Tech Pack Template: A Complete Worked T-Shirt Spec You Can Copy

Part of the how to source apparel direct from factories cluster. Most tech pack templates hand you an empty grid and leave you to guess what a factory needs in each cell. This page does the opposite: it is a finished spec for one real garment, with every number filled in, so you can see the level of detail that produces a quotable, sewable style. For the explanation of why each section exists — grading theory, tolerance behaviour, testing standards, development costs — read the complete apparel tech pack guide. This page is the artifact.

Everything below is a worked example. Read it as an apparel tech pack sample rather than a form: the measurements come from an illustrative fit block, not yours. Copy the structure, keep the conventions, and replace the numbers with your own block once it is approved.

Tech pack example, tech pack sample or spec sheet: the same document

The document has four or five names depending on who is asking, and none of them signals a different artifact. A designer, a merchandiser and a factory merchandiser mean the same eight sections.

Terms people use for this, and what each search is actually after.

The last row is the one that causes trouble in practice. A factory asking for the spec sheet may mean only the measurement table; send the whole pack anyway, because the measurements are unquotable without the fabric, stitch and packaging sections around them.

Section 1 — Style header

The cover page. Everything else in the pack is meaningless without a version number on it.

Section 2 — Bill of materials

Every component with supplier, colour, placement, consumption and unit. Consumption is the field brands skip and the one that turns a BOM into a cost sheet — fabric alone is 35–50% of FOB on a knit basic.

Section 3 — Colourway page

Every component mapped to a colour standard, with the system named. "PANTONE 19-4005" without "TCX" is not a specification.

Two rules that belong on this page, not in an email. TCX is cotton and is the production standard; TPG is coated paper and is for design only. And a heather or melange shade cannot be matched to a TCX chip at all — it is a yarn blend, so it is specified as a blend ratio against an approved yarn standard. More in colour approval, lab dips and Delta E.

Section 4 — Construction and stitch callouts

Stitch classes under ISO 4915, seam classes under ISO 4916, with ASTM D6193 as the US practice. Naming the class is what stops a factory substituting a single-needle lockstitch hem on a knit, which cracks the first time the garment is pulled on.

Section 5 — Points of measure, graded S to XXL, with tolerances

All measurements are half-measure, laid flat, in inches, taken on a conditioned garment after finishing. Half-measure flat is the working convention on an Asian floor; if you mean circumference, write circumference.

Three notes that have to travel with this table.

• Grade rules are not uniform. Chest, body length and sweep grade a full inch; shoulder half an inch; sleeve length, sleeve opening and neck width a quarter; front neck drop and rib width do not grade at all. A pack that says "grade as standard" is a pack where the factory's pattern master decides what standard means.
• The category default for casual t-shirts is ±0.5 in on critical points and ±0.75 on secondary. This spec tightens the small points to ±0.25 deliberately: a quarter inch on a neck opening is visible on a hanger and a quarter inch on a sweep is not.
• Add a sample-mean requirement. The inspected sample mean must sit within ±0.15 in of the stated measurement. Without it a bulk can run at +0.45 in on every piece, pass every individual check, and still be a wider garment than the one you approved.

Section 6 — Labelling, care and packaging

US-bound goods carry four mandatory disclosures under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act, plus a permanent care label under the FTC Care Labeling Rule.

The care instruction must have a reasonable basis for the finished garment, not just the shell fabric — a print or a fusible that fails at the stated wash temperature makes the label wrong even if the jersey survives. See US apparel labeling requirements.

Section 7 — QC and testing requirements

Inspection standard and lab tests, stated in the pack rather than agreed after the goods are made.

On a 5,000-piece lot at AQL 2.5, up to 5.0% of the inspected sample can be defective and the lot still passes. AQL is a commercial risk threshold, not a quality target — see AQL inspection for brand owners.

What to change for a hoodie or a woven shirt

The structure above transfers. Three blocks of it change.

For a pullover hoodie:

• Fabric moves to 320 gsm brushed loopback fleece with matching 2×2 rib for cuffs and waistband — see reading a fabric spec: GSM, yarn count and spinning.
• Add points of measure: hood height, hood width, hood opening, cuff depth, waistband depth, pocket placement from HPS and pocket opening.
• Add BOM lines: drawcord with tipping, eyelets or metal grommets, and a zipper with tape colour and slider finish if it is a full-zip.
• Sewing time rises from about 8.5 standard minutes to 21, FOB from roughly $4.30 to $10.20, and the first sample from $200–350 to $300–600.
• If it is a children's style, US law restricts drawstrings in the hood and neck area — check before you draw it.

For a woven shirt:

• Stitch classes change almost entirely: 301 lockstitch throughout, SPI 12–16, with a 516 five-thread safety stitch or a felled seam where a knit would use 504.
• Tolerance tightens to the fitted-shirt band, ±0.25 in on critical points and ±0.5 on secondary.
• Add POMs for collar point length, collar band height, placket width, cuff height, yoke width and back pleat.
• Add fusible interlining, buttons with ligne size and buttonhole placement to the BOM.
• Watch the tariff line. CBP defines a t-shirt under heading 6109 as a lightweight jersey knit with hemmed sleeves and bottom, a close neckline, no buttons, no opening and no collar. Add a placket or a collar and the garment moves to 6105 or 6106, and the general rate on cotton moves from 16.5% to 19.7%. Rates are illustrative of method; verify against the current HTSUS. See HTS codes for apparel.

How to use this apparel tech pack template in practice

The format matters less than the completeness, but the tooling question comes up every time.

• Flats in Illustrator, tables in a spreadsheet. Draw proportional line-art front and back with callout lines to every seam and detail, export to PDF, and keep the BOM, POM and construction tables where they can be filtered, versioned and pasted into a factory costing sheet.
• Send it as one dated PDF plus the live measurement sheet. Factories work from the PDF; merchandisers work from the sheet.
• Version on every change. Reissue rather than emailing corrections. Bulk gets built against whichever file the sample room has open.
• Send it with the sample request, not after. A price quoted against a photograph is a price for the factory's fabric on the factory's block.

Terms used here are defined in the Yarnstick glossary.

Completeness checklist before you issue

Run this over any clothing tech pack template you fill in, this one included. Each unchecked box is a decision the factory will make on your behalf.

• [ ] Version number on every page and a revision log
• [ ] Base size named and every produced size graded in full
• [ ] Flat versus circumference stated at the top of the measurement table
• [ ] Tolerance against every point of measure, plus a sample-mean requirement
• [ ] Grade rule column filled, including the points that do not grade
• [ ] Fabric specified as weight, construction, yarn count and finish — not a fabric name
• [ ] Consumption per piece on every BOM line
• [ ] Stitch class, seam allowance, SPI and hem depth on every operation
• [ ] Thread type and ticket number, and the colour rule per colourway
• [ ] Pantone code and system for every component in every colourway
• [ ] Fibre content, origin, RN or legal name, care wording and label placement
• [ ] Test methods with acceptance levels, and the AQL agreed in writing

Frequently asked questions