Tech packs are essential for your product development journey. They include a Bill of Materials, Fabrication Sheet, Trims Sheet, Make & Construction Sheet, Branding & Labeling Sheet, and most crucial a Specification Sheet. A well-prepared tech pack can significantly reduce the number of sampling rounds, making it cost-effective to engage a designer.
From trend forecasts, concept sketches, and construction suggestions to fabric and trim selections - we're experts in creating commercial range plans. Planning your designs thoroughly before tech-packs through our services saves you from costly mistakes during the quotation and product development stages.
Making design decisions solo can be stressful and overwhelming. We connect with business owners to help bounce their ideas around and turn them into brand-focused, purposeful and on-trend concepts. We offer design consultations in-studio or remotely to adapt to our client's needs.
Spec to Sample offers Hang Tag, Care Label, and Packaging design services that will set your brand apart - we are the team that thinks of every little detail without you asking, ensuring that your branding and packaging align with your brand's vision and reflect your product quality and identity.
A fashion lookbook is a collection of photos showcasing a brand's latest collection. It conveys the brand’s style. It attracts buyers for wholesale or influencers for collaboration. A line sheet is a detailed document providing essential product information, such as images, descriptions, and pricing. Retailers use it to place orders.
OUR END TO END SERVICE
Our Concept to Creation packages offer comprehensive support throughout the development of your first collection and beyond. We treat any business, like a version of our own collaborating, problem-solving, and creating a brand journey that we are proud to be a part of. We are here riding the waves with you but holding your hand.
Kick off our collaboration journey with a discovery call where we delve into your brand's vision, mission, and objectives. This initial conversation allows us to understand your unique requirements, ensuring we align our processes with your creative aspirations and production specifications.
Starting, scaling, or maintaining a fashion brand requires foundational elements of a business structure. By doing this sooner rather than later you can establish a strong business framework for your fashion brand and increase its chances of long-term success. At Spec to Sample, we place high importance on Market Research, Brand Identity, Supply Chain Management, Customer experience, Financial Management, and Legal and Compliance research.
Let’s dive into the exciting phase of design development! Together, we’ll transform your brand’s identity into tangible concepts, ensuring every detail—from styles to materials—perfectly aligns with your vision. This is one of the most creative and enjoyable parts of our collaboration, and each opportunity to bring a concept to life helps us grow as together as designers and as a team.
Moving forward, we'll create comprehensive technical packs. These detailed document serve as the blueprint for production, covering garment specifications, materials, and construction methods. This step ensures a shared understanding of the design and facilitates seamless communication with our network of suppliers and factories.
Running a fashion brand isn't just about creativity; it's also about managing your financials. Keeping track of your numbers helps you see trends, control costs, and manage resources. By understanding your sales, margins, and expenses, you can make informed decisions that drive success. Don’t overlook the importance of your finances—let your numbers guide you!
Our next move is to connect you with our reliable and ethical suppliers that match your project's needs. We prioritise transparency and collaboration with our suppliers to ensure that your brand receives the quality and reliability it deserves throughout the manufacturing journey.
The sampling process is the foundation of our retainer service. We create tailored sizing charts to ensure your garments fit flawlessly on your customers. This helps reduce stress, headaches, and customer returns.
From initial measurements to fine-tuning, we handle every detail with precision and expertise. Whether working with your supplier or ours, we ensure your tech pack and specification sheet come to life. Our focus is on workmanship, garment fitting, and body size charts to deliver the best results.
Once you approve the samples, we begin full-scale production. We keep communication open to ensure you're always in the loop. Our commitment is to adhere to agreed-upon timelines and maintain stringent quality control measures during every stage of production.
Over the years, we have built strong partnerships with reliable shipping carriers and logistics companies to handle product transportation for our customers.
At no additional cost, we connect you with recommended freight forwarders who can help negotiate favorable rates and service agreements. This helps optimize your shipping costs and delivery times.
For start-ups unfamiliar with the logistics process, these forwarders also provide guidance and explain the steps to ensure a smooth experience.
At Spec to Sample, we take pride in being recognized as a leading agency for education and mentoring throughout your journey with us.
Our goal is to ensure that when you're ready to take on some or all of your projects independently, you feel empowered and confident to do so. Even then, we remain available for consultations, technical design, or support whenever needed.
With our guidance, you’ll be equipped to manage the supply chain and general operations of your fashion brand with ease.
Kick off our collaboration journey with a discovery call where we delve into your brand's vision, mission, and objectives. This initial conversation allows us to understand your unique requirements, ensuring we align our processes with your creative aspirations and production specifications.
Starting, scaling, or maintaining a fashion brand requires foundational elements of a business structure. By doing this sooner rather than later you can establish a strong business framework for your fashion brand and increase its chances of long-term success. At Spec to Sample, we place high importance on Market Research, Brand Identity, Supply Chain Management, Customer experience, Financial Management, and Legal and Compliance research.
Let’s dive into the exciting phase of design development! Together, we’ll transform your brand’s identity into tangible concepts, ensuring every detail—from styles to materials—perfectly aligns with your vision. This is one of the most creative and enjoyable parts of our collaboration, and each opportunity to bring a concept to life helps us grow as together as designers and as a team.
Moving forward, we'll create comprehensive technical packs. These detailed document serve as the blueprint for production, covering garment specifications, materials, and construction methods. This step ensures a shared understanding of the design and facilitates seamless communication with our network of suppliers and factories.
Running a fashion brand isn't just about creativity; it's also about managing your financials. Keeping track of your numbers helps you see trends, control costs, and manage resources. By understanding your sales, margins, and expenses, you can make informed decisions that drive success. Don’t overlook the importance of your finances—let your numbers guide you!
Our next move is to connect you with our reliable and ethical suppliers that match your project's needs. We prioritise transparency and collaboration with our suppliers to ensure that your brand receives the quality and reliability it deserves throughout the manufacturing journey.
The sampling process is the foundation of our retainer service. We create tailored sizing charts to ensure your garments fit flawlessly on your customers. This helps reduce stress, headaches, and customer returns.
From initial measurements to fine-tuning, we handle every detail with precision and expertise. Whether working with your supplier or ours, we ensure your tech pack and specification sheet come to life. Our focus is on workmanship, garment fitting, and body size charts to deliver the best results.
Once you approve the samples, we begin full-scale production. We keep communication open to ensure you're always in the loop. Our commitment is to adhere to agreed-upon timelines and maintain stringent quality control measures during every stage of production.
Over the years, we have built strong partnerships with reliable shipping carriers and logistics companies to handle product transportation for our customers.
At no additional cost, we connect you with recommended freight forwarders who can help negotiate favorable rates and service agreements. This helps optimize your shipping costs and delivery times.
For start-ups unfamiliar with the logistics process, these forwarders also provide guidance and explain the steps to ensure a smooth experience.
At Spec to Sample, we take pride in being recognized as a leading agency for education and mentoring throughout your journey with us.
Our goal is to ensure that when you're ready to take on some or all of your projects independently, you feel empowered and confident to do so. Even then, we remain available for consultations, technical design, or support whenever needed.
With our guidance, you’ll be equipped to manage the supply chain and general operations of your fashion brand with ease.
Starting a fashion brand without industry experience can leave you feeling overwhelmed by the task of where and how to start. We are here to tell you that just being here and researching is your first step in the right direction.
We like to look at this from a different approach. It's down to how much time you have and how eager you are to learn.
If you are planning to upskill throughout the entire process, the overall costs can vary from $15,000-$40,000 AUD. Alternatively, if you prefer to outsource, we would suggest a realistic budget between $40,000-$100,000 AUD. Both investments can achieve the same outcome depending on the enthusiasm, determination and hard work you (or a helping hand) put in!
We have worked with all occupations, backgrounds, and experiences. You would be surprised how transferrable your background and knowledge can be in a new business!
Feeling unsure about where to start, what steps to take, or how much it will cost? At Spec to Sample, we’re dedicated to empowering you every step of the way, ensuring you feel confident and supported as you bring your vision to life, from your ideas to a successful launch.
Starting, running or scaling a fashion brand is not for the faint-hearted. You will need time, dedication, resilience and capital to turn it into a profitable and sustainable business.
Thorough research on your unique selling proposition (USP), customer, branding, design, sampling, website and marketing will allow you to make educated decisions earlier in the process.
We recommend collating this for us before the discovery call:
From 4 hours per month
1-on-1 with a Senior Designer
Fabric/Trim Selection
Mentoring & Consultations
Essential Start up Resources
Step by Step Fashion Program
Small & Ad-hoc Design Tasks
DIY Tech-pack support
DIY Sampling Report support
From 8 hours per month
1-on-1 with a Senior Designer
1-on-1 with a Garment Tech
Direct to Factory Connection
Trend Forecasting
Fabric/Trim Selection
Mentoring & Consultations
Project Management
Full Access to our resources
Small & Ad-hoc Design Tasks
Discounted Tech-pack rate
Discounted Sampling Report rate
From 15 hours per month
1-on-1 with a Senior Designer
1-on-1 with a Garment Tech
Production Management
Direct to Factory Connections
New Supplier Sourcing
Trend Forecasting
Fabric/Trim Selection
Mentoring & Consultations
Project Management
Full Access to our resources
Small & Ad-hoc Design Tasks
Discounted Tech-pack rate
Discounted Sampling Report rate
"Honestly, thank you SO much for everything. You have taught us so much over these past few months and we couldn't feel more grateful. We can't wait to bring this brand to life and are so fortunate to have you guiding us."
Starting a fashion brand is a commitment to the process. It can take anywhere from 6-12 months. A retainer agreement is a short-term work-for-hire contract between us and a client that will require ongoing services to get their brand up and running.
We provide a DIY retainer option such as the "Solo Support" or more comprehensive packages such as our "Foundation" or "All-in Expert Retainers." These packages span 30 to 120 hours depending on the scope and number of styles.
During your business launch, we'll work with you closely from the initial concept to the delivery of your bulk production across a 9-12 month period. We bill the retainer monthly in instalments or with an additional payment plan option.
Sometimes, clients change decisions midway and want more options like added designs, different materials, and/or more sizes.
We're willing to adapt. If we find that your project requires more hours than what is allocated in your retainer, you have a couple of options.
You can purchase additional hours on an as-needed basis, or upgrade to a larger retainer package that better aligns with your project scope. This ensures that we continue to provide support without delays.
Don’t worry, we do regular monitoring of your retainer’s consumption and will communicate any additional costs that may arise.
Of course! We can customise your service proposal or retainer depending on the extent of support you need. It’s a flexible and transparent discussion around which areas of expertise you need and how we can achieve your goals as a team.
Based on the information you provide, we will create a suggested retainer plan.
We also offer project-based services for specific areas such as tech packs, sampling reports, and fashion branding.
Yes, we can work with client-supplied factories. We are usually appointed as the designer or production manager for the brand.
We can help you manage the flow of materials from your suppliers and factories, oversee production quality, and manage timelines to ensure that your projects are completed on time.
Additionally, we can assist with tracking costs, managing critical paths, garment fitting and other ad hoc tasks. We do not pass on your supplier details.
For On-Demand Services or Project-based work, including consultations, tech-pack projects/updates, fitting consultations, sampling reports, or process/system training, we charge from AUD $180 to $250+GST per hour.
For Retainer Service customers, the pricing varies depending on your service selection, ranging from AUD $130 to AUD 180+GST per hour, with no minimum requirements for consultation time or bookings.
We offer flexible payment terms, including instalments, depending on the scope of work and the selected service.
Yes, we do! As part of our transparency to clients, we try to forecast your expected costs including a custom proposal for any new enquiry.
We believe clear communication around estimations and scope of work plays a vital role in ensuring the process is collaborative for both parties.
However, we do not provide estimates for any third-party services.
Yes! Your tech pack serves as a blueprint of your product and contains all the details needed to explain the design to a manufacturer. This vital communication tool ensures that the garments are made accurately down to the very last detail.
A tech pack helps with accurate price quotations, is used to monitor and improve the fit, and serves as the basis for quality control.
Our Concept-to-Creation Retainers offer comprehensive 1-on-1 support for design, quotations, sampling, production, and logistics. In contrast, our On-Demand Services are more limited in scope, offering support in bite-sized pieces through paid consultations. With On-Demand Services, we do not manage factory communication or offer in-depth project oversight.
Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:
Our retainers provide hands-on support and streamline your entire process, ensuring a smoother and more efficient experience, while On-Demand Services are designed for more independent, project-based work.
Spec to Sample started in 2016 with Dani freelancing for local fashion brands like Kipp Kids, Lilybod, Sonny Jay, and Peggy, while also working on her own brand, Piccolo & Mi. She also did contract work with various agencies to support them with new templates, systems, pricing, and structures.
Now, Dani's freelance work has evolved into something better. Dani's vision has always been to provide support to fashion brands — from basic tech-pack updates to complex fitting consultations. Our agility to adapt to all tasks, budgets, and timelines keeps us operating more as a freelance design team.
Our reputation for being the “go-to” team for product development speaks for itself. But what makes us different to be regarded as such?
Fashion brands that allow us to be part of their journey thrive faster.
From the initial discovery call to the finished production - we fuel our partners with purpose, passion, and collaboration.
