When I’m approached by a new client, I’m always struck by how often the Tech Pack has been treated as an afterthought.
It doesn’t get talked about as much as design sketches or mood boards because, let's face it, it's way less sexy. But the Tech Pack is the quiet, behind-the-scenes hero that protects the fit, comfort and quality of your product - and without it, even the best ideas can fall apart in production.
Without a complete Tech Pack, brands are essentially flying blind. Some of the problems I've seen are:
• Fit comments communicated on email, leaving the development history to get buried in long email threads. This makes it near impossible to track if changes were ever actioned as requested.
• Samples arrive without a measurement chart. Without it, garments can't be measured to ensure they meet expectations, and the factory isn't held accountable to making the requested changes.
• The Bill of Materials lists only the main fabric, leaving trims, labels and packaging as an afterthought. This leaves the brand wide-open for colour errors, secondary materials being replaced without notification, and incorrect labelling.
And then everyone wonders why production errors pop up, why costs blow out, or why styles within the same collection don’t quite feel consistent.
The real danger isn’t just wasted money or late nights chasing answers. It’s that you lose the ability to track the development journey. Without documentation, there’s no record of what was requested, what was changed, or whether the issue was ever truly resolved.
I get it, creating and maintaining paperwork is boring and slow compared to firing off an email. But it’s the foundation that holds development and production together. It captures every decision you’ve made along the way, sets clear expectations with your factory, and ensures nothing is left open to interpretation.
When you take it seriously, you protect more than just your samples. You protect your budget, your timeline, and your reputation. A strong Tech Pack means accurate costing, consistent quality across the collection, and a smoother experience for everyone involved - from your design team to the factory floor.
Sure, some details might live in a brand manual (like generic care labelling position or swing ticket attachment), or in an inventory system (like colourways). But unless everything is captured in the Tech Pack itself, you’re leaving too much room for error. The Tech Pack is what will be printed and kept on the line in production - not the manual, not a spreadsheet, and definitely not a string of emails.
When you set your factory up with clear, complete instructions, you get:
• Better samples, first time
• Less waste (better for your budget and the environment)
• Smoother development cycles
• Better chance of achieving consistent fit across your broader collection
• More reliable production outcomes
And let's not forget, if things go pear-shaped then you own a huge portion of the product IP which makes resourcing with another factory that much easier and quicker.
Your Tech Pack doesn’t need to be glamorous, but it does need to be complete.
If yours feels more like a “spec sheet” than a true working document, I can help.
I work with brands to build comprehensive Tech Packs, as well as the systems and processes that keep them maintained. Because when you get this part right, you set yourself up for smoother development, stronger products, and fewer surprises in production.
