What the AI does, and what you do
A tech pack made with AI is still the document a factory quotes, samples and produces from, with the same parts. In the Studio, the AI draws the garment and fills in the pack from your photos and answers. You make the decisions, answer what the photos cannot show, and check the pack before it goes out.
1. Start from photos, a sketch or a catalogue garment
Photos give the drawing the most to work from: the whole garment, laid flat or worn facing the camera, front and back, with close-ups of the collar, a pocket, a cuff and the label. A sketch works the same way, with the construction written beside it.
Each file gets a role, such as front, back, detail, sketch, artwork to place, label or size chart, so a logo you add is placed as artwork rather than drawn as part of the garment.
Without photos, describe the garment in words, or start from a garment in the catalogue, from tees to tailored coats. The tech pack examples show ten of them.
2. The questions before it draws
Before drawing, the Studio asks one short survey about what the photos cannot settle. Each question comes filled in from the photos, so accepting an answer is one press.
- Questions about the photos, such as which to follow where two disagree.
- Fit: as in the photos, slimmer, more relaxed or oversized.
- Fabric: the composition and weight, if you know them.
- Colours: as in the photos, or different.
- The waistband or the collar: a drawstring inside or outside, a shirt collar on a stand, a notch or a peak lapel.
- The sample size, and any measurements you have, taken laid flat.
- Logos and prints: recreate the ones in the photos, upload your own, or none.
- Anything to change from the photos.
If no photo shows the whole garment, it asks for one first: close-ups leave the drawing to guess the sleeves, the length and the hem. Your answers outrank the photos, and a measurement you type is kept exactly as typed.
3. The flats it draws
The Studio draws the technical flat: the front and the back, then both sides from the finished front and back so the pieces match. Seams, stitching, pockets, closures and trims are separate parts, each one you can select and change.
When the drawing lands, the Studio compares it with your photos and points out the problems a buyer would reject; you can have it redrawn with those corrections and keep the new drawing or the first. It then becomes an editable garment whose sliders change the parts together with their measurements. Technical flats from photos and sketches covers the views and how to check them.
4. Points of measure, sizes and grading
Each point of measure has a code, a method, a spec at the sample size and a tolerance. The Studio reads the points off the garment it builds: on a top, the armhole, the three-point sleeve, the muscle width and the neck drops among them, each with a dimension line carrying its code. A point the flat cannot show gets no number; it is listed for the factory to confirm.
While it draws, the Studio asks which sizes you will make. Each point then needs a grade rule, the step from one size to the next; add your size chart and its rows are mapped onto the garment's codes. A point with no step is listed in the pack as a grade rule still to set. See points of measure and grading and size charts.
5. Materials and colourways
The fabric you name becomes the main line of the bill of materials. Trims follow from the drawing and the photos: thread, buttons, zips, drawcords, elastic. Each line has a letter, shown on the flat where the material is used, and a jacket or a coat gets a question about its lining.
Each colour is matched to its nearest TCX code within a ΔE of 4, or marked for a lab dip. Add a colourway and every part, material and print ink takes a colour in it.
6. Artwork and labels
The Studio recreates the logos and prints in your photos, makes new artwork from a description, sets lettering, or places your own files, each with a size and a position measured from fixed points. Labels follow the questions it asks while it draws: your brand name, which labels and tags, their artwork, the care instructions and the country of origin.
Nothing is invented on a label: no brand name means no brand label, no country means no "Made in" line, and both are listed for the factory to confirm. Your brand kit keeps logos, label artwork, brand colours and care symbols for every pack. See artwork and labels in a tech pack.
7. What you check, and why it is quick
A person who knows the garment checks every pack before it goes out. It is quick because the pack is one document: each point of measure is drawn with the code its row in the size chart uses, materials are lettered on the flat, and what is still open is listed. Checking it is reading it, not measuring it again.
- The flat against your photos: proportions, counts of pockets, buttons and panels, and which side closes over which.
- The key measurements against a garment you trust, and the ones you typed.
- The materials, their weight and finish, and the trims.
- The labels: the brand, the care and the country of origin.
- What the factory must confirm: each open question should be one you meant to leave open.
By our estimate, the Studio takes about 15 minutes to draw the garment and a person about 15 minutes more to check and export the pack: 30 minutes in all.
8. Export it and send it to factories
The pack exports as a vector PDF written for the factory, from the cover with what to confirm through the flats, colourways, points of measure, graded specs, how to measure, materials, construction, labels and artwork. The flats also export as SVG with named layers for Illustrator, and as PNG.
Send to factory puts the pack on Texhub and opens a request for quotation (RFQ) on it: add the quantity, sizes and date, attach the PDF, and approved factories that make the garment are matched and quote. Your chat with the assistant and the edit history stay in the Studio. See sending a tech pack to a factory.
What AI does not replace
- Your decisions. The pack is filled from your photos and answers, and an answer is drawn as given.
- A pattern maker's block. The measurements are nominal, at the sample size, read off the drawing; check them against a garment you trust.
- Fit and sampling. The first sample still comes back for a fit, and its comments go back into the pack.
- A production sign-off. This is a development pack a factory can quote and sample from; bulk also needs the graded run filled in, the construction and materials confirmed and the fit approved.
Questions and answers
Can AI make a tech pack?
Yes. The Studio draws the technical flat from your photos or a sketch and builds the pack around it, from the points of measure to the labels. A person who knows the garment checks it before it goes to a factory, and fit is still approved on a sample.
How accurate are the measurements?
Each point is read off the garment the Studio builds, not measured off the drawing, and a measurement you type is kept as typed; the Studio marks one the garment disagrees with. They are nominal measurements at your sample size, not a fitted block, so check the key ones against a garment you trust.
Can I edit what it draws?
Yes. Its sliders resize the parts with their measurements, any piece can be reshaped by hand, and the assistant makes the changes you describe. Every change, yours or the assistant's, can be undone.
Does it do artwork?
Yes. It recreates the logos and prints in your photos, makes new artwork from a description, sets lettering and places your own files, each sized and placed on the garment. It makes the labels too.
What do I need to start?
Photos of the garment, front and back if you have them, or a sketch; a description or a catalogue garment works too. The Studio asks for the rest as it goes, and a brand or a country of origin you have not settled is listed for the factory to confirm.
How long does it take?
By our estimate, about 15 minutes for the Studio to draw the garment and about 15 minutes for a person to check and export the pack: 30 minutes in all.
What does it cost?
It depends on how many tech packs your team makes and how you source, so we agree it with each team. Talk to us and we will walk you through it.
