Sourcing Guides
The Line Sheet and Tech Pack: What Factories Need Before They Can Quote Your Shoe
Factories quote what they can read. What a sneaker line sheet and tech pack must contain before a factory can price your shoe accurately, and where brands lose money.
# The Line Sheet and Tech Pack: What Factories Need Before They Can Quote Your Shoe
Send five factories the same concept sketch and you will receive five quotes that differ by ridiculous multiples—not because the factories disagree about the shoe, but because each one guessed differently about what you meant. A sneaker cannot be quoted from a mood board. It can be quoted from a line sheet and a tech pack, and the gap between those two documents is where most first-time brands either save months or lose a season. Here is what each document does, what it must contain, and how factories actually use them.
Two Documents, Two Jobs
The line sheet is the commercial document. One row per style: name, silhouette category, materials at headline level, size run, target quantity, and the images that communicate the design intent. It answers the factory's first question—is this style something we make, at a quantity worth quoting?
The tech pack is the engineering document. It specifies the shoe precisely enough that a pattern maker and costing team can calculate it: construction callouts, measurements, material placements, stitch specifications, last reference, colorways with material codes. It answers the factory's second question—what exactly do we build, and how?
Brands conflate them at their peril. A line sheet without a tech pack gets you a ballpark price built on assumptions. A tech pack without a line sheet gets you engineering enthusiasm for a style you may never order. The sequence that works: line sheet to shortlist factories, tech pack to get real quotes.
What the Line Sheet Must Contain
Keep it to one page per style, or one spreadsheet row per style with attached images. The minimum a serious factory needs:
Field / Why the Factory Cares
• Style name and number — Their internal tracking and your future correspondence
• Silhouette category (runner, skate, court, boot) — Routes your inquiry to the right production line
• Upper, lining, outsole materials at headline level — Rough cost class before details exist
• Target size run — Affects material consumption and mold planning
• Target quantity per style and colorway — Decides whether they quote at all
• 2–4 reference images or sketches — Communicates intent faster than words
• Target launch window — Tells them whether your timeline is real
The quantity line is the one brands fudge, and factories know it. An inflated number gets you a seductive quote and a renegotiation later; an honest number gets you a realistic one. If your quantity is genuinely flexible, say so and ask for tiered pricing—factories respond well to buyers who understand that volume drives everything.
What the Tech Pack Must Contain
The tech pack is where amateur documents fall apart, so hold yours to this list:
1. exploded view or annotated sketches — every panel named and numbered, so "the mudguard" means the same thing in both languages.
2. Measurement sheet — key dimensions per size: overall length, widths at ball and waist, heel height, collar opening, and tolerances you will accept.
3. Material callouts per panel — not just "leather" but which leather, which thickness, which finish, referencing your approved swatches.
4. Colorway matrix — every colorway mapped to every material code, so the factory prices variants without guessing.
5. Construction notes — stitch types and density at stress points, bonding vs. stitching callouts, lasting method, sock board and insole specs.
6. Last reference — the last your shoe builds on, or the reference shoe whose fit you are copying.
7. Branding artwork — logo placements at exact positions and sizes, with application method (emboss, print, woven label).
8. Packaging spec — box dimensions, tissue, labels, hangtags. Factories quote packaging separately; give them something to quote from.
If you cannot produce all eight sections, you are not ready for firm quotes—and that is normal at concept stage. The honest path is a two-step quote: a development estimate based on your partial pack, then firm pricing once the pack completes. Our guide on the designer brief covers how to get from idea to that first document.
Where Bad Documents Cost Money
Three failure patterns show up again and again:
The adjective quote. "Premium leather, comfortable fit" forces the factory to price against their assumptions. You receive a quote for their idea of premium—and the gap surfaces at sample review, when changes cost the most. In development, precision is the cheapest material in the shoe.
The moving tech pack. Specifications that change after quotes arrive reset the costing. Every change is legitimate at development stage—just route it back through costing before you compare prices, not after.
The missing colorway logic. Brands quote one colorway and discover at bulk that six variants use different materials, linings, or laces. The colorway matrix in the tech pack exists precisely to surface that before prices are locked.
From Documents to Real Quotes
With a complete line sheet and tech pack, the quoting conversation transforms. Factories respond to completeness—it signals a buyer who will reach production, whose time is worth their costing team's attention. You will get firmer numbers, faster answers, and better questions back: which construction detail did you intend here, does this panel need the heavier lining, is this stitch spec from a sample you liked?
That is also the moment quantity and feasibility stop being abstract. MOQs depend on the product and factory. Tell us what you need and we confirm what is realistic before you commit to anything. Real documents make that conversation concrete: the factory can tell you what your tech pack implies at your quantity, and where the spec could flex to hit a workable price.
If you are early in the journey and the tech pack feels distant, our walkthrough of how a sneaker gets developed shows where these documents sit in the full path—and our development process page covers how we build them with brands that do not have a technical designer on staff.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a factory build the tech pack for me?
Many development partners offer exactly that—you bring the design intent and reference shoes, they produce the engineering documents. This is one of the strongest arguments for working with a partner rather than going factory-direct as a first-timer: the tech pack is written by the people who will also be quoted against it.
How detailed is "detailed enough" for a first quote?
Enough that two different costing teams would reach similar numbers. In practice: every panel named, materials at swatch-reference level, size run and quantities stated, construction basics called out. If your document still contains the words "etc." or "similar to," it is not ready.
Do I need a new tech pack for every colorway?
No—you need one tech pack plus a colorway matrix. Only write new documents when a colorway changes materials or construction, not merely colors. That distinction alone keeps your document set manageable.
What if my design changes after quotes?
Normal and expected at development stage. Route the change through costing as an update—revised page, dated, numbered—so the factory reprices against a known delta rather than re-guessing the whole shoe.
The Takeaway
Factories quote documents, not dreams. A clean line sheet gets your shoe taken seriously; a complete tech pack gets it priced honestly. Build both before you chase prices, and the quotes you receive will be numbers you can actually build a launch on.
