What a factory uses it for
A factory reads the pack three times. To quote, it costs the materials and estimates the sewing time from the flats, the bill of materials and the construction. To sample, the pattern maker cuts from the points of measure. In production, quality control checks pieces against the same measurements and their tolerances, and the packing team follows the label and packing pages.
Whatever the pack leaves out, the factory fills with its own default. That is the main reason a first sample comes back different from what was meant.
The parts of a tech pack
| Part | What it holds | Who reads it |
|---|---|---|
| Cover and summary | Style number, garment, fabric, colourways, status and the date of this version | Everyone, to check they have the right version |
| Technical flats | Front, back and side views as line drawings, with seams, stitching and trims drawn in | Pattern maker, sample room |
| Points of measure | Each measurement with a code, a method, the spec at the sample size and a tolerance | Pattern maker, quality control |
| Graded specs | The same points in every size of the run | Grader, quality control |
| Bill of materials | Fabrics and trims with content, weight, colour per colourway and quantity | Merchandiser, buyer, costing |
| Colourways | Each colour's standard: a TCX code or a lab dip | Mill, dye house |
| Artwork and placement | Prints, embroidery and labels, with their size and position | Print and embroidery suppliers |
| Construction | Seam and stitch types, stitches per inch, edge finishes | Sample room, production line |
| Labels and packaging | Main, care, size and origin labels, hangtags, folding and packing | Packing, compliance |
| Open items | What the factory must confirm before sampling, with room for its answers | Both sides |
Each part has its entry in the glossary: the technical flat, the points of measure, the bill of materials, colourways, placement, stitches per inch and open items.
- 01T-shirt
- 02Specification summary
- 03Flat: front
- 04Flat: back
- 05Flats: sides
- 06Flat: inside
- 07How to measure
- 08Points of measure
- 09Bill of materials
- 10Trims and notions
- 11Collar construction
- 12Labels and packaging
- 13Placement schedule
- 14What the factory must confirmpages 14 to 15
What makes a pack usable
- One version. Every page shows the same style number and date, so an old PDF is never sent by mistake.
- Codes that match. The code on a dimension line is the code in the points of measure table, and a lettered material on the flat is that line of the bill of materials.
- Units stated once: inches to the nearest 1/8 or millimetres, and whether a width is measured flat.
- A tolerance on every point. Without one, any difference is an argument.
- Gaps named. A question the pack cannot answer yet is listed as an open item, not left blank.
When it is written and updated
The first version goes out with the request for a proto sample. After each fit, the comments go back into the pack as changed measurements or details, and the version date moves. By the pre-production sample, the pack describes the garment exactly as bulk will be made.
How the Texhub Studio builds one
In the Studio, a pack starts from a catalogue garment, or from photos of a garment that the assistant draws. The flat, the points of measure, the bill of materials, the colourways and the labels live in one document, so a change to one shows in the others. The pack exports as a vector PDF for the factory, and the flats as SVG for Illustrator. Making a tech pack with AI goes through it step by step.
See a page of a complete pack for each core garment in the tech pack examples, and send a finished pack to factories from Sourcing.
