A tech pack is a set of documents created by the design team to explain their design to a manufacturer so they can turn this information into a finished garment. Essentially, it is a tool used by designers and manufacturers to communicate. A tech pack also acts as a collaborative environment where designers, product developers, buyers, and quality control planners work together.

A typical tech pack includes technical sketches (or fashion flats), construction details, measurements, a Bill of Materials, and a costing sheet. In this blog post, we will show you how to create a tech pack for a handbag step-by-step.


Sketches and construction details


Every tech pack starts with technical sketches (also called fashion flats). They represent the idea of what a handbag has to look like when produced. Fashion flats should illustrate every design detail from different angles. When developing a tech pack for a handbag, we suggest including front, back, and inside views. This will help your factory and pattern maker visualize how to make the first handbag sample look as close as possible to your desired product. Technical sketches are done in black and white and are typically created using Adobe Illustrator.

If you are creating a handbag in different color variations, you can also include colored sketches. Make sure to add the corresponding Pantone color for each colorway.

Start with front and back view sketches of your handbag. Add construction details like stitch type.

Handbag front and back view sketches and construction details
Handbag front and back view sketches and construction details

Add the inside view sketches to show the inside details like lining, darts, and inside stitching.

Handbag inside view sketches and construction details
Handbag inside view sketches and construction detailsβ€Œβ€Œ

The next step is to add colorways along with the material placement. Specify the main fabric and lining placement. Handbags are complex, and to make them, a lot of little details are used. These details are called "hardware." And that includes zippers, magnetic closures, tri-glides, d-rings, etc. All of that has to go into a tech pack.

Handbag material placement and colorway
Handbag material placement and colorway

The Ultimate Guide to Tech Packs in Fashion
Learn what a Tech Pack is, why it is important, and how to create it using up-to-date tools. Bonus: free Tech Pack templates!
Learn how to create a professional tech pack with up-to-date tools.

A Bill of Materials


A Bill of Materials (BOM) is a complete list of all the items that are required to build a product. BOM helps brands estimate material costs to plan purchases and reduce waste. It also helps you never miss a single button or any other tiny detail when manufacturing your products.

When it comes to manufacturing a handbag, you will need to source a shell material like leather or an alternative to it, hardware accessories, trims, and leather thread. Your BOM table will include all of that, as well as labels, hand tags, and packaging supplies.

Handbag Bill of Materials
Handbag Bill of Materials

We highly recommend adding supplier info to your Bill of Materials. That will save a lot of time once it’s time to order a new batch of materials.


Measurements


The measurements specification sheet (or measurements table) is an elaborate detailing of the measurements of different components in a particular garment. The garment measurement sheet is one of the most important documents used to produce a garment. Therefore, it is very important to create a detailed measurement sheet.

The measurements sheet for a handbag consists of technical sketches with callouts and a measurements table. Callouts (also called annotations) showcase how the measurements are taken. They are also used to specify construction details and material placement.

Handbag call-outs
Handbag call-outs

A measurements table for a handbag should include every measurement needed for a pattern maker to produce the pattern for a specific handbag. Some examples of these measurements are bag length (top and bottom), strap width and length, bag flap and buckle measurements, etc.

Handbag measurement table

Costing Sheet


A costing sheet is made to calculate the cost of a product. It is a great tool for budget planning. Once you receive a quote from your factory, you will know how much it would cost to produce one handbag and the whole production run. Generally, the more handbags you produce, the lower the cost per handbag will be.

The costing sheet for a handbag will include:

  • Labor cost;
  • Materials costs, like leather, lining hardware (basically everything from your BOM table);
  • Labels and tags;
  • Packaging materials.
Handbag costing sheet
Handbag costing sheet

Once you create a costing sheet, you will know the total cost of one handbag. This will help you determine if the cost is within your budget, how many bags you can produce, or if you need to source different materials to cut down the cost.


Share with the manufacturer


Once you have your tech pack ready, you can generate a PDF doc in one click and share the factory-ready handbag tech pack with your manufacturer.

Finalized handbag tech pack that is ready to be shared with the factory
Finalized handbag tech pack that is ready to be shared with the factory

Once you share the tech pack with your manufacturer and sign the manufacturing agreement with them, the sample making process begins. During this process, the tech pack may be edited many times until you are satisfied with the final result. So it is important to keep each tech pack version on hand and compare them as needed.

Comparing two tech pack versions

Bonus: a free handbag tech pack template


Hand bag Tech pack
Example of a Hand Bag tech pack PDF made with Techpacker

Use our free handbag template as a base to design your own bag or as a reference guide.




Other related content:

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How To Create a Tech pack for Footwear Products
In this blog post, we will show you how to create a tech pack for a pair of shoes.




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