How to Prepare a Tech Pack a Factory Can Actually Quote

You don't need a 30-page tech pack to get a manufacturing quote. To price your order, a factory needs five things: your artwork as high-resolution files (AI, PDF, or 300 DPI PNG), a fabric spec or a reference garment, measurements or a size chart, the quantity per color, and where each print or embroidery sits on the garment. Send us those five, and we return a formal quotation after the design review confirms sufficient project details.

We're Jiashun Apparel, a cut-and-sew factory in Humen, Dongguan that makes custom men's streetwear — tees, hoodies, sweatshirts, shorts, denim, jackets. Most first orders we quote don't arrive as polished tech packs. They arrive as a folder of reference photos, a logo file, and sometimes a spec list the founder generated with ChatGPT. That's fine. What decides whether you get a real quote in a day or two weeks of email ping-pong is whether those five elements are answerable. Here's what each one looks like when it's done right, and what makes it stall.

The five things a factory needs to quote you

Here's the whole list at a glance; the sections below cover each element in detail.

Tech pack element	What good looks like	What stalls a quote
Artwork files	Vector (AI, EPS, PDF) for embroidery and screen print; 300 DPI PNG or TIFF at print size; named colors	A 400-pixel web logo, or artwork warped onto a 3D mockup
Fabric spec	Composition, weight, knit type ("100% cotton, 250 gsm jersey"), or a physical benchmark garment	"Premium quality fabric" with no weight attached
Measurements	Flat measurements per size: chest, body length, shoulder, sleeve, hem	"Standard US sizing" or a size list with no numbers
Quantity	Per design and color ("Design A: 100 black, 50 cream"); ask for tiers if undecided	"Somewhere between 50 and 500 depending on price"
Decoration	A placement map: location, size and method for every decoration	"Put it on the chest" with no dimensions

1. Artwork files we can actually produce from

What good looks like: vector files (AI, EPS, or PDF) for anything that will be embroidered or screen printed, because vectors scale to any size without losing edges. For DTG or digital prints, a PNG or TIFF at 300 DPI at the actual print size works. Name your colors — Pantone codes if you have them, plain descriptions ("off-white, washed black") if you don't.

What causes back-and-forth: a logo saved from your own website at 400 pixels wide, or a mockup where the artwork is warped onto a 3D model and we have to ask for the flat original. We can sometimes redraw simple logos as vectors, but that adds days and guesswork — and if we guess a curve slightly wrong, you find out at the sample stage.

If the designer who made your logo is reachable, ask them for the "source file" or "vector version." They'll know exactly what you mean.

2. A fabric spec — or an honest reference

What good looks like: three data points — composition, weight, and knit type. For example: "100% cotton, 250 gsm jersey" for a heavyweight tee, or "80/20 cotton-poly, 400 gsm brushed fleece" for a hoodie. We commonly run 100% cotton and blends in jersey, fleece, and french terry, roughly 180–500 gsm, so almost any streetwear weight you've handled is quotable.

If you don't know gsm (grams per square meter — fabric weight, and the single biggest cost driver in a blank garment; our streetwear GSM guide maps the weight bands): reference something physical. "Same weight as a Gildan 5000" or "heavier than a standard blank, boxy heavyweight feel" gives us enough to propose a specific fabric and price it. Vague adjectives don't. "Premium quality fabric" could mean 180 gsm or 450 gsm — the cost difference between those is enormous, and no factory can put a number on an adjective.

A note on AI-generated specs: we increasingly receive spec sheets written by ChatGPT, and they're a genuinely useful starting skeleton. But sanity-check the numbers — we've seen "lightweight summer tee, 400 gsm" and fabric names that don't match the garment. Tell us which lines you actually decided and which the AI filled in, and we'll flag anything that doesn't add up during the design review.

3. Measurements or a size chart

What good looks like: flat measurements per size for the points that define fit — chest width, body length, shoulder width, sleeve length, hem. Even a chart for just your base size (usually L or XL in streetwear) plus "grade up/down normally" is workable. Our size chart walkthrough shows how to build the full chart from a reference garment.

This matters more in streetwear than almost any other category. "Oversized" is not a measurement. A boxy cropped tee and a longline drop-shoulder tee can both be called oversized and share zero measurements. If your whole brand identity is a specific silhouette, the numbers are the brand.

The shortcut: if you own a garment that fits exactly how you want yours to fit, measure it flat with a tape and send us the numbers — or ship us the garment itself. "Clone this fit, change the fabric and branding" is one of the cleanest briefs a factory can receive.

What causes back-and-forth: "standard US sizing" (there is no such standard) or a size list with no numbers attached.

4. Quantity per design and color

What good looks like: "Design A: 100 black, 50 cream. Design B: 50 black." Quantity per colorway determines fabric purchasing and unit price, so a quote without it is a placeholder. If you're deciding between volumes, say so — we'll quote tiers (say, 50 / 100 / 300 pieces) so you can see how the unit price moves.

For reference, our MOQ starts at 50 pieces; the final minimum depends on the product, fabric, wash, and customization. A rough size curve (10% S, 30% M, 35% L, 25% XL) helps but can be finalized later.

What causes back-and-forth: "somewhere between 50 and 500 depending on price." We understand the logic, but it inverts the process — quantity is an input to the price, not an output. Tiered quotes solve this: pick two or three realistic volumes and ask for all of them.

5. Decoration: placement, size, and method

What good looks like: a simple placement map. It can be a flat sketch or even an annotated photo: "front chest logo, embroidered, 10 cm wide, centered 7 cm below the collar seam; back print, screen print, 30 cm wide, centered." Every decoration needs a location, a size, and a method.

If you don't know which method to choose, say so and describe the look you want. Embroidery, screen printing, DTG, heat transfer, and puff print each behave differently on different fabrics and at different quantities — recommending the right one is part of our design review, and it's a normal question, not a rookie one.

What causes back-and-forth: artwork with no dimensions ("put it on the chest"), or a reference photo of a garment covered in an 8-color oversized print paired with a budget that fits a 1-color chest hit. Neither is fatal — but resolving them by email adds days that a placement map would have saved.

No tech pack? Here's the realistic path

Plenty of real brands started their first production run without a tech pack, and the working substitute is simpler than most founders expect: reference photos plus measurements.

Here's how that works with us in practice:

1. Send clear photos of the garment you want to base yours on — front, back, and any detail that matters (cuff ribbing, stitch style, hood shape). Product photos from a brand's website are fine as fit and style references.
2. Tell us exactly what changes: your fabric weight, your colors, your artwork, your labels.
3. Give us numbers for the fit — measure a garment you own, or ship it to us.
4. We review before we quote. Our team goes through fabric, fit, artwork, and decoration method, flags anything unclear or unworkable, and then issues the formal quotation once sufficient project details are confirmed.

From there, sampling does the job a tech pack would have done. A sample takes 10–15 working days, with pricing and delivery confirmed after project review. Once you approve it (the sample approval checklist covers exactly what to verify), the sample is the spec — bulk production (20–30 working days) is measured against it, and we agree project-specific production updates before work begins so you're never guessing what's happening on the floor.

The one thing photos can't replace is decisions. A factory can fill in construction details; it can't decide your fabric weight, your fit, or your base colors for you.

Common mistakes that stall a quote

• Low-resolution logos. A screenshot of your logo cannot be embroidered or cleanly printed. Get the vector source file before you contact any factory — it's a one-email fix that saves a week.
• No fabric weight. Missing gsm is the number-one reason quotes come back as ranges instead of prices. If you don't know the number, name a garment we can benchmark.
• No base-color decision. "Black, or maybe cream, or maybe washed grey" changes fabric sourcing, dye process, and how your print colors are separated. Quote-ready means colorways are chosen — you can adjust at the sample stage, but start somewhere.
• Screenshot-only references. A blurry Instagram crop shows a vibe, not a spec. Pair every reference photo with words: what specifically about this garment do you want — the fit, the wash, the print style?
• Specifying everything except what matters to you. A 12-page AI-generated pack with unverified stitch densities but no chest measurement is harder to quote than five accurate lines. Depth on the details you care about beats breadth on details you don't.

FAQ

Do I need a tech pack to get a quote from a clothing manufacturer? No. Reference photos plus measurements and clear artwork are enough for us to review and quote. A tech pack speeds things up and reduces sampling rounds, but the sample-approval process catches what documents miss either way.

How fast can I get a quote? Once your package covers the five elements above, we issue a formal quotation after design review. Incomplete packages don't get rejected; they get questions, and the quotation follows once the missing details are confirmed.

What does sampling cost and how long does it take? Samples take 10–15 working days; pricing and delivery are confirmed after project review.

What's the minimum order for custom streetwear? Our MOQ starts at 50 pieces; the final minimum and colorway breakdown depend on the product, fabric, wash, and customization. Confirm the breakdown for each design and color before costing.

Ready when your files are

If you have the five elements — or just reference photos and a fit you can measure — send them over and we'll take it from there. Email sales@jiashunclothing.com or message us on WhatsApp at +86 133 1662 6415. Tell us what you're building, and we'll come back with the design review and a formal quote after sufficient project details are reviewed.