· clothink
How to Write a Tech Pack Factories Will Actually Quote From
- Tech packs
- Product development
- Fashion tech
When a factory goes quiet after you send a pack, they are usually not busy — they are pricing risk. Vague fabric, an incomplete size grade, or materials they cannot name cleanly force guesswork. Guesswork shows up as inflated quotes, delayed replies, or a polite request to resubmit.
Sending a tech pack does not automatically mean they have enough to give you a reliable price. The goal is not the longest pack — it is to remove the uncertainties that actually move cost. This guide is written from the factory side of the table: what drives a quote, what belongs in the RFQ versus the pack, and the quote-ready floor before you expect a sample PO.
For the full AI-assisted workflow, see What Is an AI Tech Pack?. To compare workspace options, read our guide to the best tech pack software for fashion brands. For how tech-pack AI sits among broader industry uses, see AI in the fashion industry: what actually works.
Pack versus RFQ
A meaningful quotation needs five answers: what the garment is, what it is made from, how it is constructed, how many units you expect, and which commercial and quality requirements apply. The tech pack should answer the first three. Your request for quotation (RFQ) should answer the last two.
That split matters. Even a technically detailed pack produces a misleading price when it arrives without quantities, delivery expectations, or testing. State the first-order quantity you genuinely expect — by style and colour, with size ratio where you know it — not a vague “1,000 to 5,000” ambition. Ask the factory to show price breaks separately.
- Estimated order quantity by style and colourway.
- Intended size range and expected size breakdown or ratio.
- Target delivery or ex-factory date and required Incoterm (FOB, CMT, DDP).
- Sample stages, testing or certification, and whether materials are nominated or factory-sourced.
- Target price only when you have a realistic commercial number.
What actually drives a quote
A production manager rarely reads your pack front to back on the first pass. They jump to the sections that determine material cost, labour, and processing — fabric, BOM, graded size run, prints or washes, packaging, and compliance where it applies. Style codes and season labels matter for filing — but they do not move the price.
- Main fabric with composition, weight, width, and finish — not “technical shell” or “cotton jersey” without gsm.
- BOM with every major material named — shell, lining, interlining, trims, labels — with type, composition or spec, and colour/code where relevant.
- Size range and ratio for the buy you are costing — factories use the grade and distribution to calculate consumption.
- Construction callouts for seams, closures, and specialist processes — anything that changes labour or machinery.
- Decorative processes written into the pack — prints, embroidery, washes — not left for the factory to infer from a reference image.
Factories usually fill in consumption themselves from the graded chart, fabric width, and flat — empty qty cells on a client BOM are normal at RFQ.
Quote-ready, sample-ready, bulk-ready
One pack does not need to answer every production question on day one. Make clear what is confirmed, what is provisional, and which assumptions the factory should use for costing.
- Quote-ready — enough to calculate an informed price and state assumptions; some colours, suppliers, or packaging can stay TBC.
- Sample-ready — confirmed base-size measurements, clear construction, artwork dimensions, material direction, and a how-to-measure guide.
- Bulk-ready — approved graded measurements, tolerances, materials, colours, labels, packaging, testing, and sampling changes locked in.
What usually triggers a follow-up
These gaps do not always kill a quote, but they usually mean email back-and-forth or padded contingency before you get a number you can trust:
- BOM gaps or flat contradictions — trims, lining, or components visible on the flat but missing from the BOM (or left blank without TBC).
- Fabric described visually — “premium”, “soft”, “heavyweight” without measurable composition, weight, width, or finish.
- Quantity missing or vague — factories need units by style and colour, not only the maximum volume you might eventually reach.
- Size range or grade incomplete — without the run and likely size distribution, consumption is guesswork.
- Expensive processes hidden in reference images — washes, printing, bonding, quilting, or seam sealing never written into the spec.
- Compliance introduced after pricing — testing and certification can change materials, construction, and factory choice.
- Several versions circulating — no revision number, or FINAL / FINAL2 filenames, so nobody knows which design the quote relates to.
- Packaging unclear — polybag, carton, hang-tag, or market labelling not specified; the factory emails before costing logistics.
Minimum viable pack — section by section
Treat this as the quote-ready floor. Sections are ordered by what factories cost first — fabric, BOM, graded size chart — then visuals, construction, and housekeeping. Flag what is still open rather than pretending every field is final.
1. Fabric specification
Shell, lining, and any interlining each need composition, weight, usable width, and finish. A factory cannot price 12 oz indigo denim the same as 8 oz chambray — and “shell fabric” tells them nothing. Finish affects dyeing, washing, and unit cost.
Example they can work with: 100% cotton, 12 oz denim, approximately 400 gsm, 150 cm cuttable width, garment washed, indigo. Width feeds marker efficiency alongside your size run. When the final fabric is not selected, give a target spec and ask the factory to name what they costed. Do not present AI-estimated composition or weight as confirmed — treat it as a draft to check against supplier data.
Produce — fabric analysis demo
Fabric & colour analysis
Denim Trucker Jacket
Fabric type
Indigo denim
Weight
12 oz / ~400 gsm
Composition
100% cotton
Dominant colour
Indigo #2B3A55
Accent colour
Copper hardware #C4A574
2. BOM — material identity
A costing BOM lists what goes into the garment: main fabric, lining, interlining, trims, thread, labels. Name each line with enough spec to source and price — material type, composition or description, colour/code, supplier ref if you have one. For a zip, that means type, gauge, length, colour, finish, and open- or closed-end construction.
- Categorised rows covering all major materials.
- Spec clear enough to price — not “shell fabric”.
- Open items flagged TBC with the costing assumption you want used — not blank rows.
- Empty qty cells are normal at RFQ — factories calculate consumption themselves.
Main zip supplier TBC. Quote using a standard size 5 recycled nylon coil zip in matching colour.
3. Size chart — for consumption
At quote stage, the size chart is how the factory calculates fabric consumption. For an early estimate, a clear base-size chart, intended size range, and expected size ratio can be enough. For a firmer quote, provide fully graded POMs across the run — not a chart borrowed from another style.
A buy weighted toward larger sizes consumes more material than one centred on the middle of the range. Ask the factory to state the size ratio or consumption assumptions behind the price. Tolerances help later at sample QC; they are not the headline for a first quote.
- Size range and expected quantity by size or ratio.
- Base size identified; full grade when you need a confirmed quote.
- How-to-measure guide once you move toward sampling.
Produce — size chart demo
| Measurement | Grading | Tol. | XS | S | M | L | XL | 2XL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Waist | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hip | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Shoulder width | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Body length | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sleeve length | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
4. Flats and visual reference
Front and back flats with construction lines visible give the factory a shared visual anchor for panels, pockets, openings, fastenings, and artwork positions. Add detail views where the main flat cannot carry a feature. A mockup can support intent, but it should not replace the flat — and both must show the same design.
Produce — CAD analysis demo
5. Construction notes
Construction notes translate the flat into sewing instructions: seam types, stitch density where critical, hem finish, pocket bag construction, and any bonded or taped joins. You do not need a paragraph for every seam — but anything that requires specialist equipment or changes labour meaningfully should be explicit.
- Seam types, stitch density where critical, hem finish, pocket bag construction.
- Any bonded, taped, or raw-edge finishes called out explicitly.
6. Cover, packaging, and testing
The cover sheet is housekeeping — brand, style name, style code, season, gender, fit, revision date, colourways being quoted, and sample stage requested. Use a revision number and a controlled filename (for example Brand_StyleCode_RFQ_V1_2026-07-22.pdf). Avoid FINAL, FINAL2, and NEWFINAL.
Packaging does not need to be fully resolved for a first garment estimate, but unusual requirements should be flagged. Ask the factory to separate standard packaging from optional branded packaging so elaborate assumptions are not buried in the unit price. State testing and certification early — restricted substances, colourfastness, children’s product, PPE — and whether those costs sit in the quote or on a separate line.
- Brand, style code, revision date, supplier-facing contact.
- Known label and packaging requirements, or “standard packaging assumed”.
- Testing and compliance called out in the RFQ, not after the price lands.
7. One controlled PDF — and ask for assumptions
The quotation pack should feel like one product record: cover, flats, colourways, fabric, BOM, measurements, construction, artwork, packaging, testing, revision notes. One PDF beats a folder of mismatched files. Supporting artwork can still attach separately, but the PDF should stand alone.
Even a strong pack has early uncertainty. Ask the factory to record the basis of its price — quantity, size ratio, fabric spec and width, estimated consumption, trim quality, print or wash assumptions, packaging, testing, Incoterm, sample charges, MOQ surcharges, quote validity, and lead time. Without those, a lower unit price may simply mean lighter fabric, a cheaper zip, or a much larger order quantity.
Produce — tech pack workspace
Approved mockup
Style Information
Style code
TP-042-DENIM-JACKET
Style name
Denim Trucker Jacket
Product
Jacket
Season
SS26
Fit
Regular
Produce — factory-ready PDF
Technical Specification
Denim Trucker Jacket
SS26 · TP-042-DENIM-JACKET
Created
March 2026
Product type
Jacket
Status
Proto
Version
1.0
How clothink helps you ship a quote-ready first draft
In clothink Produce, you can assemble style info, flats, fabric, BOM, size charts, construction notes, and artwork in one workspace — then export a supplier-facing PDF with version history. AI can draft fabric fields, BOM rows, and construction callouts from garment context. Those outputs are not verified manufacturing data: composition, weight, measurements, and compliance still need a human review before anything goes to a factory.
- Fabric analysis drafts composition, weight, and colour fields from the garment image.
- CAD analysis surfaces construction callouts from your flat.
- Auto-Complete drafts BOM and size chart from existing style context.
- Graded size charts across your size range — so consumption inputs are complete before export.
- Version history keeps one source of truth before you export PDF.
Build a pack factories can quote from
Bring CADs, specs, measurements, and BOM into one clothink workspace — then export a controlled supplier-facing PDF.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a complete tech pack to get a factory quote?
You need enough for materials, construction, size range, quantity, and commercial requirements. Some details can stay provisional for an early estimate if costing assumptions are stated clearly. Most factories still prefer that information in one PDF rather than a lone spreadsheet.
How complete must a BOM be before I request a quote?
Name every major material clearly enough to source and price — shell, lining, interlining, trims, labels. Empty qty cells are normal; factories often calculate consumption themselves. Flag open items as TBC with the assumption you want used, rather than leaving blank rows.
Does a factory need a fully graded size chart to quote?
A full grade is ideal for a precise quotation because it supports consumption across the size range. For an early estimate, some factories can work from a base-size chart, intended size range, and expected size ratio — and should state those assumptions on the quote.
What is the difference between quote-ready and production-ready?
Quote-ready is enough to estimate cost and document assumptions. Production-ready (bulk-ready) has approved measurements, tolerances, materials, colours, construction, labels, packaging, and testing for manufacture.
Can I request a quote from only a sketch or reference image?
You may get a very rough estimate, but it will be assumption-heavy. Clear flats, fabric specs, quantities, and construction produce a quotation you can actually compare.
Should I tell the factory my target price?
A realistic target can help them assess feasibility and propose material or construction alternatives. It should not replace a proper quotation or a cost breakdown.
Can AI create a factory-ready tech pack?
AI can accelerate a structured first draft, but it cannot confirm fabric properties, fit, measurements, construction feasibility, or compliance from an image alone. Review every technical field before the pack goes to a manufacturer.
Explore clothink pricing when you are ready to build quote-ready packs without the spreadsheet patchwork.