Most “free tech pack templates” you’ll find on Google are 3-page PDFs with a flat-sketch placeholder and a BOM table. Ours isn’t. The Fabrickly tech pack template is the same 14-page structure we use for the £349 client tech packs we ship every week, with all 9 components a factory needs to manufacture without follow-up questions. It’s free. Email-gated so we can send you the editable Word source. Real.
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This post is the walkthrough — what’s in it, what’s not, how to use it, and the three mistakes the template prevents.
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Why we made it free
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I’ll be transparent: the template is free because we’re betting that 1 in 20 people who download it will eventually hire us when they realise the spec they have to fill in takes 40+ hours of their time. That’s the whole funnel, on the record.
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It’s also free because the structure of a tech pack isn’t proprietary. Every real tech pack in fashion uses the same 9 components. Apparel Entrepreneurship charges $45 for theirs. StartUp Fashion charges $27. Both are decent. We just thought charging for the structure was the wrong move — the real work is filling it in, and that’s where founders need help.
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What’s actually in the 14 pages
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The template is structured exactly the way we structure paying-client tech packs. Each page is a section a real factory would expect:
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Page 1 — Cover
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Brand placeholder, style name, style number, season, designer, sample size, version, date. The cover sheet that contextualises the whole document.
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Page 2 — How to use this template
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A 3-rule quick-start: lock the design before spec’ing, be specific (not generic) in every cell, and add tolerances to every measurement. Plus what this template covers and what it doesn’t.
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Page 3 — Style summary
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A 2-3 sentence description of the garment + a key-details table (category, fabric, fit, size range, target retail, target MOQ, lead time target). The “what is this thing” page that every factory reads first.
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Pages 4–5 — Technical flat sketches
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Two pages dedicated to the front view and back view. Each page has a placeholder box (paste your flat sketch here) plus a callout numbering section so you can mark up “①” “②” “③” against construction details on later pages.
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Pages 6–7 — Bill of materials (BOM)
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The BOM table with 7 columns (item #, item name, description, color/Pantone, supplier, placement, quantity per garment). Seven starter rows pre-filled with example data in grey italics so you can see the format, plus 6 empty rows for you to add your own materials.
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Pages 8–9 — Points of measure (POM)
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The POM table with 6 columns (#, POM name, location, sample size value at UK 10/US 6, grade rule, tolerance). Eleven starter rows covering the standard POMs for a top (chest, waist, bottom hem, body length, shoulder width, sleeve length, sleeve opening, neck width, neck drop front, neck drop back, armhole depth) plus blank rows.
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Page 10 — Construction details
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A spec table covering stitch type, SPI, seam allowance, seam finish, topstitching, bartack locations, reinforcement, closure. Plus a numbered callouts section that ties back to the flat sketches.
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Page 11 — Labelling spec
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Main label, care label, country of origin label, size label, hangtag, hangtag string. Each row with placeholder examples in grey.
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Page 12 — Packaging spec
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Polybag, folding instructions, tissue paper, master carton, carton label, sustainability notes.
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Page 13 — Size grading
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A graded nest table covering XS through XXL across the key POMs. Six starter rows showing standard grade progression.
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Page 14 — Revisions log
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Version, date, author, changes. Where v1.0, v1.1, v2.0 changes are tracked.
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That’s the 14 pages. Not 3. Not 6. Fourteen. With sample data in grey so you can see exactly what each cell should look like.
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What the template is NOT
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I want to set expectations clearly because most templates over-promise.
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The template is not a finished tech pack. It’s the structure. You still have to fill in the cells. That takes 20-40 hours for a first-timer.
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The template is not garment-specific. It’s the universal structure. If you’re spec’ing activewear, you’ll need to add gusset and four-way-stretch callouts. If you’re spec’ing knitwear, you need a knit chart. The template gives you the foundation; the specifics still require domain knowledge.
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The template is not a flat-sketch generator. We provide the placeholder boxes; you provide the actual flat sketches from Adobe Illustrator. Templates don’t draw.
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The template is not a fit consultant. Filling in the POMs requires knowing the fit math for your size range. If you don’t know what a 1-inch chest grade rule means, the template won’t teach you — but reading our 9-step how-to guide alongside the template will.
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How to use the template (the right way)
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Three steps to use it well:
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Step 1: Read both files before you start filling anything in. The PDF version has the structure and the example data. The DOCX version is editable so you can adapt it. Spend 30 minutes reading both before you touch a single cell.
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Step 2: Lock your design before opening the template. Tech packs document decisions. They do not make them. If you’re still deciding between two collar styles or three closure types, finish that decision first.
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Step 3: Fill in the order the document is structured. Don’t jump to the BOM before you’ve done the cover and style summary. Don’t write construction notes before you’ve drawn the flat sketch. The order matters because each section informs the next.
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If you’re at the point where Step 1 alone feels like 90 minutes of work and you’d rather skip to the finished thing, we’ll spec the whole tech pack for you in 7 days from £349. No revision lottery, production-fit guarantee.
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The three mistakes the template prevents
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Most first-time tech packs have the same three errors. The template structure makes each one harder to commit:
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Mistake 1: No tolerances on the points of measure.
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A POM without a tolerance is a wish, not a spec. The factory has no way to know whether a sample that comes back 0.5 cm off is acceptable or rejectable. Our template has the tolerance column built in, so you literally have to put a value in it. Even ±0.5 cm everywhere is better than blank.
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Mistake 2: No grade rules on the size run.
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If you don’t tell the factory how the garment scales from XS to XXL, they’ll use commercial averages that may not match your customer. We’ve seen brands ship a graded run where the XXL was 8 cm bigger in the chest than the customer expected, because the factory used a default 2cm-per-size grade and the brand wanted 1.5 cm. The template’s grading page forces you to specify per-POM.
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Mistake 3: Missing the construction page entirely.
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This is the most common gap in Fiverr tech packs. The flat sketch shows what the garment looks like; the construction page tells the factory how to BUILD it. Without it, the factory guesses, and you pay for the guesses in failed samples. The template has the construction page baked into page 10.
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When you outgrow the template
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The template is enough for: your first 1–10 styles, simple woven or knit garments, brands at the “I’m filling this in personally” stage.
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The template starts to break down at: 30+ styles per season (you need PLM software, not a Word template), highly technical knits (you need stitch-painter spec software), bonded-seam swimwear and lingerie (you need fit-engineer review), 3D pattern testing for sustainability brands (you need CLO3D).
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When you hit those constraints, we recommend graduating from the template to a real productized service. Read more about when each tool/service makes sense.
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Frequently asked
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Q: Is the template really free? What’s the catch?
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The template is genuinely free. We email-gate the download so we can send you the editable Word file (the PDF version is fine for reading, but most users want to edit). Once you download, we send one welcome email with the file, then one follow-up two days later asking if you’ve started filling it in. No spam list, no upsell sequence. You can unsubscribe at any time.
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Q: Can I use the template commercially?
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Yes. Once you download, the template is yours to use, modify, and ship to factories. We don’t claim copyright on what you build with it. The only thing we ask is don’t redistribute the empty template as your own — link people back to the original download page instead.
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Q: What format is the template in?
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We ship two files: a PDF for reading (240 KB) and an editable Microsoft Word document (.docx) you can fill in. Both files have the same content. The Word version is easier to edit; the PDF is easier to share with a factory once filled in.
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Q: Why not Adobe Illustrator?
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Illustrator (.ai) is the right format for flat sketches but the wrong format for tables. Trying to maintain a BOM in Illustrator is painful. Most professional tech packs are 60% Illustrator (sketches + labelling layout) and 40% Word/Excel (BOM, POMs, grading). Our template covers the 40%. The flat sketches you produce in Illustrator and paste into the template’s placeholder pages.
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Q: Will this template work for my specific garment type?
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The structure works for any apparel category. The starter examples are calibrated for a knit top. For activewear, swimwear, lingerie, denim, or technical knits, you’ll need to adapt the construction page and BOM to your category’s specifics. We have category-specific tech pack pages that document the additional callouts each needs.
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Q: Do you have a video walkthrough?
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Not yet. It’s on our list for Q3 2026. For now, the 9-step how-to guide walks through each section with the same depth as a video would.
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Q: What if I get stuck filling it in?
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Email support@fabrickly.com with your half-finished file. We answer template questions free — no obligation. If you want us to finish it for you, we charge £349 per style and deliver in 7 days.
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What to do next
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Three paths from here:
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1. Download the template and fill it in yourself. Budget 20-40 hours. Download here.
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2. Download it for reference, then hire us to do the work. Most clients do this — they download the template to understand the structure, then send us a brief because they realise the time investment is enormous. Get a quote.
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3. Download the template, share it with your design team, decide together. Both paths above are valid depending on your stage and bandwidth.
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Either way, the template will give you the structure. What you do with it is up to you.
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Download the free 14-page tech pack template →
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— Hasebul, Fabrickly