As the fashion industry continues to evolve and grow, the need for efficient and streamlined product development processes becomes increasingly important. One essential aspect of this process is the creation and management of technical specification sheets, or tech packs, which contain detailed information about a product's design, materials, measurements, and construction requirements. To meet this need, there are now several software platforms available that are specifically designed to help fashion businesses create and manage tech packs and product development workflows. In this blog post, we'll explore 7+ of the best tech pack and product development software options that are available in 2023, and discuss their features and benefits. Whether you're a fashion designer, product developer, or part of a larger fashion business, these software options can help you increase efficiency and streamline your product development process.
Techpacker streamlines the process of creating tech packs, an important element in the design and manufacturing process. Tech packs are used by designers and manufacturers to communicate a design's specifications throughout the production process, from initial idea to final product. They contain information such as sketches, material specifications, measurements and cost breakdowns.Techpacker makes it easy to create these digital documents, collaborate with colleagues and potential clients, manage feedback on each version of your tech pack and archive your tech packs for future reference or iteration.
- Designers can save time by organizing their work and collaborating with their team. They can easily create accurate and organized tech packs, track, manage and share their progress.
- Tech Packers will be able to have all the information in one place for each product. They will not need to go back and forth between emails or check files on the computer. All necessary information will be available in Techpacker.
- Manufacturers can easily receive accurate and well organized tech packs from designers who use Techpacker. This way, they will be able to start working immediately instead of wasting time organizing received tech packs.
- You will save a lot of time when creating, sharing and updating your tech packs. Time is money, and if you want to advance in the fashion industry, it's best to use your time as effectively as possible.
- Techpacker is a powerful tool that will help you create accurate and organized tech packs with it’s easy to use, fast and intuitive interface. You can prepare everything from a basic sketch or even a photo.
- Collaboration: Techpacker provides a centralized platform for collaboration and communication between teams and stakeholders, allowing for greater visibility and transparency throughout the product development process.
- Time-saving: The software streamlines the process of creating technical specifications and can save time and reduce errors compared to manual methods.
- Integration: Techpacker integrates with a range of other software applications, such as Adobe Illustrator and Dropbox, among others, allowing for seamless data exchange and workflow automation.
- Cost: Techpacker is a paid software application, and the cost of a subscription could be a limiting factor for some users or businesses.
- Learning curve: The software can have a learning curve, particularly for users who are new to fashion design or have limited experience with technical specification software.
- Limited scope: Techpacker is designed specifically for fashion design and may not be suitable for other product categories.
- Shopify
- Airtable
- Google Drive
Backbone tech pack software, a digital tool for creating and managing technical design specifications, gives you the power to create your tech pack with ease. It features a simple drag-and-drop interface, requiring no complicated software or hardware downloads. Everything is all in one place, so there's no need to worry about compatibility issues--or losing data if your computer crashes.Even better: Backbone tech pack software supports real-time collaboration among your colleagues and team members, so it's easier than ever to create and manage a technical design specification together in a single environment.
- It features a simple drag-and-drop interface, requiring no complicated software or hardware downloads.
- Backbone's Tech Pack App automatically checks your tech packs for errors, such as missing measurements or inconsistent notations.
- When you create a tech pack, you’re writing down every detail about your product. This includes information like how to cut the fabric and where to place each seam for sewing. When you're done, you can send your tech pack directly to factories in Backbone.
- Instead of relying on hand-written notes jotted on index cards that eventually get tossed away and forgotten about, Backbone speeds up the process by allowing you to create shareable documentation.
- It seamlessly integrates with Sage Intacct and Quickbooks so you can flow information and data more easily between software.
- Comprehensive features: BackboneIQ offers a range of features, including customer relationship management (CRM), project management, task tracking, inventory management, and financial reporting, among others.
- Customizable: The software is highly customizable, allowing users to create custom workflows and processes that fit their specific business needs.
- Integration: BackboneIQ integrates with a range of other software applications, such as QuickBooks, Slack, and Mailchimp, among others, allowing users to streamline their workflows and reduce manual data entry.
- Cost: BackboneIQ is a paid software application, and the cost of a subscription could be a limiting factor for some users or businesses.
- Learning curve: The software can have a learning curve, particularly for users who are new to business management software or have limited experience with workflow automation.
- Customization complexity: While BackboneIQ offers a high degree of customization, the customization process can be complex and time-consuming, particularly for users who are not familiar with the software.
- Quickbooks
- Sage
- Custom
Centric Software
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Centric Software is a company that provides software to the fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods industries. Their flagship product is software called Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). It's a suite of modular software designed for companies to manage their products from ideation through to delivery. Centric PIP is an award-winning cloud solution that delivers easy-to-use features to manage product creation and development across the entire value chain. It’s suited for companies of any size, across all industries. Plus it’s a full scope PLM solution so it handles every aspect of new product development including Design, Sourcing & Supply Chain, Sampling, Technical Design and Production. And because it’s a cloud solution you can access Centric PIP anywhere anytime – no more waiting on IT!
- Centric PIP (PLM) is an easy-to-use, web-based PLM solution that enables you to share information and collaborate across the entire value chain. It's secure, scalable and simple to use.
- The Centric SMB division delivers PLM as a subscription service to smaller fashion and consumer goods companies.
- PIP also provides tools for lifecycle management including cost estimating, budgeting, sourcing, sampling status management, workflow and approvals.
- One of the main benefits of PDM is that it provides a single source of truth for all product information. This means everyone has access to the most recent and accurate data, which can be difficult when relying on spreadsheets or other file-based sharing methods.
- You can collect data using questionnaires and forms in CentricSoftware, as well as automatically sync the relevant data from your other systems. You may also use any device (mobile, desktop, etc.) to enter the information directly into CentricSoftware.
- Comprehensive features: Centric PLM offers a range of features, including product design and development, materials management, supplier collaboration, quality control, and compliance tracking, among others.
- Collaboration and visibility: The software provides a centralized platform for collaboration and communication between teams and stakeholders, allowing for greater visibility and transparency throughout the product development process.
- Scalability: Centric PLM is designed to scale with a business as it grows, providing the flexibility to add new users and features as needed.
- Cost: Centric PLM is a paid software application, and the cost of a subscription could be a limiting factor for some users or businesses.
- Learning curve: The software can have a steep learning curve, particularly for users who are new to PLM software or have limited experience with workflow automation.
- Customization complexity: While Centric PLM offers a high degree of customization, the customization process can be complex and time-consuming, particularly for users who are not familiar with the software.
- Adobe
- Solidworks
- Oracle
Adobe Illustrator
Although you will likely be using multiple software programs and apps to design your tech pack, Adobe Illustrator is a great tool for designing tech packs because it allows you to draw at actual size. This is important because sizing can be tricky when designing since some of the measurements are in inches, centimeters, and pixels. When you draw your designs at actual size using Adobe Illustrator, then there will be no confusion between the sizes.Adobe Illustrator also allows you to easily save your files into a format that most manufacturers will accept (such as PDF or AI). It's easy to accidentally save your file in a format that is unusable by manufacturers if you're using Adobe Photoshop or another program, so make sure you're saving as an Adobe Illustrator file before submitting it.
- It allows you to design things at their actual size and often includes different units of measurement.
- Adobe Illustrator is available in a variety of formats and can be used on many different operating systems and graphic tablets.
- Adobe Illustrator offers over 1,300 unique features and functions to give you a powerful toolbox and a complete set of tools that can help you express your creativity.
- The app has a color palette where you can change the color for every shape in your drawing. This makes it easy to find the right shade of color for each element within your design.
- Adobe has released seven tech packs, which are collections of features and design assets that can help you get started with drawing in Illustrator more efficiently.
- Wide range of tools: Adobe Illustrator offers a wide range of tools for creating and editing vector graphics, including shapes, paths, colors, gradients, and text, among others.
- Compatibility: Adobe Illustrator is compatible with a wide range of file formats, making it easy to import and export files to and from other software applications.
- Integration: Adobe Illustrator integrates seamlessly with other Adobe Creative Cloud products, such as Photoshop and InDesign, allowing users to easily transfer files and projects between software applications.
- Learning curve: Adobe Illustrator can have a steep learning curve, particularly for users who are new to vector graphics editing or have limited experience with Adobe Creative Cloud software.
- Cost: Adobe Illustrator is a paid software application, and the cost of a subscription could be a limiting factor for some users or organizations.
- System requirements: Adobe Illustrator requires a relatively powerful computer system, which could be a limiting factor for users with older or less powerful computers.
- Tiled
- Mural
- Frontify
If you’ve decided that you no longer want to take the software route, you can hire designers on Upwork that will design all of your tech packs needed for your product designs. If you do plan to use Upwork, make sure the designer has experience in building the kind of tech pack you need, whether it's for clothing or shoes or something else. They may not be very good if they've only worked with one type of product before. You can check their portfolio for past work and contact them about any questions you might have before hiring them.
- It offers the convenience of working with freelancers from all over the world, which means you have access to a huge pool of talent.
- You can also benefit from cost-effectiveness because you can find freelancers who are willing to work with your budget.
- You don't have to worry about freelancers stealing your ideas—they are not employees, so they cannot claim intellectual property rights over anything they do for you.
- You’re able to request unlimited revisions for your tech pack designs.
- Upwork also makes it easier to hold your freelancers accountable.
- Wide range of services: Upwork offers a diverse range of freelance services, allowing businesses and individuals to find freelancers with the specific skills and expertise they need.
- Cost-effective: Upwork allows businesses and individuals to access freelance services at a relatively low cost, with many services available for competitive prices.
- Easy to use: Upwork has a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate, allowing businesses and individuals to quickly find and hire freelancers for their projects.
- Quality control: While Upwork offers a range of services, the quality of services can vary widely depending on the individual freelancer. It is important for businesses and individuals to carefully review freelancer profiles and ratings before hiring.
- Communication issues: Freelancers on Upwork may be located in different time zones or have limited availability for communication, which could cause issues with project management and coordination.
- Project scope limitations: Upwork may not be suitable for larger or more complex projects that require more extensive collaboration and project management.
- Jira
- Gmail
- Citrix
Fiverr, the online marketplace where you can hire freelancers for just about anything, is a great platform for you use to build out your tech packs needed for your designs.
- The massive community of freelancers on Fiverr means you have a huge pool to choose from—not just in terms of skills and experience, but also cost and time frame.
- Because there are so many people on Fiverr (millions!), you can choose a person based on their specific skillset.
- An easy way to communicate with your designer or design team when you have questions, comments, or concerns. Just reach out via direct message!
- Fiverr is a relatively cheaper option for those who want to test the waters with learning about tech packs. Jobs can start as low as $10, but we recommend choosing an experienced designer with a great reputation for a higher cost.
- Fiverr can have very fast turnaround times with the deliverables needed for your tech pack project.
- Wide range of services: Fiverr offers a diverse range of freelance services, allowing businesses and individuals to find freelancers with the specific skills and expertise they need.
- Cost-effective: Fiverr allows businesses and individuals to access freelance services at a relatively low cost, with many services available for as little as $5.
- Easy to use: Fiverr has a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate, allowing businesses and individuals to quickly find and hire freelancers for their projects.
- Quality control: While Fiverr offers a range of services, the quality of services can vary widely depending on the individual freelancer. It is important for businesses and individuals to carefully review freelancer profiles and ratings before hiring.
- Communication issues: Freelancers on Fiverr may be located in different time zones or have limited availability for communication, which could cause issues with project management and coordination.
- Limited project scope: Fiverr may not be suitable for larger or more complex projects that require more extensive collaboration and project management.
- Google Drive
- Slack
- Gmail
