Tech packs are the foundation of product development. They capture everything a manufacturer needs to make a product correctly.

In apparel, a tech pack usually includes sketches, measurements, a bill of materials, reference images, and notes. Most designers create them by combining spreadsheets, drawings, documents, PDFs, and email conversations.

This process is often slow and difficult to manage. Files end up in different places. Reference images get lost. Updates are hard to follow. When deadlines are tight, even a small mistake or delay can create larger problems.

What a Tech Pack Needs to Do

A useful tech pack must do three things.

  1. It must present product information in a format that both designers and manufacturers understand.
  2. It must work as a living document. A tech pack changes through several rounds of development as the designer and manufacturer agree on what will be produced.
  3. It must provide traceability. Both sides should be able to identify what changed, when it changed, and who made the change. There should be no confusion about who removed the third button from the cuff.

Until now, there has been no standard digital file format designed for this entire process.

People who work with numbers have spreadsheets.

People who work with images have Illustrator and Photoshop.

People who write documents have Word and Google Docs.

Product designers do not have a clear equivalent. They must assemble their work from several applications and manage the files, images, revisions, and conversations separately.

Two New File Formats

At the center of Builder are two new file formats:

  • .tp Techpack Product: The editable working file for a product. It contains the tech pack and supports its development over time. Designers work directly with .tp files.
  • .tpv Techpack Version: A read-only snapshot created at a specific point in time. Each .tpv file is fixed, timestamped, and has a version number. Designers can send a new .tpv file to the manufacturer after each round of changes.

The .tp file is the living product document. The .tpv file records exactly what was shared at each stage.

About Work Ownership

Builder is file-based and launches with a local workspace. Your files stay under your control.

You can store them on your computer, keep your own backups, attach them to emails, or share them through a network folder. You can move your work between systems just as you would with .psd, .xlsx, or .docx files.

Software should help you create durable work.

Builder will later support cloud and enterprise features, but the same principles will remain: files will be portable, exportable, and yours to keep, whether they are stored locally or in the cloud.

Built for Visual, Fast Work

Builder is a major departure from the forms, browser workflows, and web-first tools common in this market.

It provides a dedicated environment for working with the sketches, images, spreadsheets, and other assets that make up a product. Because the workspace is local, Builder is fast and allows designers to work with visual content more naturally.

Builder also uses a WYSIWYG approach: what you see on the screen is what you can print or send. You can prepare tech packs for different paper sizes and export them as .tpv or PDF files.

What Comes Next

This is the first public version of Techpacker Builder. It focuses on fast, efficient tech-pack creation for individual designers working locally.

Future versions will add cloud collaboration and enterprise features. Those features will require a paid plan, but we are committed to keeping the local app free for individual creators.

Builder is an important step for Techpacker. We are creating a proper home for product-design work, one that helps designers and manufacturers stay aligned and spend less time fighting with documentation.