Tech Pack Requirements

What makes a tech pack production-ready?

Why AI tech packs can’t be used.

And why we recreate external tech packs.

Before you send a tech pack off for a quote or to start sampling, it’s worth understanding the tech pack requirements that make one production-ready. Your tech pack is often the first thing a manufacturer sees, and it sets the tone for the whole project. When you come in prepared and understand the process, you’ll get more accurate pricing, fewer sample rounds and a smoother path into production.

We see a lot of tech packs come through with production inquiries. Many are self-made without industry experience or put together through low-cost services, and more and more often, we are provided AI tech packs. We love seeing founders get organised early, but not every tech pack is ready for a factory. Its quality has a direct impact on your quote, your samples and your final product.

This guide brings together everything we look for in a production-ready tech pack, why AI-generated tech packs can’t be used for manufacturing, and why we recreate tech packs made elsewhere once your project moves into sampling. If you’ve been sent here from one of our emails, this should answer most of your questions in one place.

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What Is a Tech Pack, and Why Does It Matter So Much?

A tech pack (short for technical package) is the blueprint for your garment. It’s the document that tells a manufacturer exactly what to make, how to make it, what to make it from and how it should measure, fit and finish.

A good tech pack does 4 jobs across your production journey:

1. Calculating production prices: it lets manufacturers give you an accurate quote without needing a physical sample first, saving you time, money and materials.

2. Sample development and reporting: it lets manufacturers give you an accurate quote without needing a physical sample first, saving you time, money and materials.

3. Bulk production: it is the instruction manual the factory for producing your full bulk order consistently.

4. Quality control: it’s what your finished goods are checked against, and your protection if something is made incorrectly.

Put simply, the more precise and detailed your tech pack is, the more accurate your production quote will be, and the fewer surprises you’ll have along the way.

^{“Every assumption in your tech pack becomes a decision someone else makes without you.”}

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Why We Can’t Use AI-Generated Tech Packs for Manufacturing

AI is a brilliant tool for the creative side of building a brand. It can help you pull together mood boards, sketches, range plans and inspiration imagery quickly. What it can’t do is produce a tech pack a factory can manufacture from.

The AI tech packs we receive usually look polished at first glance, but when our designers review them we consistently find:

• Inaccurate measurements and tolerances that don’t account for fabric behavior, shrinkage or how garments are actually made
• Missing construction details, such as seam allowances, stitch types and grading rules
• Vague fabric and trim specs that don’t match what factories can source or what things really cost
• No production notes covering tolerances, quality standards, packaging or testing
• Flat, non-editable images instead of the Illustrator and Excel files needed to update a tech pack through sampling
• Designs that look right but can’t be made, because the construction shown isn’t technically possible

When a factory quotes from a document like this, the numbers are rarely reliable. Brands then face revised quotes that are much higher than expected, delayed sampling, poor fit and drape, quality issues and, in the worst cases, production that has to be scrapped.

Our advice: keep using AI for inspiration, and send those visuals to us with our Design Handover Template. We’ll use them as your design brief and turn them into a proper, production-ready tech pack.

We can’t quality-control a standard you never wrote down.”

Why We Recreate Tech Packs Made by Someone Else

If you already have a tech pack from another designer, a template or a low-cost online service, it may be sufficient to use for obtaining an initial production quote. Once your project moves into sampling and production, though, we recreate it in our own templates. Here’s why:

• Manufacturer compatibility. Our templates are built around how our endorsed manufacturers work. Third-party tech packs vary a lot in format and quality, and the mismatch often leads to miscommunication, extra revision rounds and added cost.
• Quality control. Rebuilding the tech pack lets us check every spec, measurement and construction detail against your sample references and our production standards, so fit issues and material mismatches get caught early rather than in bulk.
• One document from sample to bulk. Our tech packs stay consistent through fit samples, Proto/SMS and PP samples, sample reports, bulk production and final QC.
• Legal and practical reasons. We can’t edit files created by someone else, and many external tech packs are locked or built in formats we can’t work with.
• Your ownership stays clear. Once paid for, the design in your tech pack is yours. We retain the rights to our templates only.

The timeframe for recreation depends on the complexity of the garment and the quality of the documentation you already have. Our Design and Production Manager assesses the scope before any work begins. In our experience, the upfront investment pays for itself through fewer sample revisions, more accurate unit costing earlier on and a much smoother run through bulk production.

“Contradictory details across emails and documents? The factory picks one. That’s not a factory problem, it’s a documentation problem.”

Homemade and Budget Tech Packs: Where They Fall Short

Cheaper options are out there, and we understand the appeal when you’re starting out. The problem is that cutting corners on a tech pack usually costs more later. Missing measurements, unclear construction notes or an incomplete BOM mean the factory has to guess, and every guess becomes another sample round, another delay or another revised quote. A tech pack is one of the few places where spending properly at the start protects the rest of your budget.

Sample Report

Once your first sample is made, we check it against the tech packs, check the fit on a fit model, and record every change requested (measurements, trims and make instructions) in a sample report. It becomes an update to your tech pack and keeps all the feedback in one place, instead of scattered across emails, until the sample is signed off for bulk.

Graded Specs

Once your base size sample is approved, it’s graded across your full size range so the style, shape and proportions stay the same in every size. Poor grading shows up as tight arms in the larger sizes or oversized shoulders in the smaller ones, and that means returns. Professional grading averages around $300 per style for a full size range.

“Five sample rounds isn’t ‘the process.’ It’s an invoice for something completely avoidable.”

Tech Pack Cost and Turnaround

Our tech packs average around AUD $800 each, depending on the complexity of the garment. Most are completed within 5 to 10 business days, with an average lead time of about 3-4 weeks to start once your project is locked in. We’ll always give you a tailored quote before any work begins.

Tech Pack FAQs

Can I use my own tech pack to get a production quote?

Yes. An existing tech pack (as long as it isn’t AI-generated) can often be used for an initial quote. If you go ahead with sampling and production through us, we’ll recreate using our format.

Why can’t you just edit my existing tech pack?

For legal and ethical reasons we don’t edit files created by other designers, and many are locked or built in formats that don’t align with how our manufacturers work.

Can I use AI to help design my range?

Definitely, for inspiration. Use AI for mood boards, sketches and concepts, then hand them over through our Design Handover Template and we’ll build the technical documents properly.

Do I own my tech pack?

Yes. Once paid for, the design is yours and can be used with any manufacturer. We retain the rights to our template format.

Why do you need physical reference samples?

A physical sample shows us fit, fabric weight, construction and finish in a way images can’t. It’s the fastest way to an accurate tech pack and fewer sample rounds.

Ready to Get Your Tech Pack Production-Ready?

Whether you’re starting from a sketch, an AI concept or a tech pack that needs rebuilding, our design team can take you from idea to factory-ready documents, then all the way through sampling and bulk production.