How to Prepare Your First Sample: A Clear Guide for New Designers and Small Brands

How to Prepare Your First Sample: A Clear Guide for New Designers and Small Brands

Your first sample is the moment when ideas stop living on your sketchbook and start becoming real. For new designers and emerging brands, this step can feel overwhelming—especially if you’ve never worked with a factory before.

But with the right preparation, your first sample can move smoothly, save development time, and help you build a stronger relationship with your manufacturer.

Here’s a practical guide based on what we see every day in sampling work, from beginners sending their first reference garment to experienced designers providing full tech packs.

1. If You’re a Complete Beginner: Start Simple

If you have no technical training and don’t know how to create a tech pack, the easiest and most effective method is:

Send a physical garment you like.

This works extremely well when:

  • You want to replicate the silhouette, fit, or feel
  • The design changes are minimal
  • You don’t have sketches, measurements, or construction details

Even a garment from your closet is acceptable. A skilled pattern maker can extract the pattern, grade it, and rebuild the sample using your preferred fabric.

To make this method smooth, include:

  • What you like about the original (fit, neckline, length, fabric weight)
  • What you want to adjust (longer sleeves? more relaxed waist?)
  • A few photos showing the look you want to achieve

This approach avoids guesswork and ensures the pattern reflects your expectations.

2. For Designers with a Clear Vision: Provide a Strong Tech Pack

A complete tech pack is the gold standard for sampling. It communicates your design in a professional, measurable way—removing uncertainty and minimizing revisions.

A well-prepared tech pack should include:

✅Design Sketches & Style Details

  • Front, back, and side views
  • Close-ups of special details
  • Clear visual explanation of features like pleats, cuffs, pockets, or paneling

✅ Construction Information

This is where many new brands underestimate the details required. Good construction notes may include:

  • Stitch type: single needle, overlock, coverstitch, bartack
  • Stitch width and distance from edge
  • Seam allowance width for each part
  • Hem finishing methods
  • Pocket depth, lining method, and reinforcement points
  • Collar or waistband construction
  • Zipper or button placement standards

The more precise the construction details, the easier it is for a sample maker to match your expectations.

✅ Print / Embroidery Guidelines

  • Artwork files (vector format preferred)
  • Print dimensions
  • Exact placement: measured from HPS, side seam, or hem
  • Pantone codes or exact color references
  • Embroidery stitch type or density

✅ Fabric & Trim Info

  • Fabric type, weight, stretch %, finishing, or fiber content
  • Colorways with Pantone
  • Labels, elastics, threads, and trims included
  • Notes about drape, stiffness, opacity, or stretch direction

✅ Measurement Chart

Your spec sheet should include:

  • Finished garment measurements
  • Tolerances (+/− allowed difference)
  • Size range
  • Fit comments from previous samples, if applicable

When measurements are missing, factories guess— and guessing always causes revisions.

3. If You Already Have a Design Sketch: Provide Visual Clarity

Even without a full tech pack, clean, well-defined sketches can dramatically improve your first sample.

Great sketches show:

  • The garment silhouette
  • How pieces join together
  • Curve lines, grain direction, pocket shape, panel proportions
  • Sleeve type, neckline depth, hem line

Sketches reduce errors in interpretation and help the pattern maker understand your design logic.

4. Before You Begin Sampling, Double-Check These Essentials

Preparing these items creates a smooth workflow:

✅ Reference garment OR clear sketches

✅ Tech pack or partial technical notes

✅ Measurement chart

✅ Fabric selection or desired fabric info

✅ Print or embroidery artwork

✅ Notes clarifying what matters most (fit? print? proportions? comfort?)

These documents are not about “being professional”—they are about saving time and reducing miscommunication.

5. Why Good Preparation Saves Time, Money, and Stress

Many new brands assume sampling is like shopping: “Just make what I have in mind.”

But sampling is a technical process.

Better preparation leads to:

  • Fewer revisions
  • Faster turnaround
  • More accurate pattern making
  • Better communication
  • Lower total development cost

Your first sample becomes the foundation for your entire production. If the first step is clear, all the following steps become much easier.

Final Thoughts

Preparing your first sample doesn’t have to be intimidating. Whether you start with a reference garment or a full tech pack, the goal is the same: communicate your design clearly.

When the information is clear, the pattern maker can work precisely, and your sample will reflect your design more accurately.

This is how new brands save time, reduce guesswork, and move confidently toward production.

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