Tech Pack Template: A Page by Page Guide for Product Teams

A tech pack template is only useful if you know what belongs on each page. A factory reads seven in order: style summary, technical flats, measurements and grading, bill of materials, construction and finishing, artwork and branding, and packing and shipping. Fill every field, even when the answer is none, and your sample rounds shrink on their own. Genpire generates the whole structure from a sketch or a description.

Tech pack template downloads are easy to find and surprisingly hard to use. Most arrive as an empty spreadsheet with twelve tabs and no explanation of what belongs in them, so brands fill the boxes they understand and leave the rest blank. The factory then quotes around the gaps, and the first sample arrives with three decisions nobody remembers making.

The structure below follows the order a factory reads in, not the order a designer thinks in. That difference matters more than the file format.

Page one: style summary

The cover page answers four questions in under a minute. What is this product, who is it for, what season or drop does it belong to, and which version of the file is this. Include a style number, a short description, the target size range, and a date. If your supplier is holding six files from you, the version line is the single most valuable field on the page.

Page two: technical flats

Front, back and any view that reveals construction. Draw in flat line, to proportion, with no shading and no model. Call out anything a line drawing cannot show, such as which seams are topstitched or where a pocket bag attaches. Two clean views beat six decorative ones.

Page three: measurements and grading

A points of measure table with the sample size filled in, tolerances for every row, and grade rules across the range. Number each point and key those numbers to the flat so nobody guesses where you measured from. This is the page that gets argued over during inspection, which is why it should be the page you check twice.

Page four: bill of materials

Fabric, lining, interlining, thread, zips, buttons, elastic, labels and hangtags. Each line needs composition, weight or size, colour reference, placement and quantity per unit. Where possible, add a supplier reference. Generic descriptions cost you either money or accuracy, sometimes both.

Page five: construction and finishing

Seam types, stitch counts per inch, hem depths, reinforcement points and pressing instructions. This section separates a garment that survives thirty washes from one that does not, and it is almost always the shortest page in a weak file.

Page six: artwork and branding

Print and embroidery placement with measured positions from a fixed point, artwork files at production resolution, colour breakdowns, and label positions. Say where the placement is measured from, because "centre front chest" means different things on an XS and a 3XL.

Page seven: packing and shipping

Fold method, polybag specification, carton quantities, barcode placement and any retailer specific requirements. Skipping this page is a common and expensive habit.

Adapting the same tech pack template across categories

The skeleton stays constant while the vocabulary shifts. Footwear replaces points of measure with last details, sole construction and size runs. Jewellery replaces fabric with alloy, plating and stone specification. Furniture adds joinery, load ratings and finish schedules. Bags sit between apparel and hardware, needing both material weight and hardware plating detail. Teams working across several categories usually find that maintaining one adaptable tech pack template is far less painful than maintaining four unrelated spreadsheets.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a completed file be?

Between four and twelve pages for most products. Length is a poor measure of quality. A five page file with tolerances beats a twenty page file without them.

Should I send it as a spreadsheet or a PDF?

Send a PDF for review and quoting, and keep the editable source for revisions. Factories mark up PDFs more reliably than they edit spreadsheets.

Who owns the file after production starts?

You do, and you should keep the master copy. Never let the only current version live in a supplier inbox.

How often should it be updated?

Every time a decision changes, with a new version number and a dated change note. Silent edits are the most common cause of the wrong garment being cut.

Start with structure, not with software

A good file is not about how it looks. It is about whether a stranger can build your product from it without calling you. Work through the pages above in order, fill every field even when the answer is none, and your sample rounds will shrink on their own. When you want that structure generated for you rather than assembled by hand, Genpire turns a sketch or a description into a complete, factory ready file.

Build one for your next style and compare it against your current template.