Businesses around the world are demanding higher productivity from their employees. The United States has reached all-time high labor productivity as we get 4 times more work done then our grand-parents in 1950.

Technology has contributed to most of our productivity. With software, information communication, data processing, and automated control, it has made us a smart and sophisticated workforce to our value-added enterprises.

But, with more than 4 million software, browser extensions, phone & tablet apps to choose from, it can get overwhelming. In this blog post we will suggest 15 apps that will make your work much easier, faster, smarter and profitable. In short, better ROI (Return on Investment).

These apps are divided into 5 categories that will walk you through all stages of building a product. These stages include sources for fashion inspiration, applications used for product design, product development apps, manufacturing and marketing. So this is basically the A-Z guide for your entire product development process.

This design app is surprisingly powerful and has earned as spot as one of the best graphic design apps. Photoshop Sketch is a top-shelf option for creating art, no matter your particular preferences or style. 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. Fashion Design FlatSketch. If you're designing women's clothing, you will find Fashion Design FlatSketch to be very effective. The app is simple, allowing you to create basic fashion sketches in minutes. The app includes a library of over 1,000 graphics to choose from, or you can draw your own details in the flat sketches.

Fashion Inspiration

What is the very first step of the product design? It is getting inspired by something! It doesn't necessarily have to be a piece of clothing, it could be a mood board, movie or a piece of art. Here is a list of our suggested sources to get inspiration from.

WGSN

WGSN is a trend forecasting platform. It constantly monitors how consumers think, feel and behave. Their experts help brands stay relevant by predicting the products, experiences and services people will need in future. WGSN's network of industry experts, provides inspiration to a community of over 43,000 product designers and thought leaders in 32 global markets.

Price: Free registration

Art Authority

Art will always be a biggest source of inspiration in the fashion world. The Art Authority app lets you browse over 100,000+ paintings and sculptures by 1,500 of the Western world’s leading artists from ancient times to today. Their visual library is easy to access and use for every designer.

Price: $4.99

Vogue Runway

Take inspiration from other designers' collections! Vogue Runway is an app created by the world's leading fashion publisher. And it offers unlimited access to the world’s latest collections. Their archive contains over 1 million runway images from over 12,000 fashion shows including the new ones and old from way back to 2000s.

Price: Free

Other apps for fashion inspiration: Pinterest, Business of Fashion, Instagram, The Hunt.

Best Fashion Design Apps For Windows

Design

Fashion design includes sketching an initial idea and technical specifications. The old-school method of sketching on the paper is outdated. These apps will help you sketch your designs fast and customize them on the go.

Adobe Illustrator

Fashion and technical designers use Illustrator to draw flat sketches (or functional sketches) with callouts for construction and styling details to put them in tech packs so your team and manufacturer can easily understand and follow.

If you are new to illustrator then there are some great resources available. You can join free webinars and training classes from Fashion Classroom or Sew Heidi.

Price: $29.99/month

Sketch

Adobe Illustrator has dominated the world of creative software for decades with so many features BUT only until 5 years ago when Sketch was launched.

In a nutshell, Sketch has almost overtaken Adobe Illustrator in the graphic design world. Why? because Sketch is fast, intuitive and has lots of Plugins. There's so much development by third-party developers who continue to create some really smart plugins and keep extending the functionality of Sketch.

Besides, The simplicity and ease of use in exporting and managing assets in Sketch make it an excellent fit for young/up-and-coming designers.

Price: One-time licensing fee $99.

Pret-A-Template

Pret-A-Template is your digital sketchbook. It allows you to sketch your designs on iPhone or iPad. They offer over 500 templates to choose from, including bodies and details like shoes. Select from predefined skin, hair and makeup color pallets for a quick success.

Price: Starts at $5.99

Other apps for fashion design to consider: Sketchbook, Corel Draw.

Product Development

Product development includes the following stages: design, planning and developing salable products. It involves processes of getting your fashion products ready to manufacture.

Techpacker

Tech packs (or specification sheets) used to be the most time-consuming tasks and every fashion designer will tell you the endless frustrations of creating flat sketches, condensed wordings to fit in a format, amendments and repeateds Row

Finding a manufacturer specific to your product categories is hard. And finding a good one is even harder. You can start by asking around for references however it could be time-consuming. So if you are specifically looking for a manufacturer in the USA with crowd-sourced reviews then Makers Row could be useful. They have a fairly decent list of about 3,900 apparel and accessories related makers that are clearly sorted by categories and rating.

But then, many products still can't be produced locally in the USA and what if you are looking for lower manufacturing costs and a greater number of manufacturers to choose from then Global sources is a good resource as they put a lot of effort into listing factories that meet higher standards compared to its direct competitor Alibaba (another listing website).

Price: Starts at $35/month

Swatchon

Swatchon is a wholesale fabric platform based in Seoul, South Korea. It ships to 52 countries and has 100000 fabrics to choose from online. This platform works with brands of all sizes allowing them to place an order as small as 3 yards, or up to 500,000 yards.

Price: Free for ready-to-wear businesses, $500 prepayment for everyone else.

Higg Co

Higg Co is a technology company that focuses on building tools that power sustainability measurement. Higg Co helps brands reduce energy use, combat audit fatigue, and safeguard those who work in the supply chain. Higg Materials Sustainability Indexallows designers to create custom materials, and understand their environmental impact.

Marketing

When the product is manufactured it's time to sell it! Using the following apps you will be able to build a website, create line sheets and market your business.

Shopify

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows you to easily set up an online store and start selling. It lets you customize your storefront, accept credit card payments, track and respond to orders — all with a few clicks. It powers over 350,000 businesses and over 1,000 Enterprise Plus customers.

Price: 7 Days free trial, thereafter US$29 per month

Brandboom

Brandboom is a wholesale e-commerce platform to create clean Line sheets, get orders directly from retailers & receive payments in simple steps. After setting up your line sheet, you can directly send a link to your buyers and showrooms so they can book directly and can also pay. This will avoid so many back-&-forth communication and missing critical SKU/sizes etc.

Price: Free with limits and thereafter US$79/mo.

Garmentory

Garmentory is one of the top online marketplaces existing right now. It is an ultimate source of indie boutiques, emerging and contemporary designers. By setting up a store on their online platform Garmentory gives brands access to thousands of customers around the globe.

Boutiques and brands can submit their application on Garmentory website and start selling after it's approved.

Other marketing apps to consider: Afterpay, Like to know it, Faire.

Also read

Businesses around the globe require higher productivity in their workers. The USA has attained all-time high labor productivity since we got four more jobs done than our grandparents in 1950.

As you might have figured it, technology has led to a lot of productivity. With programs, data communication, information processing, and automatic management, it’s made us a wise and sophisticated workforce for our value-added businesses.

However, with over 4 million applications, browser extensions, telephone & tablet programs to pick from, it could get overwhelming. So how can you get to choose what makes your job more productive? Or should the tools which you’re using are obsolete? Let Colorfy show you the Best Fashion Design Apps in this guide.

See also:

Table of Contents

Best Fashion Design Apps in 2021

1. Pantone Color Finder

Pantone’s innovative method of fitting, identifying, and communicating colors has made it much easier for designers to work with producers. However, like everything electronic, you’ll find more effective ways to find that color you need with no being super time consuming:

If you’re a Google Chrome or Firefox user, this straightforward extension with Color Picker and Eye Dropper will help you locate color reading as RGB.

After that, you can use Pantone’s Color Finder to interpret in the closest Pantone number. You might even use the Pantone color Program for i-phones, and Android established mobiles where after a photograph is selected, the Pantone Color Program exports color values right.

Cost: The two Colorzilla Eyedropper and Pantone Color Finder are FREE to use. They function best on Chrome, Firefox, and smartphones.

2. Shopify

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that lets you quickly set up an internet shop and start selling. It permits you to personalize your storefront, accept credit card payments, monitor and respond to requests, all with a few clicks. It forces over 350,000 companies and more than 1,000 Enterprise Plus clients.

What’s Shopify is perfect for fashion businesses?

It is easy, clean, simple to use, and integrates readily with other programs such as Amazon and Facebook so that you can do everything from 1 location.

Cost: 7 Days free trial, then US$29 a month.

3. Makers Row

When locating a manufacturer-specific for your product groups is tough; finding a good one is challenging. Therefore, if you’re especially searching for a manufacturer in the United States with crowd-sourced testimonials, then Maker’s Row can be helpful.

They have a reasonably good collection of approximately 3,900 accessories and associated apparel manufacturers, which are certainly sorted by groups and evaluation.

But many products still can not be produced in the united states. Suppose you’re seeking lower production costs and a larger number of manufacturers to select from.

In that case, International resources are a fantastic source as they place a great deal of work in listing factories that meet higher criteria in contrast to it’s direct rival Alibaba (another record site ).

4. Pinterest

Pinterest functions just like an electronic MOOD-BOARD. At the start of each season, the inspirations are gathered and changed into multi-billion style products.

It’s easy to locate a fantastic group of pictures in contrast to google picture search or Flickr since most images are curated and set in collections from other users. That’s the most time-consuming undertaking. You could even decide to maintain your mood-boards private.

Cost: Pinterest is free to use for many parts, with few exceptions, like producing advertisements. Works best on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari web browsers.

5. Sketch

Adobe Illustrator was king in the realm of creative applications until five years back or so, but today Sketch has transformed that.

The Sketch is providing Illustrator a run for the money due to its rapid, intuitive interface and comprehensive collection of plugins.

Additionally, there is a fantastic offer by third-party programmers that continue to make incredible features to expand the performance of Sketch. It is a tremendous match for young/up-and-coming designers.

Best Fashion Designing Apps

Cost: One-time licensing fees of US$99, making it a lot more economical than some of its opponents. Works just on Mac OSX.

6. Adobe Illustrator

Adobe’s dominance is now nearly impossible to operate without using the Creative Package. Designers use Illustrator to draw horizontal sketches with callouts for construction and styling details. Then these are employed in technology packs so the staff and producers can easily follow and understand.

There are fantastic resources out there for Illustrator beginners. You may combine free webinars and courses at Fashion Classroom or Sew Heidi, for example.

However, there are several more. Youtube alone includes a multitude of free tutorials. Another option would be to take many photos if you’d instead not perform practical sketches. I left this quick effort to make a tech package (specification) without using Illustrator in under 5 minutes.

Cost: Free 1-month trial and afterward, US$29.99/mo.. Works best on Mac OSX and Windows 10 and over.

7. Slack

Slack is a communication platform that enables team members to operate in collaborative groups or readily searchable one-on-one conversation threads.

Both smaller and bigger groups have adopted slack, and unlike all those dull and nasty software, it provides a new approach to sharing documents and communicating.

Why is Slack successful for fashion designers? Its integration with programs such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and more than 1,000 other programs permit access to virtually everything from one stage.

Cost: Slack is free to use before 5GB distance and then US$8 mo. Works best on chrome, firefox, and safari browser.

8. Techpacker

Tech packs (or specification sheets) were one the most time-consuming jobs for designers. About everybody has a story of endless temptations of producing horizontal sketches, condensed wordings to match in a structure, mistakes and replicated data-entry, and adjusting measurement amounts…

Techpacker stepped into the struggle of technology bunch optimization. Currently, this producing technology packs is a far more straightforward, friendly, and effective process. We dare say it’s now pleasurable for designers.

By breaking tech packs into cards,’ the process of producing technology packs becomes more comfortable, visual, collaborative, and 70% quicker.

The attractiveness of cards is you can copy, move, reuse, join, and perform innumerable things together. It is possible to bring your whole group or producers on Techpacker and integrate with different programs to make it super strong.

Cost: Free 7days trial and afterward, US$29/mo. Works best on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari web browsers.

9. Instagram

Bloomberg reported last month, which Instagram murdered the retail shop. It might sound dramatic, but this low-budget social-media approach has produced many success stories, and compared, high-street manufacturers, are losing sales and shutting down.

Why is Instagram ideal for fashion designers?

The same as Pinterest, Instagram can also be filled with curated pictures posted from individuals worldwide. So it is a fantastic source to accumulate inspiration with societal approval (enjoyment and remarks ), which provides a fast thought on what your perfect customers want.

Cost: Instagram is free to use for many parts, with few exceptions, like producing advertisements. Works best on smart-phones.

10. Business of Fashion

Best Fashion Design Game Apps

If you would like to know what is happening in your business, The Business of Fashion is a vital read. It’s the top daily source for trend creatives, entrepreneurs, and executives in over 200 nations.

The site boasts a community of renowned journalists and style insiders in design capitals across the globe covering from breaking news to in-depth reports in business intelligence, emerging designers, disruptive technologies, retail, advertising, international markets, production, sustainability, trend week, and all you want to learn more about the movers and shakers of the fashion market.

It is free to register, letting you get five free posts a month. However, the prime membership allows complete access to articles such as exclusive features, briefings & archive files, and published editions.

If paid yearly, it is around $20 per month. They give the student and business discounts, so have a look to determine what works best for you personally.

11. Zapier & Workflow

With so many programs, the challenge would be to transfer data around and communicate among them. We discovered Zapier is the ideal method (for internet ) and Workflow (such as i-phones).

It links over 750 web programs for you to make workflows and automate jobs in the background. This permits you to concentrate on more critical functions. There are hundreds and hundreds of pre-available workflows like resizing pictures and incorporating them to dropbox mechanically.

12. Xero

And lastly, an accounting program you might need if you are the sole proprietor of your brand. Xero is a cloud established software firm that develops cloud-based accounting applications for small and medium-sized companies.

QuickBooks has mastered the accounting software marketplace for many years; however, Xero is quickly expanding within this class. Xero currently runs over 1 million companies in over 100 nations. The business claims to provide “Beautiful Accounting,” focusing on ease of use, strong performance, and ambitious development program product upgrades every 36 months.

By utilizing these tools, you will receive through your job quicker and go home early to spend quality time with your loved ones, pets, and nearest and dearest. Any programs and tools which I overlooked? We would like to hear your favorite ones! Take us an email or comment below.