This page is for anyone who checks a tech pack's grading-rules and labelling/packing sections before cutting and packing planning: a mill's team, a merchandiser, a production planner, or a new entrant. It explains how to add grading rules and labelling/packing instructions to a tech pack, and how to check both are complete before the order proceeds. This lesson teaches product flow: a tech pack's sizing and packing statements decide what a factory actually cuts and ships.
Lesson T05-C05-L03 added construction and measurement detail to Order A's tech pack. Two sections remain: the grading-rules section, stating how the base size scales to every other size, and the labelling/packing section, stating what labels, packaging and carton marking the garment needs. A new entrant can assume these are minor add-ons once measurements are set. They are not. A missing grade rule cannot produce accurate sizes past base size, and a mismatched labelling choice risks a gap between costed and produced.
A factory can cut a full size range with no rule past the base size, or pack with a costlier labelling choice than the price was built on. By then, fabric is already cut or cartons already packed.
You need: lesson T05-C05-L03 (construction and measurement), since this lesson continues the same tech pack. Course T05-C03 (Pattern Making and Marker Fundamentals) and T05-C04 (Measurement, Fit and Size Sets) are useful background but not required; this lesson reuses their grade rule directly.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: how a base pattern is graded in detail, point by point (lesson T05-C03-L02); how a size set's full measurements are calculated across sizes (lesson T05-C04-L02); how every tech pack section is assembled into one complete document (lesson T05-C05-L05).
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Base size | The size a grade rule is applied to as the starting point for every other size. |
| Grade rule | The amount added or removed at each pattern point, per size step from the base size. |
| Care label | A small label stating how a garment should be washed and cared for. |
| Main label | The label carrying the brand name and size, separate from the care label. |
| Labelling and packing section | The tech pack section stating labels, packaging and carton marking, and cost-relevant packing choices. |
| Carton marking | Information marked on a shipping carton, such as order number, quantity and destination. |
| Printed label | A label printed onto fabric tape, a lower-cost choice than a woven label. |
| Woven label | A label woven with thread on a loom, a higher-cost choice than a printed label. |
| Saving package | Order A's own fixed set of cost-saving choices, including a printed label, totalling USD 0.15 per piece. |
A tech pack's grading-rules section states the base size and the grade rule applied to that base size to produce every other size in the range, already established in lesson T05-C03-L02 and lesson T05-C04-L02. A tech pack's labelling/packing section states what labels, packaging and carton marking a garment needs, including any cost-relevant packing choice, such as a printed label instead of a woven label. Order A's own fixed saving-package breakdown includes a printed label at USD 0.03 of a USD 0.15 total saving package: a real, fixed figure showing that a labelling or packing choice has a real cost impact, not just a logistical detail attached at the end.
A tech pack's grading-rules and labelling/packing sections can each be complete, incomplete, or internally inconsistent with the rest of the document, in ways that are not always obvious from a quick read.
| What can differ | The shapes you meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Complete grading-rules section | Base size and grade-per-point amounts both stated clearly, matching the established grade rule (chest +4 cm/step, sleeve length +1 cm/step) | A factory can cut every size in the range accurately from the base size alone |
| Missing grading rules | Base size stated, but no grade rule given | A factory cannot produce accurate sizes beyond the base size; it would have to guess |
| Complete labelling/packing section | Care label, main label, polybag and carton marking all specified, with any cost-relevant choice, such as printed vs. woven label, noted | A factory knows exactly what to attach and pack, at the cost already quoted |
| Labelling/packing choice with a cost impact | A printed label costs USD 0.03 as part of Order A's own fixed USD 0.15 saving package, a specific labelling choice tied to a real, fixed figure | Shows that a labelling decision is a costing decision, not only a logistical one |
| Inconsistent labelling/packing section | Labelling/packing section specifies an item that does not match what the bill of materials assumed (for example, a woven label priced differently from the printed label the costing used) | Risks the factory using a different, uncosted material, silently changing the order's actual cost |
Rowad Knits, supplying the knit fabric for a hybrid Make to Order/Make to Stock export batch of Order A's T-shirts made by Delta Garments, is asked to confirm the tech pack's grading rules and packing instructions are complete before the batch proceeds to cutting and packing planning. The grading-rules section must state Order A's base size and its grade rule; the labelling/packing section must name every required item and connect any cost-relevant choice to the bill of materials. Only once both sections check out can the batch move forward with confidence that the sizes cut and the cartons packed will match what was actually quoted.
This lesson invents no new figures; it reuses Order A's own fixed grade rule (chest +4 cm/step, sleeve length +1 cm/step, from base size M) and its own fixed saving-package figure (printed label USD 0.03, part of a USD 0.15 total saving package).
The grading-rules section states both facts side by side, since the base size alone is not a rule. The labelling/packing section states the printed label as the specific labelling choice the USD 0.15 saving package assumes, so the bill of materials and the labelling section agree on the same figure.
The methodA common mistake is treating labelling and packing as a purely logistical afterthought disconnected from costing. A labelling choice, such as printed vs. woven label, has a real cost difference, and a tech pack that specifies packing without connecting it to the bill of materials risks a mismatch between what was costed and what is actually produced. This costs the difference between the labelling choice actually costed and the one actually used, multiplied across the whole order, once the mismatch is discovered.
A tech pack needs two more sections after its measurements: one for grading, one for labelling and packing. The grading-rules section must state both the base size and the grade rule, the amount added at each point for each size step, not just one of the two. Order A's own grade rule adds 4 cm to the chest and 1 cm to the sleeve length for each size step from base size M. The labelling/packing section must name every label, the polybag, and the carton marking, and note any choice that changes cost, such as a printed label instead of a woven label. Order A's own fixed saving package includes a printed label at USD 0.03 of a USD 0.15 total. If the labelling section specifies something different from what the bill of materials assumed, the order's real cost has quietly changed from what was quoted.
Rowad Knits is asked to confirm Order A's tech pack before the batch proceeds. The facts in front of the reviewing team:
The document the reviewing team reads, the bill of materials assumption and the labelling section's specification, exactly as they appear in the tech pack:
Is this tech pack internally consistent? Decide before opening the answer.
No. The bill of materials assumes a printed label's cost, USD 0.03, part of Order A's fixed saving package, but the labelling section specifies a woven label, which is typically a different, often higher, cost.
Two facts, together, decide this. First, the bill of materials was built using the fixed saving package's printed-label figure, USD 0.03; that figure only holds if a printed label is what is actually attached. Second, the labelling/packing section, read on its own, specifies a woven label for the main label, a different item from the one the costing assumed.
The bill of materials needs to be updated to reflect the woven label's actual cost, or the labelling section corrected to match the printed label the costing assumed, before the tech pack is internally consistent. Proceeding without resolving this means Delta Garments could attach a woven label to every one of the 15,000 pieces at a cost the FOB price never accounted for.
This lesson's cost is framed qualitatively, anchored to the one concrete figure this academy fixes: the printed label's own USD 0.03 share of Order A's USD 0.15 saving package.
An inconsistency between the bill of materials and the labelling/packing section risks the factory using a different, uncosted material, silently changing the order's actual cost from what was quoted. This is a real but not separately quantified cost, since no fixed woven-label price exists elsewhere in this academy to calculate an exact difference; the completeness-and-consistency method in this lesson is what prevents the mismatch from reaching the cutting table or the carton in the first place.
Copy this table into the tech pack template pack. Fill each row from what the tech pack actually states, not from what was assumed when the bill of materials was built.
| Tech pack section | Figures come from | Complete (your entry) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grading rules | Course 3's own grade rule (chest +4 cm/step, sleeve length +1 cm/step) | Applied from base size M across S, M, L, XL | |
| Labelling and packing | Order A's own fixed saving-package figure (printed label 0.03 of the 0.15 saving package) | Care label, main label, polybag, carton mark, matched to bill of materials |
Download the full working sheet, with a column for your own notes, from the link on this course's page.
1. What two pieces of information does a complete grading-rules section need?
2. Why does a labelling choice, such as printed vs. woven label, matter to a tech pack's costing?
3. A second tech pack's bill of materials assumes bulk packing at USD 0.04 per piece (part of Order A's own fixed saving package), but its labelling/packing section specifies individual polybag packing instead, with no cost update. Is this tech pack consistent?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base size | المقاس الأساسي | Taille de base | Temel beden | The size a grade rule is applied to as the starting point for producing every other size in the range. |
| Grade rule | قاعدة التدريج | Règle de gradation | Gradasyon kuralı | The set amount added or removed at each specific point on a pattern, for each size step away from the base size. |
| Care label | ليبل العناية | Étiquette d'entretien | Bakım etiketi | A small label sewn into a garment stating how it should be washed and cared for; one common trim. |
| Main label | الليبل الرئيسي | Étiquette principale | Ana etiket | The label carrying the brand name and size, usually sewn into the neck or waistband, separate from the care label. |
| Labelling and packing section | قسم الليبل والتعبئة | Section étiquetage et emballage | Etiketleme ve paketleme bölümü | The tech pack section stating what labels, packaging and carton marking a garment needs, including any cost-relevant packing choices. |
| Carton marking | علامات الكرتون | Marquage des cartons | Karton işaretleme | The information printed or labelled on a shipping carton, such as order number, quantity and destination, so cartons can be identified and sorted. |
| Printed label | ليبل مطبوع | Étiquette imprimée | Baskılı etiket | A label whose text is printed directly onto fabric tape, a lower-cost labelling choice than a woven label. |
| Woven label | ليبل منسوج | Étiquette tissée | Dokuma etiket | A label woven with thread on a loom, a higher-cost labelling choice than a printed label. |
| Saving package | حزمة التوفير | Forfait d'économies | Tasarruf paketi | Order A's own fixed set of cost-saving choices, including a printed label, totalling USD 0.15 per piece off the FOB price. |
You now know how to check that a tech pack's grading-rules section and labelling/packing section are complete and consistent with the bill of materials. The next lesson brings every section together: bill of materials, construction detail, measurement spec, grading rules and labelling/packing, assembled into one complete tech pack for Order A. Back to the course map