Design Your Own Outfits App

Digital tools for digital designers

There's not an industry out there that isn't being enhanced by digital tools right now and fashion is no different. From iPhone apps to help you track down outfits you've spotted in the street, to powerful design software to help you craft your latest line, we've rounded up some of the best apps to help fashion designers stay on top of their game.

Best apps for fashion designers – a guide

1: Best apps for fashion inspiration
2: Best apps for fashion design
3: Best apps for fashion marketing

apps for fashion designers

Best apps for fashion inspiration

The ultimate digital moodboard and a hugely popular resource for fashionistas, Pinterest allows you to collect – or "pin" – images from around the web and save them for reference. As well as creating your own boards full of the kinds of outfits or looks that inspire you, you can search and browse other boards to explore different themes. With over 602 million boards on fashion and 21 billion fashion ideas, Pinterest is an indispensable tool for discovering new ideas and trends.

The Matboard

An alternative moodboard app, the Matboard has been dubbed "the Pinterest for designers". Functioning in a similar way, the Matboard is a social bookmarking hub for creatives, which allows you to organise, browse and discover inspiring work, as well as create moodboards for your own specific projects.

Art Authority

Fashion inspiration should go beyond fashion itself and art will always be a crucial source of ideas for designers. The Art Authority app gives its users the chance to browse over 100,000+ paintings and sculptures by 1,500 of the western world's leading artists from ancient times to today. This easy-access archive is an incredible visual library that should inspire all kinds of designer.

Vogue Runway

Created by the world's leading fashion publisher, Vogue Runway offers unlimited access to the world's latest collections. But it's the archive that really makes this app special – offering images from 12,000 fashion shows and more than 1 million runway photos all the way back to 2000.

The Hunt

Stalk the latest fashion with this app which helps you track down looks. Post photos of outfits you like and the community will help identify the designers, as well as where you could buy it for yourself. The Hunt also helps you keep on top of current trends, with news and interviews.

apps for fashion designers

Best apps for fashion design

Adobe Illustrator

A core piece of software for graphic designers, Adobe Illustrator is popular with fashion designers as a tool for drawing flats, as well as freehand sketching, tracing patterns and experimenting with colour palettes.

Corel Draw

One of the most popular choices for vector based design and a software staple for fashion students, Corel Draw allows for everything from sketching and pattern making to creating geometric mannequins to pin designs to.

Sketch

Another powerful vector graphics editor, which has been competing with Illustrator, Sketch is an intuitive piece of design software with a wide range of plugins and an ever-growing choice of extensions and add-ons.

CLO 3D

A virtual sampling tool, CLO 3D allows you to build your designs in 3D, trying out different patterns and fabrics in a way that you can really visualise.

Pret-A-Template

A bit like a portable digital sketchbook, Pret-A-Template allows you to sketch out designs on your iPhone or iPad across a choice of over 1,000 templates – from bodies to shoes – using a wide selection of brushes, patterns and colours.

Sketchbook

With its stripped down, intuitive, interface, Sketchbook is an excellent drawing app perfect for sketching out concepts on your device. You can instantly scan in paper drawings for digital editing using your device camera, and play with a wide variety of brushes and tools. Best of all – it's free.

apps for fashion designers

Best apps for fashion marketing

Instagram

It may seem obvious, but Instagram is a vital social media platform for any designer hoping to make a mark. As well as being the place to share photos of your work, it's a crucial networking tool and the perfect place to find new customers for your products.

Shopify

One of the leading e-commerce sites for independent sellers, Shopify allows you to quickly set up an online store. It also boasts a wide range of themes, full access to HTML and CSS for customisation and unlimited products and bandwidth.

Depop

Like Instagram for selling clothes, Depop is a hit app thanks to its colourful marketplace and active community. It's popular with people selling vintage and designer fashion, as well as with independent designers looking to sell their work.

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