What is technical design?

Written By Heather Kleinow

Technical design in apparel is the process of turning creative fashion sketches into, functional, and producible garments by creating detailed technical packages (tech packs). Technical designers, or "garment engineers," focus on fit, construction, fabric selection, and grading to ensure consistency across sizes and quality standards for mass production. 

Key Components and Responsibilities:

  • TECH PACK CREATION: Developing comprehensive documents including flat sketches, bill of materials (BOM), stitching details, and packaging instructions.

  • FIT + PATTERN DEVELOPMENT: Analyzing and adjusting fit, creating points of measurement (POM) charts, and specifying tolerances for, manufacturing.

  • SAMPLING + QUALITY CONTROL: Reviewing prototypes to check that designs are practical and meet company standards before bulk production.

  • TECHNICAL DRAWING: Using tools like Adobe Illustrator to create accurate, detailed vector illustrations of garments. 

Technical design is essential for reducing costs, improving sustainability, and speeding up the time-to-market by avoiding errors in production.

Heather Kleinow
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What is a tech pack?