Tech pack companies

Which companies create tech packs? An honest comparison

Five kinds of company spec your garment, and they're not equivalent. Named names, real pricing, and where each (including us) is the right fit.

12 min readFabrickly teamMay 2026

This is the article I wish existed when I started Fabrickly. Most "best tech pack services" pages on Google are either (a) written by the services themselves, (b) sponsored, or (c) AI-generated listicles from 2024 that are already wrong. Below is an honest breakdown of the five kinds of companies that will spec your garment, with named examples, real pricing where it's public, and a clear take on who each one is for.

I run one of these companies. I'm going to be honest about where we're not the right fit.

The five categories — at a glance

  1. Freelance marketplaces — Upwork, Fiverr, 99designs. £30–£200 per tech pack. Quality lottery.
  2. Boutique solo designers — independent tech pack specialists, often ex-fashion-school instructors. £300–£800.
  3. Tech-pack-only services — productized at a fixed price. Sewport, Tech Packs LA, Fabrickly. £200–£900.
  4. Full-service manufacturers that include tech packs — Indie Source, some Bangladesh and Vietnam factories. Bundled with production.
  5. PLM software with templates — Techpacker, Apparel Entrepreneurship's $45 template. Self-serve, not a service.

Each has a real use case. None of them is "best." They're best for different brands at different stages.

1. Freelance marketplaces (Upwork, Fiverr, 99designs)

What you get: a designer in Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, or Eastern Europe will spec your tech pack for £30–£200 depending on complexity. Turnaround: 3–10 days.

Pricing: £30–£200 (most under £100).

Real-world honest take:

I have hired six different Fiverr tech-pack designers over the years for test projects. Out of six: one was excellent, three were workable with revisions, two were unusable. That's a 17% hit rate on excellent, 67% workable, and 33% wasted money. If you can absorb that variance — and you have the technical knowledge to check what came back — Fiverr can work. If you don't have that knowledge, you'll pay £80 and get a beautiful PDF that's missing seam allowances and tolerances. The factory will then bill you for the gaps.

Who it's for:

  • You have technical knowledge and you just want cheap execution
  • You're prototyping an idea and don't need production-ready spec
  • You have budget for 3–4 revisions until you find a designer who delivers

Who it's not for:

  • First-time founders who can't tell a tech pack from a sketch
  • Anyone going straight to bulk production from the file
  • Anyone who doesn't have time to vet 3+ designers

Best practice if you go this route: pay for a single page (just the flat sketch) on three different Fiverr designers first. Compare the quality. Hire the best one for the full pack. Total cost: ~£60 to find the right designer, then ~£100–200 for the full job.

2. Boutique solo tech-pack designers

What you get: a UK, US, or EU-based independent designer, often with a fashion-school background, sometimes a former senior at a known brand. They typically take 2–3 weeks for a finished pack.

Pricing: £300–£800 per tech pack depending on complexity and experience.

Names you'll find via search or LinkedIn:

  • Independent designers listed on Upwork's premium tier (Top Rated +)
  • Listings on Pearl & Polk (US), Production Mode (US)
  • Many London-based freelancers operate via Instagram or word-of-mouth — search "tech pack designer London" or "fashion tech pack freelance"

Real-world honest take:

This is genuinely the best value for a one-time spec if you find the right person. The work is high quality, the communication is in your timezone, and you can build a long-term relationship. The catch is finding the right person. There's no good directory. Most are booked out 4–8 weeks. Pricing is non-transparent — you'll get a quote per project, and quotes vary 2x for the same job.

Who it's for:

  • One or two carefully designed styles where quality matters more than speed
  • Founders who can interview and vet designers carefully
  • Anyone with a 4-week timeline (not a 1-week deadline)

Who it's not for:

  • Founders trying to spec 5+ styles at once
  • Anyone needing a 1-week turnaround
  • Brands that need ongoing revisions across seasons (the freelancer model breaks at scale)

3. Tech-pack-only services (productized)

This is our category. There are roughly four serious players globally.

Sewport

UK-incorporated marketplace launched ~2015. Doesn't directly spec tech packs — connects you to one of 1,000+ manufacturers, some of whom offer the spec service. Pricing is brokered; the platform takes a cut.

What's good: large network, English-language interface, multiple country options.

What's not: the marketplace model means accountability is split. If the tech pack comes back wrong, you're chasing the factory through Sewport's escrow. Quality varies wildly because Sewport doesn't standardize the spec format — it's whatever the factory you matched with delivers. Trustpilot reviews flag this. Their tech-pack guide on the site was last updated 2018–2020 in most sections.

Who it's for: brands who want a marketplace experience and are comfortable managing multiple factory relationships.

Tech Packs LA

LA-based studio. Productized service. Solid reputation in the US streetwear community.

Pricing: US$300–$700 per style.

What's good: named team, US-based, fast turnaround, strong in casualwear/streetwear.

What's not: US-only invoicing, no UK/EU coverage. Less depth on woven outerwear.

Who it's for: US-based streetwear or knit-based DTC brands.

Fabrickly (us)

UK + Bangladesh + Shanghai operation. Denmark-HQ project managers. Productized tech pack at £349 basic / £549 pro, delivery in 7 days, 2 revisions plus a production-fit guarantee.

What's good: transparent pricing, multi-region invoicing (GBP/USD/EUR/AUD/CAD), production at Sedex SMETA + BSCI audited facilities, OEKO-TEX certified fabrics available on request, same team handles the spec and the manufacturing. We can pipeline a tech pack into a sample and into 50-unit MOQ production in one workflow.

What's not: we're newer than Sewport in terms of Google footprint, so we're less discoverable on search (something we're actively fixing). We're not the cheapest — there are £80 Fiverr options. We're not the most prestigious — there are £800 boutique designers. We're the value-for-money option for founders who want a real manufacturer with a transparent service tier.

Who it's for: indie DTC founders building from sketch to production, UK/USA/EU brands wanting multi-currency invoicing, brands wanting one team across spec + sample + bulk.

Techpacker (service variant)

Techpacker is primarily software (covered in category 5 below), but they also offer some service work via their team. Brooklyn-based. We don't have direct experience with their service tier, so the only honest thing to say is: ask them for a sample and pricing.

4. Full-service manufacturers that include the tech pack

Some factories include the tech pack as part of the production package. The most prominent is:

Indie Source (LA)

LA-based full-package manufacturer. Inc. 5000 listed. Includes tech-pack development in the production workflow.

Pricing: bundled. Not separately quoted in most cases.

What's good: if you commit to producing with them, the tech pack is "free" (rolled into your unit cost). Their team knows the production line that will make your garment, so the spec is informed by the actual factory.

What's not: you're locked into their production. If you want the tech pack as a portable file you can shop to other factories, this isn't the model. Their MOQ starts at 200 units (higher than Fabrickly's 50). US-only invoicing.

Who it's for: US-based brands committed to a single production partner for their first 200–2,000 units.

Some Bangladesh and Vietnam factories

Many will include the tech pack as part of accepting your production order. The catch: the spec quality varies factory-to-factory, and the file isn't always portable. If you ever leave that factory, the next one might not accept their spec format.

5. PLM software with templates (self-serve)

Not a service — software that helps you spec it yourself.

Apparel Entrepreneurship templates ($45)

Sells DIY tech-pack templates and bill-of-materials templates for $45. Plus a 6-week accelerator course at separate pricing. Klas (the founder) is a well-known educator in the space.

What's good: educational content is genuinely solid. The templates are a clear improvement over starting from scratch.

What's not: you still need to do all the work yourself. A template is a structure; it isn't the spec.

StartUp Fashion templates ($27–45)

Nicole Giordano's shop. Similar product mix — templates and educational content for DIY founders.

Techpacker / TechpackBuilder (software)

Web-based PLM. Free 7-day trial, paid tiers after. You build the spec inside their tool and export to PDF. Designed for ongoing PLM use across seasons.

Who self-serve is for:

  • You have technical knowledge and you'll spec it yourself
  • You're at 10+ styles and you need a system, not a one-off file
  • You want to learn the craft before delegating it

Who it's not for:

  • First-time founders without industry knowledge
  • Anyone whose time is worth more than the £20–£40 spec consumes (most founders' is)

Honest pricing comparison

For one tech pack of a typical knit top, here's what you'd actually pay in May 2026:

ProviderRealistic priceTurnaroundProduction-ready output
Fiverr designer (low tier)£30–£803–7 daysSometimes
Fiverr designer (top tier)£100–£2005–10 daysUsually with revisions
Boutique solo designer£300–£8002–3 weeksYes
Sewport (brokered)£200–£5001–3 weeksVaries by matched factory
Tech Packs LA$300–$7001–2 weeksYes
Fabrickly£349–£5497 daysYes, with guarantee
Indie Source (bundled)£0 if you commit to their production2–3 weeksYes
DIY with templates£20–£45Your own timeOnly if you know the craft

Note that "production-ready" doesn't just mean a PDF. It means: a factory can pick it up and quote, sample, and produce without follow-up questions. The Fiverr column says "sometimes" for a reason.

A decision framework

The right question isn't "which is best." It's "what stage am I in, and what's my constraint?"

Constraint: budget under £100. Hire a top-tier Fiverr designer. Spend the time to vet 3 before committing. Expect 1–2 revision rounds.

Constraint: budget £100–£400, timeline flexible. Hire a boutique solo designer or use Fabrickly's basic tier. Boutique is higher craft; Fabrickly is faster and includes manufacturing pipeline.

Constraint: budget £400+, want a long-term partner. Fabrickly pro or a full-service manufacturer like Indie Source if you're producing in LA. Build the relationship, not just the file.

Constraint: under 1 week deadline. Fabrickly (we deliver in 7 days as the default). Most boutique freelancers can't hit that.

Constraint: multi-currency invoicing (UK + USA + EU customer). Fabrickly is one of the few options. Most US services invoice USD only.

Constraint: I want to learn the craft. Buy the free Fabrickly template or Apparel Entrepreneurship's $45 template. Read our 9-step tech-pack guide and try it yourself. Hire a service for season 2 once you know what to look for.

What I'd tell a friend

If a friend told me they were launching a brand tomorrow and asked me, off the record, who to use — here's what I'd say.

If they have £100 and they're technical, Fiverr top-tier. Find a designer with 50+ reviews and at least 5 five-star reviews from apparel projects specifically. Don't go below that bar.

If they have £400 and they want one trustworthy team across spec + sample + production, ours (Fabrickly). I'd say that even if Fabrickly weren't paying my mortgage. The combination of audited factories, multi-region invoicing, and a productized 7-day spec is genuinely uncommon.

If they have £800 and they want craft over speed, a London-based boutique freelancer. There are 5–10 great ones; finding them is the hard part.

If they're spec'ing 20+ styles at once, hire someone in-house or move to PLM software. None of these one-off services scales linearly with style count.

What we don't do

I should also be honest about where Fabrickly isn't right:

  • You want made-in-Italy cachet. That's MakersValley's positioning. We make in Bangladesh and Shanghai under audited, certified facilities — different story, equally valid, but not the same brand narrative.
  • You're producing in LA and you want a single US-based partner. Indie Source is stronger on that specific corridor.
  • You want a marketplace experience with 100+ factory options. That's Sewport's model. We're a single accountable team, which means fewer choices but one phone number when something goes wrong.

The closing take

The tech-pack-services market is fragmented and confusing because it covers too many price points and use cases. The honest framing is: pick the provider whose constraints match your constraints, not the one with the most stars.

If you want to see what we deliver before deciding, we publish anonymised real client tech packs. If you want a quote, we respond within the same business day to briefs sent here.

And if you've read this far and you want to spec it yourself first, the free 14-page Fabrickly template gives you the exact structure we use for paying clients. It's free because we're betting that 1 in 20 of the people who download it will eventually hire us. That's the whole funnel, on the record.

— Hasebul, Fabrickly

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