Create a Tech Pack for a T-Shirt

The six pages that are not optional

Flat sketch with front, back and any side detail. Not a fashion illustration — a technical drawing with seams, topstitch, rib height and closures drawn as they are constructed. The sketch is what the pattern maker reads first.

Points of measure (POM) on a size-M sample: chest, body length, shoulder, sleeve, neck width, hem width. Each point numbered, each number with a tolerance. This page is where most first samples fail, because a chest measurement without a stated tolerance is an opinion rather than a spec.

Fabric specification: composition, weight in gsm, knit type, yarn if it matters, and the finish (washed, brushed, pre-shrunk). "Cotton jersey" is not a specification; "100% combed cotton, 240gsm single jersey, garment washed" is.

Construction details: seam type, stitch density, collar and cuff construction, hem type, and any taped or bound edges. These decide how the garment wears out, which is the part a buyer notices in month six rather than week one.

Colourways with references: Pantone TCX for fabric, and a physical swatch for anything the buyer cares about matching. A screen colour is not a fabric colour.

Size and grading: the full size run, the sample size, and the grading increment between sizes. Without the increments the grader guesses, and a guessed gradient is why a 2XL comes back wrong.

The three pages that pay for themselves

A label and trim page: neck label artwork with fold and finished size, care label content, hangtag, and any woven tape. Labels have their own production batch and their own lead time, so this page is not decoration — it is the item that most often delays a shipment.

A packing page: folding method, polybag or none, size sticker, carton configuration and carton marks. A carton that holds 48 pieces instead of 60 changes the freight cost per unit, which changes the landed price the buyer quoted to their own customer.

A reference page: photographs of a similar garment you already like, with the parts you want to copy marked. This prevents the "not what I imagined" conversation better than any written spec.

Tolerances: the sentence buyers delete

Every measurement needs a tolerance and every tolerance should be realistic. ±1 cm on body measurements and ±0.5 cm on key points such as chest at the armhole is a normal production range for cut-and-sew knitwear; asking for ±0.2 cm on a washed cotton garment means the factory either refuses or ignores it.

Tolerance is also how a factory is judged. A tech pack without tolerances turns a normal production spread into an argument at inspection, because both sides are measuring the same garment against different assumptions.

Why an unbuildable tech pack fails

It fails in one of five ways: no points of measure, measurements without tolerances, fabric described by adjective rather than by weight and composition, construction drawn as a picture rather than specified, or a size run with no grading increments.

Each of those pushes a decision back onto the factory, and a decision made by the factory is a decision made by guesswork. The sample then arrives plausible but wrong, and the cost of the second sample lands on the buyer.

• No POM page: the pattern maker invents the fit.
• No tolerance: the inspection becomes a negotiation.
• Adjective fabric: the knitter picks the cheapest match.
• No grading: the 2XL is a guess.
• No trim page: labels arrive after the sewing line.

What a complete pack gets you here

With a complete pack we can quote, pattern and sample without a call: a sample in 7–10 days, and a bulk slot once the sample is approved. With a partial pack the first round becomes a conversation, and the clock starts after the answers rather than before.

If you do not have a pack yet, send the reference garment and the six pages in whatever state they are in. Building the missing pages with you is part of the first conversation, not a separate service.