How to Make a Tech Pack for a Hoodie: Step-by-Step Guide

A tech pack for a hoodie is a technical specification document that tells your manufacturer exactly how to produce it—covering measurements, materials, construction methods, trims, labelling, and packaging. Without one, your factory is guessing, and guessing in clothing manufacturing is expensive. A complete hoodie tech pack should run between 6 and 12 pages and include every detail required to sample, cost, and produce the garment without follow-up questions.

Hoodies look simple. They're not. Between the hood construction, the drawcord, the kangaroo pocket, the rib trims, the bartacks, and the seam choices, a single hoodie has more decision points than most t-shirts or basic tops. Getting these decisions wrong at the tech pack stage is what causes sample rejections, fit issues, and cost blowouts.

This guide walks you through building a tech pack for a hoodie step by step—what to include, why each section matters, and where new brands typically slip up.

What a Hoodie Tech Pack Needs to Cover

A hoodie tech pack must communicate three things clearly: what the garment looks like, how it's built, and how it's measured. Every section feeds into one of those three categories.

A complete tech pack for a hoodie typically includes:

1. Cover page with style name, season, designer, and revision history

2. Flat sketches (front, back, and any detail views)

3. Bill of Materials (BOM) listing every fabric, trim, and component

4. Points of Measure (POM) with graded measurements across sizes

5. Construction details including stitch types and seam allowances

6. Colourways showing each variant of the style

7. Labelling and packaging specs

8. Trim and hardware callouts (drawcords, eyelets, zips if applicable)

Each section should be self-contained enough that a factory team member can find what they need without scrolling through unrelated pages.

Step 1: Start With Clear Flat Sketches

Flat sketches are the visual foundation of your tech pack. They're technical drawings—not fashion illustrations—and they show the hoodie laid flat, to scale, with every seam, stitch line, and detail visible.

For a hoodie, you'll need at minimum:

• Front view showing the hood, kangaroo pocket, drawcord, and cuff/hem ribbing

• Back view showing the hood from behind and any back seams or yokes

• Detail views for anything non-standard: the hood construction, pocket opening, drawcord exits, or any custom hardware

If you're not a CAD designer, this is where most founders get stuck. The good news is you don't need to draw from scratch. Platforms like Specter OS include a pre-loaded CAD library where you can pull a hoodie base, adjust the details, and export production-ready flats. For a manual approach, common tech pack mistakes covers what factories actually need to see in your sketches.

Callouts Matter More Than Artistry

Your sketches don't need to be beautiful. They need to be annotated. Use arrows and labels to call out:

• Stitch types (e.g. "double-needle topstitch, 6mm spacing")

• Drawcord exit points and eyelet placement

• Pocket opening reinforcement (bartacks)

• Hood lining vs. self-fabric hood

• Cuff and hem rib depth

A factory will follow what's labelled. They'll guess what isn't.

Step 2: Build the Bill of Materials (BOM)

The BOM is a table listing every physical component that goes into the hoodie. For a standard pullover hoodie, expect 8–15 line items.

A typical hoodie BOM includes:

Be specific. "380gsm brushed back fleece" tells the factory exactly what to source. "Heavyweight fleece" tells them nothing.

Fabric Weight Is the Single Most Important Spec

Hoodie hand-feel is dictated by fabric weight (measured in gsm—grams per square metre). Here's the standard breakdown:

• 240–280gsm: Lightweight, summer-weight hoodies

• 300–340gsm: Mid-weight, the most common range

• 360–400gsm: Heavyweight, premium streetwear feel

• 450gsm+: Ultra-heavy, garment-dyed or "vintage" feel

If you don't specify gsm, your factory will default to whatever they have in stock, and your sample will likely come back lighter than you imagined.

Step 3: Specify Every Point of Measure

The Points of Measure (POM) section is a graded measurement table showing the exact dimensions of the hoodie across every size you produce.

For a hoodie, you'll typically need 15–25 measurements, including:

1. Chest width (1" below armhole, laid flat)

2. Body length (from high point shoulder to hem)

3. Shoulder width (seam to seam)

4. Sleeve length (from shoulder seam or centre back)

5. Sleeve opening (cuff)

6. Bicep width

7. Armhole depth

8. Neck width

9. Hood height (from neck seam to top)

10. Hood width (across the opening, laid flat)

11. Pocket opening length

12. Pocket depth

13. Hem rib depth

14. Cuff rib depth

15. Drawcord length

For each measurement, provide:

• The base size value (usually size M)

• The grade rule (how much it changes between sizes—typically 2cm chest grade)

• Tolerance (acceptable variance, usually ±1cm on body measurements, ±0.5cm on details)

Tolerances are non-negotiable. Without them, a factory can produce a hoodie 3cm wider than spec and technically still meet the brief.

Step 4: Document Construction Details

Construction details are where hoodies separate themselves from cheaper basics. This section covers how the garment is sewn together, not just what it's made of.

Key construction callouts for a tech pack for a hoodie include:

• Seam type: Overlocked, flatlock, or coverstitch (each has cost and aesthetic implications)

• Topstitch specifications: Single needle vs. double needle, stitch density (SPI—stitches per inch), thread weight

• Hood construction: Two-panel vs. three-panel hood, lined or unlined, self-fabric vs. contrast lining

• Pocket construction: Single welt, kangaroo (single opening) vs. split kangaroo

• Reinforcement: Bartacks at pocket openings and drawcord exits, twill tape at shoulder seams

• Cuff and hem attachment: Rib attached with overlock + coverstitch topstitch

Why Construction Details Affect Pricing

Every construction choice has a cost. A three-panel hood with a contrast lining and flatlock seams will cost 20–40% more to make than a two-panel hood with overlocked seams. Specifying construction precisely lets you control where your money goes. Leaving it ambiguous lets the factory choose, and they'll usually choose what's easiest to produce, not what's best for your brand.

For a deeper dive into common errors here, see common tech pack mistakes.

Step 5: Add Colourways and Trims Per Variant

If your hoodie is launching in three colours, each colourway gets its own page or section showing:

• The colour name and Pantone reference (e.g. "Bone — Pantone 11-0507 TCX")

• Body fabric colour

• Rib colour (often matches body, sometimes contrast)

• Drawcord colour

• Eyelet finish (antique brass, gunmetal, etc.)

• Label colours (some brands change label colour per garment colour)

• Thread colour (tonal in most cases)

Pantone references are critical. Saying "off-white" leaves your factory choosing from hundreds of off-whites. A TCX or TPG code locks it in.

Step 6: Cover Labelling and Packaging

The final section of your hoodie tech pack covers everything that isn't the garment itself but ships with it:

• Main label: Material, dimensions, placement, attachment method (sewn into neck seam vs. heat transfer)

• Care label: Wash instructions, fibre composition (must comply with your market's regulations), country of origin

• Size label: Often combined with care label or printed inside neck

• Hangtags: Material, print method, string or plastic tag attachment

• Polybag: Size, thickness, whether printed

• Folding and packing instructions: How the hoodie should be folded, tissue paper, individual polybags, master carton specs

Skipping packaging specs is a classic founder error. Factories will default to generic packing, and you'll receive 500 hoodies in unbranded clear polybags with no tissue paper—not the unboxing experience you imagined.

Where Specter OS Fits In

Building a tech pack for a hoodie in spreadsheets and PowerPoint works, but it breaks down quickly. Every revision creates a new file. Comments from your factory live in WhatsApp. Measurements drift between versions. By sample three, no one's sure which spec is current.

Specter OS centralises this by giving you a single source of truth: your tech pack, factory comments, sample tracking, and production status all live in one place. The pre-loaded CAD library means you can build hoodie flats without a designer, and version control means your factory is always working from the latest spec.

Specter OS offers a free tier for early-stage brands building their first tech packs—useful if you're still validating your range before committing to paid tools.

Common Mistakes When Making a Hoodie Tech Pack

A few patterns come up repeatedly with first-time founders:

• Vague fabric specs. "Heavy fleece" isn't a spec. "380gsm brushed back fleece, 80/20 cotton-poly" is.

• Missing tolerances. Without them, your factory has no defined target.

• No grade rules. Specifying only the size M means your factory invents the rest of the size run.

• Forgetting reinforcement. Bartacks at pocket openings and drawcord exits are what prevent tears in the first six months of wear.

• Skipping construction details. "Standard construction" means different things to different factories.