No tech pack? Here is exactly what to send a factory instead
Most first-time activewear buyers do not have a tech pack, and most factories will not say what to send instead. Six things that let a manufacturer quote you accurately without one.
A tech pack is a technical drawing plus a bill of materials plus a graded measurement chart plus construction notes. Established brands have one. Almost nobody launching their first collection does, and the standard response — “please send your tech pack” — stops the conversation dead.
You do not need one to get a real quotation. You need to answer six questions, and a factory with its own design room can build the tech pack from the answers. Here is the list, in the order it matters.
1. A reference garment or photo
The single most useful thing you can send. A photograph of a garment you like — from a competitor, a retail site, a Pinterest board, anywhere — tells a pattern maker more in two seconds than three paragraphs of description. Front and back if you have them.
Better still, post us the actual garment. We will measure it, take it apart if you want us to, and tell you what it is made of and what it costs to reproduce. This is normal and it is the fastest route from idea to accurate price.
2. Your target retail price
Buyers hide this, worried it will be used against them. It will not, and withholding it wastes everybody’s time: a garment aimed at a 39 dollar retail and a garment aimed at a 98 dollar retail are different garments, in different fabrics, with different construction. Tell us the number you need to hit and we will engineer towards it — or tell you early that it is not reachable and why, which is more useful than a quote you cannot use.
3. The fabric feel, in plain words
You do not need to specify “75% nylon 25% spandex, 260gsm”. You need to say buttery-soft like Lululemon Align, or matte and compressive, or lightweight and quick-dry for hot yoga. That is enough for us to pull three or four candidate fabrics and send you swatches. The technical specification is our job to write; the hand feel is your decision to make.
4. Sizes and your market
US, EU, UK or AU grading — they are not the same, and the difference is not a relabelling exercise. Tell us your primary market and your size range, and whether you want the sizes graded to a standard chart or to your own.
5. Branding, and where it goes
Your logo file at the best resolution you have (AI, PDF, PSD or 300dpi PNG — and if all you have is a low-resolution image, we redraw it free of charge). Then say where it goes: waistband print, chest embroidery, woven neck label, silicone heat transfer, custom hangtag. Each of those is a different process with a different cost and a different minimum, so naming them early keeps the quote honest.
6. Quantity and when you need it
An honest quantity, not an impressive one. Pricing at 50 pieces and pricing at 2,000 pieces are different conversations, and a factory that quotes you the 2,000-piece price for a 50-piece order is setting up an argument later. Add your deadline — a date changes what is possible more often than a budget does.
What you get back
With those six answers we send a construction proposal, fabric options with swatches, a craft breakdown and a per-piece price at your quantity. If it looks right, we draft the pattern and sample it. At the end of development you receive the finished tech pack, and it belongs to you — including if you later take it to a different manufacturer.
That last point is worth checking with any supplier before you start. A development fee that does not end with you owning the specification is not development. It is a lease.
Put it to the test
on a real order.
Send a tech pack, a sketch or a reference photo. You get a quotation within 24 hours, a sample in days, and the inspection standard written into the order before anything is cut.