If you are sending a style to a factory, a tech pack template can help you start faster. But the real job is giving your supplier one clear file with the sketches, specs, materials, trims, artwork, and notes they need to sample correctly. This guide shows what to include, where manual workflows get messy, and how AI can speed up the first draft without taking away your control.
What is a tech pack template?
A tech pack template is a starting layout for organizing flats, measurements, fabrics, trims, artwork, labels, and construction details. Designers use templates so they do not have to rebuild the same structure every time a new style starts.
Templates save setup time, but they still leave you filling in every row, callout, and revision by hand. That is why many teams now use AI to build the first version faster, then review and export the pack in the format the factory expects.
How to make a factory-ready tech pack
A factory-ready tech pack should answer the questions a manufacturer will ask before they quote, sample, or produce the garment. A reliable process is to start from the style reference, add specs and materials, check the details, and export once the pack is ready to share.
- Start with a garment photo, sketch, or flat that clearly shows the silhouette, construction, and design details.
- Add measurements, size range, fabrics, trims, labels, artwork, and any notes the factory needs for sampling.
- Review the pack for vague callouts, repeated materials, missing placements, and version-control issues before sending it out.
- Export PDF or Excel once the pack is clear enough to act as the current source of truth for the style.
What every factory-ready tech pack should include
- Front and back flats or reference images that show the garment clearly.
- Measurement tables with sizes, grading, and tolerance details.
- A bill of materials for fabrics, trims, labels, packaging, and hardware.
- Construction notes, seam details, artwork placements, and labeling instructions.
- Style name, version history, and shareable export files.
Excel and Illustrator vs AI: why the manual workflow gets slow
The slowdown usually starts before export. Designers update flats in Illustrator, copy specs into Excel, rebuild BOMs, export a PDF, make a revision, and then do it again. That creates version-control problems and extra admin work around every style.
AI helps by turning a garment image into the first draft, keeping edits together, and letting you export once the pack is organized. Excel can still be the file you send to a factory. It just does not need to be the place where the whole tech pack is built by hand.
Choose the guide you need next
If you need a free template, start with the template guide. If you are building a pack for production, use the factory-ready guide. If your current process lives in Excel and Illustrator, read the comparison and see where AI can remove repetitive setup work.
