Welcome to the Fashion Blog

Are you interested in reading fashion news about haute couture, prêt-à-porter and avant-garde clothing? We hope so because you will learn about these topics as well as find style reports about emerging designers, new lifestyle brands, cutting edge fabrics, and much more. Anything relevant to the fashion industry is open for discussion.

Enjoy the fashion blog to obtain your daily dose of inspiration. Keep your wardrobe as trendy as your mind.

Read more about fashion & style.

We hope that you love reading about fashion as much as we do.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Fashion Design Tools

When you say you are looking for fashion design tools, what do you mean?  Are you talking about sketch books & pencils or are you referring to fashion design software and apps?  Obviously there is a big difference between the traditional methods artists have historically used verse the new techniques that utilize technology.  In this post we will be discussing the tech relevant methods for designing clothing, footwear, and accessories.

There are many different aspects of fashion design.  It is important to determine the aspect that applies to the task at hand.  A pattern maker, embroidery, womenswear designer, and textile printing factory will require different sorts of tools to help them complete projects.  It is critical to find the tools that are relevant to a specific discipline.

Below are a few tools of possible interest:


The design process has many elements, some of which help in the development & manufacturing of clothes, shoes, handbags, etc.,   Software allows artists and manufacturers the ability to create basic and advanced garments more efficiently and effectively.  The use of fashion design software such as CAD helps designers in many ways. CAD, or computer-aided design, is the use of computer technology for design and design documentation.  CAD software replaces manual drafting with an automated process.  Our industry has benefits from both 2D or 3D CAD programs.

The first CAD package for clothing came out in 1985, which significantly helped to decrease inefficiencies in making and readjusting panel patterns.  Since 1985, computer clothing design software packages have made tremendous advancements.  Advanced fashion design and technology is the manufacturing process related to fashion which integrates the newest technologies. 

Technology has contributed to the fashion industry in the manufacturing process.  Design tools are often incorporated into other software to create a mix between design elements and production relevant instruction.   A way to do this efficiently and effectively is through Tech Packs.  Tech Packs contain information that help the manufacturer communicate with the designer.

Browzwear 3D Fashion Design Software: Browzwear brings the power of 3D to fashion design, development, marketing and collaboration with three easy-to-use products that help you express your creativity and shorten time to market.  One example is Lotta.  Lotta was one of the first 3D solution created especially for fashion designers. Easy to use, it unleashes your creativity so you can view your designs on a realistic 3D body in a variety of colors, styles, materials and more. With Lotta, you can seamlessly move from your favorite 2D tools to 3D and back again or work directly in 3D.  It’s easier than ever to communicate your design ideas with the entire development team.

Edraw Fashion Design Software: Edraw Max is a new fashion design software, which gives you a wide assortment of model and clothes in a variety of colors and styles to design fashion dress.

Lectra Kaledo Design Software: Lectra supports companies in finding the right balance between creativity, innovation and profitability by placing design at the core of collection development. They are also dedicated to training future fashion and apparel professionals providing schools with access to their solutions, software and design expertise.  Designers need to create the right products in line with seasonal trends to ensure profitability. By connecting designers, product development and production teams, Lectra’s fashion design software allows companies to create innovative products faster and at a lower cost.

Optitex Fashion Design Software: Optitex believes that 3D is one of the most impactful technologies the fashion industry has seen to date. It is transformative: prototypes in hours instead of weeks, changes to colors & graphics at a push of a button, collection reviews within 3 weeks of design instead 5 months later, and merchandising lines & stores months earlier than brands could ever do it before. This is all because 3D Digital Apparel finally looks and acts real. Visit their site to learn more.

Wild Ginger Fashion Design Software: Wild Ginger Software offers a variety of software products for fashion design, home sewing and crafts, and educators and students in fashion design and theatrical costuming.  They also have software for creating a sewing inventory and finding your best style matches.

Check the CAD Fashion Software section for additional resources.  Also, check Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.


Fashion & textile design apps are good tools for designers that enjoy working on their portable devices such as mobile phones and tablets.  There are too many to list, so we have listed only a few examples for your review.  If you have any favorites that are not listed below, let us know your suggestions in the comment section.

Design Library: Elevate your designs by getting to know the textile industry. Peek into some of the most extensive textile libraries in the world with Design Library. Browse beautiful design selections from all over the world (e.g. France, Japan, and Uzbekistan) and dates from the 1750s to 1990.  Developed by the Design Library.

MyPantone: Designers must know Pantone colors. This company is responsible for global color trends, the code regulation of color, and swatches across all creative communities. Eyedrop colors from photos and find the equivalent Pantone color.  Developed by Pantone.  If you want to better understand color trends, you may want to learn about the pantone color of the year selection.

Sewing Kit: Get your junk organized! Store and catalog all of your patterns, fabrics, projects, and measurements with Sewing Kit. Every entry you make in this app lets you include countless details. For example, for fabrics, every entry allows you to fill in its name, color, where you bought it, where it's stored, whether it's been washed, whether it’s been ironed, and unlimited photos. This app is very customizable and will save you the stress of searching for misplaced design elements while you are working.  Developed by Vesta Software, LLC.

Sketchbook Pro: Fashion sketches take on a variety of different styles, from the conceptual and vague to the labors of love that note every stitch. No matter what your style, Sketchbook Pro for iPad (also available for the iPhone) has variety of brushes and a slick interface that will meet all your sketching needs without getting in the way. A highlight of this app is its customizable color palette that is perfect for fashion designers trying to pull together a cohesive color theme across several looks.  Developed by Autodesk Inc.

Photoshop: Get the app that brings serious Photoshop editing to your mobile device. Photoshop Mix lets you cut out and combine elements from different images, blend layers and apply looks on your iPhone, iPad or Android device, all compatible with Photoshop CC.

Learn more about fashion apps.

You may want to also visit the Apparel Search fashion artists guide section for additional fashion design tools that may be of interest to you.

If you are a fashion illustrator and have suggestions regarding additional programs or services, please share your thoughts in the discussion area of this post.  We would be happy to hear your professional opinion.


Research something new.

Time to find trendy shoes, classic tops, fabulous handbags, and more.

Style tips

Review trendy fashion styles. Find the best clothing, shoes, handbags and fashion accessories.

Popular Fashion Blog Posts

Upgrade Your Wardrobe

Ready to shop? Apparel Search has a few favorite suggestions. Visit our new shopping page to view a few of our favorite fashion shopping destinations such as upscale boutiques like Barney's, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, etc.
If you are interested in upgrading your wardrobe, you can visit the fashion shopping page.


Experience style.

Fashion blogs typically cover various aspects of clothing, footwear and personal style. Ours is exactly what one would expect from a leading international resource and more.

Designer brands: If you are researching the newest emerging indie designers or the most popular international designer brands, you will find articles and enlightening reviews on the subject. Fashionistas will find what appears to be an endless stream of designer options.

Shopping: You can find consumer tips on issues such as how clothes should fit, where to find sample sales, and other information to help consumers research apparel and where to make purchases. We also discuss clothes, fabric, and color trends that offer assistance to shoppers.

Beauty: We do write articles about cosmetics, fragrances, hairstyle trends, and a wide assortment of beauty tips. Models, stylists, fashionistas, and photographers, will surely find news articles of interest.

Essentially, we cover most of the topics you would find in an industry journal as well as other topics that you would discover in a typical fashion magazine.

Fashion is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has considerable impact on the way ordinary people dress and present themselves. Fashion is trend-driven and our fashion blog by Apparel Search provides a riveting way to follow and oversee these fast-paced trends. The blogoshepere has tons of style sites for your review. We thank you for taking the time to view ours.

If you have fashion news about your company, product, or service, that you wish to share with the world, let us know. You are also welcome to comment in the discussion area beneath each post and share with your friends on social media.

Looking for more resources? You are welcome to learn about other fashion blogs so that you can continue your research.

Who created this amazing blog?

Apparel Search Company - Visit our home page to learn more about the fashion industry at www.ApparelSearch.com

Our style blog incorporates topics such as clothing, footwear, jewelry, beauty products and fashion accessories. From luxury lifestyle choices stemming from Paris, Milan or Hong Kong to urban street trends from Chicago & the boroughs of New York, we have your style covered.
Take your time to browse the various areas of our blog, or head back over to the main area of our Apparel Search website to learn more about our industry.

Tips on Participation

The fashion blog is not only for reading. Nor is it about simply viewing pictures of super models, beautiful celebrities & trendy photographs of handbags & shoes. Consumers, fashionistas, and members of the apparel industry are welcome to participate at the bottom of each blog post.

Members of the garment industry, consumers, and fashionistas are welcome to comment at the bottom of our posts.

Yes, if you don't wish to participate, you are welcome to simply view our pages. Participation is not a requirement. Even you don't wish to share your thoughts that is perfectly understandable. It is our pleasure to present to you the fashion, beauty and style that intrigues Apparel Search. Hopefully our reporting will arouse your curiosity and interest as well. You can jump into the conversation if that is appealing to you.