How to Write a Bra Tech Pack a Factory Can Actually Quote

1. Technical drawings, four views minimum

Front, back, side and inside. The inside view is the one most buyers forget and the one that decides construction: it shows how the cup is built, where the seam allowance sits and how the wing is finished. Line drawings with callouts beat photographs at every stage, because a photograph cannot tell a factory which seam is decorative and which is structural.

2. A measurement table that is graded, not just sampled

A single sample size table is enough for a sample and not enough for a production run. The table needs one column per size, and the points of measure need to be the ones the factory actually sews to. For a bra set:

Grading tolerance matters as much as the numbers. State the allowed tolerance per point — typically plus or minus 5 mm on body measurements and 3 mm on cup depth for lingerie — and say whether it applies before or after wash.

3. Cup construction, named precisely

This is the section that decides both the price and the fit, and the section most often left vague. Choose one term and use it consistently:

• Soft cup, single panel. One piece of fabric, no mould. Cheapest, limited support, suits bralettes and small size runs.
• Cut-and-sew cup. Two or three panels sewn together. Standard for lace sets; the seam placement controls the shape.
• Moulded cup. Fabric laminated to foam and pressed on a mould. Requires a mould per size and adds a fixed cost.
• Moulded cup with bonded edge. As above with the top edge bonded rather than bound — a cleaner edge and a higher handling cost.
• Seamless bonded. No sewing at the body. The garment is assembled with adhesive and heat; fit is controlled by the fabric and the bonding parameters.

Add the details that change the cost: underwire type and length, whether the wire is sewn into a channel or bonded, cup lining, removable pads and their thickness, and whether the pad pocket is open or closed.

4. Fabric list with article, width, weight and composition

Four fields per fabric, and all four are needed:

1. Article number or a named equivalent, so the factory can source or propose a match.
2. Width, because consumption and marker efficiency depend on it.
3. Weight or momme, because 16 and 19 momme satin are the same colour and a different product.
4. Composition with tolerance, for example 90 percent polyamide and 10 percent elastane plus or minus 3 percent.

If you have a preferred mill, say so and say whether substitution is allowed. Substitution without approval is the most common reason a bulk order looks slightly different from the approved sample.

5. Trim list, item by item

Underwire, hook-and-eye, strap elastic, band elastic, sliders and rings, moulded pads, boning, appliqué, stones, main label, care label, size label, hangtag and polybag. For each: type, size, colour and finish. A trim list written as "standard accessories" hands the decision to the factory and the price difference to nobody in particular.

6. Colour, as a standard rather than a picture

Pantone TCX for solid colours, with the lab dip approved in writing before bulk. For lace and print, state whether the colour is on the yarn or applied, because a dyed lace and a printed lace of the same reference behave differently after washing. Screen colours from a phone are not a colour standard and will not survive a claim.

7. Stitch and finishing specification

Name the stitch on each seam: zigzag on elastic attachment, overlock on cup seams, flatlock or coverstitch on the wing, binding width at the neckline. State stitches per inch or per centimetre. Add the finishing details that buyers notice only when they are wrong: bow placement, strap adjuster direction, care label position, and whether the lace edge is cut to the pattern or left as a natural edge.

8. Packing and testing

Polybag with size sticker or not, fold method, hangtag attachment point, ratio per carton, carton dimensions and maximum weight. Then the tests: colourfastness to washing and to rubbing, dimensional stability after three washes, and any retailer-specific protocol. Tests cost money per report, so they belong in the tech pack rather than in a later email.

The four mistakes that turn a quote into a guess

1. Sending a reference sample with no measurements. The factory will reverse-engineer it, and reverse engineering a stretched worn sample produces a stretched pattern.
2. A size table with one size. Everything above and below that size becomes an assumption, and the assumption is usually linear.
3. Colours given as a photo or a screenshot. Nobody can match it, so everybody picks something close and the claim arrives three months later.
4. Trims left open. The quote is then built on the cheapest plausible trim, and the real cost appears at sampling.

From tech pack to first sample

A complete tech pack shortens the loop. On a complete pack we return comments within two working days and a development sample in seven days; a salesman sample, in the actual fabric and colour, takes two to three weeks. An incomplete pack does not fail immediately — it fails at the second round, when the first sample comes back wrong for reasons nobody wrote down.

Construction references by category, if you want to see how these decisions play out in production: bra manufacturing, full-bust and plus size, seamless bonded, satin sleepwear, and the full lingerie range.