Do I really need a tech pack for my clothing design?

5 more reasons why it’s a mistake to develop your design without a tech pack

Let me state for the record, that I do not NEED glasses.  I am legal to drive without them. 

Don’t listen to my husband’s story about the time I tried to pet a racoon because I thought it was a fluffy cat with a striped tail.  The DMV says I’m fine. 

Also, in my defense, it was dark out. And racoons are cute. 

Despite being legal to drive without glasses, though, I can read signs (and cats) much better with them on.  So, even though the DMV says I don’t need them, I generally wear glasses when I’m driving. 

Similarly, maybe you’re working with a factory who has told you you don’t need a tech pack to get your design into production.  

While this may technically be true, the process will be easier and faster, and your product will be consistently higher quality if you and your factory are working from a tech pack.   

In other words: just because the DMV tells you you can drive without glasses doesn’t mean you should.   

In my last blog post I talked about why it’s so important for you to own your brand’s measurements by starting development with a tech pack.  This week I’ll cover five more reasons it’s so important to start your development with a tech pack. 

Here are five more reasons to start your development with a tech pack: 

Consistency:

Without a tech pack to tell your factory what fabrics, trims, colors, and exact measurements you want, things can (and will) change from season to season and order to order.  It’s too hard for the factory (and for you) to keep track of email chains and verbal conversations to put together all the pieces of your garment. 

A tech pack contains everything needed to create your design, so your factory doesn’t have to guess, and you (and your customer) aren’t surprised by what comes in.

Less returns:

Consistency leads to less returns.  Customers don’t like it when the fit of their favorite shirt changes without warning, or when a matching zipper suddenly becomes a contrasting zipper. 

Keeping your product consistent from order to order means your customer is less likely to return it.

It will help your brand grow:

Developing apparel without tech packs is messy, and it’s not sustainable at a larger scale. 

Brands that are successful over the long-term work from tech packs. 

Without a tech pack, it’s impossible to remember everything about every style.  You’ll find yourself digging through emails trying to figure out what happened last and hoping you didn’t miss anything, and your factory will be, too. 

It increases the number (and quality) of factories you can work with:

Aside from being messy at a larger scale, most large factories won’t work with you if you don’t have a tech pack.  Which puts you in that bind of trying to get your measurements from your current factory to create a tech pack of your existing style.

Factories don’t take you seriously without a tech pack:

In my experience a factory who works with you without a tech pack is not eager to make changes you ask for and may not be willing to follow a tech pack once you’ve started without one. 

What if you’ve already started your development without a tech pack and now you want to create one? 

I help clients in this exact position every day.  Contact me and we can chat about how to get started.

Need help creating your first tech pack?

Schedule a call to chat about your needs and see if we would be a good fit to work together. The call is free and there’s no obligation.