applications) often have different care requirements.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it - our essential guide to tech packs in fashion. Ultimately, for clothing brands, your tech pack is your contract between you and your clothing manufacturer. If there are deviations from the tech pack you have sent and the clothing samples (or bulk production) that you receive, your tech pack gives you the right to dispute these issues.
A clear tech pack makes your sampling and bulk production journey much smoother!
If you'd like to create excellent tech packs that save you time, money and a lot of headaches, we can help you! We offer live Tech Pack & Design Sessions for startup clothing brands, read more here.
I hope this helps!
Hook and Eye UK Team :)
