What should I actually put in a product brief or spec sheet before I approach a manufacturer?
One page, not ten: exact dimensions, materials, colour codes (Pantone if you have them), quantity you want to start with, target landed cost, and any certifications you need (FSSAI/BIS/GOTS). The single biggest beginner mistake is describing the product in adjectives, 'premium', 'sleek', instead of numbers; factories quote what you specify, so vague specs get vague, incomparable quotes back.
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📋 Template
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A free, fill-in-the-blanks brief format you can strip down to the essentials a factory actually needs: dimensions, materials, quantity, cost target.
The clearest plain-English walk-through of the design-to-CAD-to-prototype pipeline, useful as a checklist even if you outsource every step to a factory.