Did you know there is a strategy to writing points of measure? What POMs you choose to include in your spec sheet and how you take those measurements can control the fit and sizes of the garment in different ways. Here’s how to write POMs that bring out the best in your garment and goals.
The feast turned out great all around and we’re still enjoying the leftovers, but all the debate, guesswork, and phoning a friend about the family recipes got me thinking about how not having a tech pack results in similar commotion for similar reasons.
Product development is a time to test and tweak your design before mass production. Each step has a purpose to help you evaluate different aspects of the product and how it’s manufactured — from performance, to fit, to ease of care. Once the testing is done, you’ll have all the tools you need for production.
Fashion is such a tactile industry, which makes it hard to imagine how fitting remotely could even work. The good news is it is totally possible. Fashion companies who manufacture overseas were already doing it in many ways, and I’ve been helping independent brands develop and fit their designs remotely since well before the pandemic.
The spec sheet is an important part of the tech pack that shows what the style measures at each POM in all the sizes offered. The chart also shows the tolerance for those measurements – meaning the amount plus or minus that the garment can differ from the spec measurement and still be considered acceptable.
The pattern card lists each pattern piece for the style along with how many of each is needed to make one garment. It is split into sections by material type. Note, this page doesn’t show all the materials needed like the BOM does. This page only shows pattern pieces that need to be cut out.
Colorways and artwork specifications are another important section of a tech pack. The colorways page shows a CAD drawing of each color combination being offered for that season. Along with the drawings, there are color chips showing the color of each material in the style – including fabrics, thread, and hardware.
The technical section of a tech pack communicates how the garment is constructed. It will always include a tech sketch which is the flat sketch from the cover page with seam, stitch, and detail callouts. Some details will have alternate views such as the sides or inside showing how those details should be constructed.
The Bill of Materials page (called the BOM) is a chart that shows all the materials that go into your design. The BOM not only lists the fabrics, but shows all the trims, closures, thread, hangtags, labels, and packaging materials – everything you need to make the style start to finish.
You’ve probably heard that you need a tech pack, but the conversation usually revolves around how you need one for your factory. While a tech pack is useful in communicating information about your design to your factory, there are many parts of a tech pack that are useful to you as the designer as well.