[15+] Best Design Clothes Apps For Sustainable Fashion Designers

Sustainability in fashion isn't just a trend but a new norm. As more designers focus on creating eco-friendly clothing, having the right tools is essential. In this blog, we will introduce you to the best design clothes apps that make creating unique, trendy, and eco-friendly fashion designs easy.

Let’s jump into the world of clothing design apps and discover new ways to bring your fashion ideas to life.

How To Start A Clothing Brand - 8 Easy Steps

Step 1 - Understand Your Market and Audience

First, decide what type of clothing you want to create. Are you into sustainable fashion, casual wear, or something else? Choose a niche that interests you and has potential in the market.

Then, you need to consider who will buy your clothes—what are their ages, styles, and shopping habits? You should also look at your competitors to see what works for them and how you can differentiate yourself.

Step 2 - Build Your Brand

Customers need to know your brand not just for its name and logo, but for the entire story behind your business. You need to choose a name that fits, design a unique logo representing your brand story. Remember, your message needs to be consistent everywhere, from your website to your social media.

Step 3 - Design and Source Your Products

It's time to customize your wardrobe now! Make designs that appeal to your target market and are consistent with your brand's aesthetic. Please proceed to the next section to choose the best apps for designing your clothes.

Once you have your designs, find suppliers who can provide high-quality materials and manufacturers who can make them a reality. Remember to make samples first to check quality and fit before mass production.

Step 4 - Create a business plan and finances

A good business plan is essential. Outline your goals, who you are selling to, how you will market your brand, and how much money you expect to make. Calculate your startup costs and explore ways to fund your business, such as using personal savings, taking out a loan, or crowdfunding. Set your prices carefully—they should be competitive but also profitable.

Step 5 - Create an online store

Once your designs are ready, build an online store where people can buy your clothes. You should choose a platform that is easy to use to open an online store and especially include secure payments to make the shopping experience smooth for your customers.

Today, platforms like Shopify make it easy to create an online store. You can use tools like EComposer - Shopify Page Builder app to build a beautiful website and improve the user experience quickly. If you're new to Shopify, they offer a trial plan for just $1 for the first month. After the trial, you can either continue building your store by paying more or close it without extra charges. This offer is limited, so don't wait—click the button below to start your store now!

Step 6 - Market and promote your brand

You'll need a good marketing strategy to get people to notice your brand. Find out where your audience spends their time online—Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok—and start engaging with them there. Use social media to build a following, partner with influencers, and run ads to reach more people.

Step 7 - Manage orders and shipping

Once orders start, you must manage inventory and fulfill orders efficiently. Decide whether you’ll handle shipping yourself or use a third-party service. Providing great customer service is crucial—be responsive and helpful to keep your customers happy.

Step 8 - Handle legal issues

Lastly, make sure your company is legitimately registered. Register your company, secure any required licenses, and safeguard your brand by registering your copyright and trademark.

Bonus Tip

Start small—focus on a few key products before expanding. Build strong relationships with your suppliers, listen to customer feedback, and stay up-to-date on the latest trends to keep your brand fresh.

List of 25 Best Design Clothes Apps

1. Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a widely trusted tool among fashion designers for creating functional, flat sketches and technical packs. Renowned for its vector graphic design capabilities, it plays a crucial role in styling and detailing clothing products. While it may initially seem challenging, mastering the basics allows beginners to produce high-quality, detailed fashion designs. Adobe Illustrator also enables the creation of patterns for fabrics and garments, making it a versatile tool for sketching and textile design.

Benefits:

• Excellent for sketching
• Ideal for textile design
• Accessible and cost-effective for beginners

Pricing: $22.99/month

2. Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is one of the fashion industry's most widely used CAD (Computer-Aided Design) tools. It allows designers to easily make color adjustments to fabric textures, such as denim or sweater stitches. The platform also enables the creation of original graphic artwork through freehand drawing and applying artistic effects like watercolor, airbrushing, and charcoal. Its versatility is increased by its compatibility with multiple file formats, which makes it an invaluable tool for fashion designers.

Benefits:

• Easily make color changes within fabric textures
• Supports freehand drawing and artistic effects
• Versatile with multiple file format support

Pricing:

• Photography - US$19.99/mo
• Photoshop - US$22.99/mo

3. MeetUp

MeetUp is a groundbreaking app that helps fashion designers bridge the gap between their creative ideas and consumer preferences. It allows designers to organize virtual meetups with potential customers, providing a platform to gather feedback and insights on their designs before bringing them to life. This interaction boosts designers' confidence and helps them refine their creations based on real consumer input.

Benefits:

• Facilitates virtual meetups with potential customers
• Provides valuable consumer feedback on designs
• Boosts confidence in bringing design ideas to life

4. CLO3D

CLO3D is an advanced app designed for fashion designers who want to visualize their product designs in 3D. Similar to platforms like Facebook and Snapchat, users can pick an avatar that can be customized with 3D body models. Designers can import or create patterns to fit these avatars, making it a popular choice among those looking for a dynamic and realistic design experience.

Benefits:

• Ability to work on 3D avatars for realistic design visualization
• Reduces design preparation time
• Offers extensive customization options

Pricing: 14-day free trial

• Annual - $450 /year
• Monthly - $50 /month

5. Techpacker

Techpacker is an advanced web application designed to streamline collaboration between fashion designers and their teams. It allows designers to instantly sketch prototypes and share them with manufacturers, enhancing communication and efficiency. The platform also provides tools for generating run reports, receiving real-time status updates, and ensuring that projects stay on schedule.

Benefits:

• Facilitates efficient collaboration between designers and manufacturers
• Instant sharing of design prototypes
• Provides run reports and real-time status updates
• Helps in keeping projects on schedule

Pricing: 

• Techpack Builder - $35/mo
• PLM Professional - $95/mo
• PLM Premium - $125/mo

6. Tailornova

Tailornova is an innovative app designed for fashion designers who want to create patterns and sketches quickly and easily. Several sophisticated features are available, such as e-commerce connectivity, sewing instructions, automatic pattern measurements, 3D garment simulation, and vector 2D flat sketching. With a few clicks, users may create professional designs because Tailornova simplifies the design process.

Benefits:

• Quick and hassle-free pattern and sketch creation
• 3D garment simulation for realistic design visualization
• Automated pattern measurements
• Includes sewing instructions and vector 2D flat sketches
• Integrated with e-commerce platforms

7. Procreate

Procreate is a top-tier digital illustration app for iPad, widely favored by artists for its robust features, including customizable brushes, layer support, and advanced editing tools. It offers high-resolution canvases and intuitive gesture controls, making it suitable for professionals and hobbyists. Additionally, Procreate includes animation capabilities, allowing for the creation of detailed artwork easily exported in various formats.

Benefits:

• Customizable brushes for personalized designs
• Layer support for complex artwork
• High-resolution canvases for detailed illustrations
• Intuitive gesture controls for seamless workflow
• Animation capabilities for dynamic creations
• Easy export in multiple formats

8. Repsketch

Repsketch is a fashion design app tailored for beginners who want to avoid starting from scratch. This innovative app allows users to modify existing sketches curated by the fashion community. You may choose a template and alter it to fit your unique design requirements, making it a great tool for practicing and honing your abilities without starting from scratch with fresh ideas.

Benefits

• No need to create sketches from scratch
• Having access to a large selection of pre-made templates
• It is ideal for beginners and those looking to practice

Pricing: FREE

9. Maker’s Row

Maker’s Row is a platform designed to help fashion designers find the best manufacturers through crowd-sourced reviews and solutions. It offers access to over 3,500 apparel and accessory producers, making selecting the right manufacturing partners easier once your designs are ready. 

Benefits: 

• Access to crowd-sourced reviews for informed decision-making
• Over 3,500 manufacturing options to choose from
• Covers numerous clothing categories

Pricing:

• FREE
• Standard - $39/mo
• Preferred - $129/mo
• Premium - $599/mo

10. Art Authority

Art Authority is a widely popular app that inspires fashion designers' creativity. It offers access to a vast visual library of over 100,000 paintings, providing ample inspiration for design ideas. Because of its easy-to-use UI, the app is an excellent tool for designers looking for creative inspiration.

Benefits:

• Access to over 100,000 artworks for inspiration
• User-friendly and easy to access

Pricing: Affordable at only $4.99

11. Miro Board

Miro Whiteboard is a collaborative platform tailored for fashion designers. It enables them to brainstorm and organize their collection ideas effectively. With the help of this application, you can collaborate with team members across the globe to build design concepts, exchange mood boards as inspiration, and sketch out ideas, all of which will set your projects up for success from the start.

Benefits:

• Facilitates collaboration on design projects
• Enables brainstorming and idea sketching
• Supports global team collaboration for design concept development

Pricing: 

• FREE
• Starter -$8/mo per member
• Business - $16/mo per member
• Enterprise - contact support

12. World Global Style Network

WGSN - World Global Style Network is a premier trend forecasting and analytics platform that fashion, lifestyle, and design professionals utilize. It provides insightful information and statistics on market movements, customer behavior, and new trends, assisting organizations in staying ahead of the curve and making wise decisions. WGSN provides various services, including trend reports, industry analysis, and creative inspiration, all designed to support strategic planning, product development, and marketing efforts.

Benefits:

• Provides insights on emerging trends and consumer behavior
• Supports strategic planning, product development, and marketing
• Offers industry analysis and creative inspiration

13. Valentina

Valentina is an ideal app for beginners looking to explore and learn about patterns, color palettes, and various styles in fashion design. This pattern-drafting app aids in creating affordable and viable apparel designs by providing over 50 pattern-making options based on mathematical formulas, making it an invaluable tool for aspiring fashion designers.

Benefits:

• Perfect for beginners learning about patterns and styles
• Offers over 50 pattern-making options
• Supports the creation of affordable and viable apparel designs

14. Swatchon

Swatchon is a South Korean platform specializing in wholesale fabrics, offering a wide range of options and the ability to ship to nearly 52 countries. The platform is particularly accommodating with its relaxed minimum order quantity (MOQ) restrictions, allowing orders to start at just 3 yards. 

Benefits

• Relaxed minimum order restrictions
• Orders starting at just 3 yards
• Free for Ready-to-Wear (RTW) businesses

Pricing: Swatchon is free to use for Ready-to-Wear (RTW) businesses, while others can access it by making a $500 prepayment.

15. Cameo v5 Apparel 

Cameo v5 Apparel is an advanced app designed for fashion designers. It offers a comprehensive set of technical drawing tools and lay markers. It facilitates the creation of both customized and standardized apparel. In addition to its design capabilities, many leading fashion labels use Cameo v5 Apparel to develop fashion portfolios and brochures.

Benefits:

• Extensive technical drawing tools and lay markers
• Supports the creation of customized and standardized apparel
• Used by leading labels for fashion portfolios and brochures

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I design clothes digitally?

Yes, you can design clothes digitally! Many designers use Adobe Illustrator or specialized fashion design apps to create detailed digital sketches. These tools allow you to experiment with patterns, fine-tune details, and visualize your clothing concepts efficiently, making digital design a common and powerful practice in the fashion industry.

2. How do beginners design clothes?

To create clothing, a beginner must first establish their aesthetic, master the fundamentals of drawing and fabric understanding, and then brainstorm and sketch potential designs. They make tangible prototypes using selected fabrics and solicit feedback to improve their designs.

3. What fashion app do designers use to design?

Fashion designers frequently use apps like Adobe Illustrator for professional design and sketching. These apps offer strong tools for producing intricate and scalable fashion graphics. Procreate is a fantastic option for digital sketching and design because of its intuitive UI and sophisticated drawing features, which are also well-liked by designers.

That’s a wrap!

Learn about the top applications for sustainable fashion designers to help you be more creative and expedite your workflow. The distinctive features in the aforementioned collection of apparel design apps enable you to plan and design effectively, remain current with fashion, organize your designs, and produce stunning, eco-friendly clothing. So, make your creative process easier and more fun using these tools.