clothing design apps for windows

Fashion is a form of self-expression that reflects in clothing, footwear, hairstyle, makeup, accessories, posture, and lifestyle in a holistic sense.

Fashion designers constantly adapt to new markets and customer requirements while designing and creating fashionable items. They focus on several elements like style and comfort to offer the best to their customers.

Fashion Designing: How It Has Evolved Over the Years

Paris was the first fashion capital in the world. In 1826, Charles Frederick Worth, the world's first fashion designer, built a fashion house called "House of Worth" in the city.

Initially, the focus was on designing clothes for wealthy people but later switched to mass production of clothing. The growth of brand names and labels through franchising and licensed copying allowed companies to bridge the gap between expensive fashion clothing and affordable mass-market goods and accessories.

While the Victorian era style was quite rigid, there is more freedom to try new styles and patterns. During this period, some popular fashion designers include Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Valentino Garavani, Coco Chanel, among others.

How Does a Fashion Designer Work with Clothing Design Software?

Technology has expanded its horizon to every industry, and fashion designing is no different. Fashion designing tools enable creative individuals to set up their businesses and easily move to create garments, shoes, and other accessories for consumers.

Fashion design software covers all facets of design like 2D and 3D sketching, illustrations and patternmaking to produce a design blueprint. It further helps designers convey how a functional yet aesthetically pleasing design would look in real life.

Benefits of Using Free Fashion Design Software

Most free fashion design software helps fashion designers with colour mixing, prototype creation, and fabric patterns. Some of the other benefits of this software are:

Automation of processes to minimize repetitive tasks like resizing designs, adding watermarks, and more.
Millions of choices of colours, patterns, and more
Ready-to-use templates for creative designs
Easy to test/ compare different looks and fabrics
Easy to meet changing preferences via modifications and less waste of fabric
No wear and tear like on paper
Save designs and keep multiple copies
Control digital workflows in real-time
Realistic rendering of how garments and other items look on human body
Easy merchandising
Quick sharing with multiple people and teams

Key Features You Are Likely to Get with Free Fashion Design Software

Best free fashion design software includes these essential features to help designers work easily and have complete freedom to be creative with every step.

Pattern grading
Pattern, colour, and art storage
Drag and drop facility for sketches
Wide range of fabric colour and pattern
Fabric matching
Fashion illustration
Smart design templates
Apparel tools
Material development
Design export option
Pre-production
2D & 3D sketching
Visualization

15 Best Free and Open Source Fashion Design Software List Online

Valentina
Blender
Tailornova
Browzwear
CLO 3D Software
Digital Fashion Pro
Adobe Illustrator
SnapFashun
Edraw Max
WSGN
Vogue Runway
Cameo v5
Designer Pro
Digital Fashion Pro 9
Virtual Fashion Basic 1.0

Fashion design software help in sketching designs faster than traditional methods and customizing them anytime, anywhere. Some of the best fashion design software with a free trial or a dedicated free version are:

Valentina

Initiated in 2013 by Roman Telezhinsky (Ukraine) and Susan Spencer (USA), Valentina is a pattern drafting software popular among small designers, cutters, individual tailors, and many other in the garment industry.

Valentina, a fashion design tool, combines modern technologies with traditional pattern designing. As a result, it is easy to create a viable and affordable product design that meets customer needs.

With this free fashion design software for beginners, users can understand colours, patterns, styles, and other features.

Valentina Features

50+ pattern-making options
Patterns based on a mathematical formula
Instruction-based drawing tools
Simple to download, test, and create patterns
Automation when rebuilding patterns
Smart design templates
Easy Synchronization
Support Forum

Subscription Model: Valentina is a free and open-source fashion design software.

Valentina Compatible Platforms:There are download options for Windows, Mac OS, FreeBSD, Mageia 6+ (.rpm), Fedora (.rpm), OpenSUSE (.rpm), Debian (.deb), Ubuntu PPA (.deb), AppImage package (.AppImage).

Price to Upgrade: None

Blender

Blender fashion design tool is used by both individual designers and fashion design studios. This 3D creation suite makes creating, sculpting, and editing models easier.

Rendering cycles include shading, lighting, motion blur, volumes geometry, and more. Freestyle cycle makes it easy to draw various line styles to make shapes. It integrates with multiple pipeline tools. Its first version was released in 1994.

Features of Blender

Multiple modes like Object Mode, Edit Mode, Weight Paint, and more
Simulation
Rendering
Rigging
Compositing
Modelling
Animation (2D)
Motion tracking
Video editing
Conformal & angle-based unwrapping
Pre-visualize offline in real-time
Areas like crypto matters, mantaflow and more

Subscription Model: Blender is free and open-source fashion design software.

Blender Compatible Platforms: Blender runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD, Haiku.

Price to Upgrade: None

Tailornova

Tailornova is a fashion design tool that enables users to create unlimited designs quickly and easily. This merchandise and clothing design software is popular among fashion students, fashion merchandisers, apparel brands, clothing boutiques, indie designers and others.

Users can just click the patterns and sketches of their choice to get started. With a 3D simulation facility and fit customization, it is easy to make changes according to requirements.

Tailornova Features

Ease adjustment
Sewing instructions
Intermixable templates
Templates in 10 different lengths
Automated pattern measurements
Pre-determined ease settings
Vector 2D flat sketches
Custom-fit pattern
3D Fit Model to replicate different body shapes
Garment simulation
PDF patterns and print out
Ecommerce Integration

Subscription Model: Tailornova has a free plan. It is patent-pending software.

Compatible Platforms: Tailornova is web-based software and can run on any device internet connection.

Price to Upgrade: You can upgrade to Tailornova paid plan at a monthly price of INR 2161.04. Annual billing plans offer discounted rates.

Browzwear

Browzwear 3D fashion design software is well suited to designers, creative developers, marketers, and production teams. The clothing designs are more accurate as per specifications, and the finished goods can be marketed quickly.

There are minimum iterations, which decrease the cost. This merchandise and garment design software is used by brands like Adidas, Puma, Nike, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, etc.

Browzwear Features

Realistic 3D images
2D CAD
Flexible and powerful dashboard
Fabric Analyzer (automatic)
True-to-life 3D simulation
Advanced consulting & integrated service for automated workflows
New styles and designs with Lotta
Vstitcher for designs
Collaborate and merchandize with Stylezone
Smart Design option to design for manufacturing

Subscription Model: Browzwear has an open platform. VNTANA and Browzwear's 3D Collaboration Platform is free for freelance designers.

Compatible Platforms: Browzwear works on Mac and Windows.

Price to Upgrade: License is available on request.

Best Fashion Design Software with Free Trial

CLO 3D Software

CLO 3D fashion design software allows designers to add their own patterns and visualize sketches in 3D. In addition, there are avatars and dress forms for different shapes and sizes. Internal renderer enables users to create high quality and realistic images.

This fashion designing tool supports multiple languages like Hindi, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and more. The latest version comes with many new features. It is used by individuals, educational institutions, and businesses.

CLO 3D Features

Modular design
3D garment edit
3D arrangement
3D simulation and layer
Fabric kit
Segment sewing
Auto grading
2D pattern design
Facility to merge patterns
Facility to add the hardware items like buttons and zipper
Fabric fine-tuner
View, measure, arrange and edit Avatar style
Create unlimited graphic placements
Unlimited colourways
Engineered print layouts
Easy collaboration via closet
Compatible files like DXF-ASTM/AAMA, AI/PDF, BOM (XML), and more

Free Trial: There is a 30-day trial for this 3D fashion design software.

Compatible Platforms: CLO 3D software runs on both Windows (64-bit) and Mac systems.

Price to Upgrade: Pricing starts at INR 33534.00 per year for individuals.

Digital Fashion Pro

Digital Fashion Pro is a fashion design software and clothing line startup kit that enables anyone to create amazing cloth designs without being an expert at drawing.

It offers step by step training, model poses, a free graphics program and other business tools to start designing and manufacturing. It is available for more than 75 countries and has been used by designers from Calvin Klein, Bill Blass, Ralph Lauren, Ed Hardy, and more.

Features

Customizable Clothing templates
3D design mode
3D design and styling
Vector Artwork
CAD Tools
Sketch render
Design Export
Fashion Illustrations
Textile Pattern Design

Free Trial: Digital Fashion Pro 3D clothing design software download for free trial is available on the official website.

Compatible Platforms: It works with Mac, Windows, and Chromebooks.

CLO 3D Features Price: Regular pricing starts at INR 29733.48.

Adobe Illustrator Fashion Design

Adobe Illustrator fashion design allows designers to draw flat or functional sketches, add colours, repeat pattern designs, and more.

Presentation boards have great layouts for design meetings, buyer presentations, and catalogues. With callouts for construction and styling details, it becomes easy for other team members and manufacturers to follow.

Adobe Illustrator Features

Add fashion illustrations
Move, rotate, scale Pattern fills
Zig-zag brush
Clipping masks for graphic placement
Textile Design
Flat Factory
Customizable pattern size, colours, and direction
Colourways and Line Sheets
Graphic/ artistic design

Free Trial: Clothing design app free subscription is available for 7 days.

Compatible Platforms: Adobe Illustrator works on macOS, iOS for iPad and Windows

Price to Upgrade: Adobe Illustrator pricing starts at INR 1675.60 per month.

SnapFashun

SnapFashun is an easy-to-use clothing design software that offers free templates and sketches to create custom designs easily. Designers can view, create, modify, and snap designs with the software.

Those designs can be used with trend boards, portfolios, pattern cards, line sheets, and concept boards. This fashion designing software is a great tool for educators in both physical and remote classrooms. It is also used by fashion designers, merchandisers, stylists, home sewers, and more.

SnapFashun Features

Preview larger thumbnail images
Interactive preset Snap Libraries
Multiple fashion categories
Easy to store and retrieve sketches
Drag and drop facility
Easy to search and sort sketches
Simple dashboard
Facility to add new Snap Libraries
Free templates and sketchbooks
Syncs with Adobe Illustrator CC

Free Trial: Available

Compatible Platforms: SnapFashun works with Windows & Android operating systems.

Price to Upgrade: SnapFashun pricing starts at INR 8920.26 per year.

Edraw Max

Edraw Max is user-friendly diagramming software that enables designers to create a wide range of sample and design patterns and different types of styles and sketches.

Both professional designers and amateurs can sketch fashions upon existing models and customize the output according to their needs with different colours, designs, and more. It supports various languages like English, Korean, Japanese, French, Spanish, and so on.

Edraw Max Features

High-quality outputs
Sample cloth clipart
Excellent file compatibility
Pre-drawn models
Drag and drop feature
Vector-based designs
Predefined themes and colours
Huge collection of templates and styles

Free Trial: Edraw fashion design tool's trial is available for 15 days.

Compatible Platforms: Edraw supports Windows, Mac, Linux, and Web platforms.

Price to Upgrade: Subscription pricing starts at INR 7362.28 per year. The lifetime plan starts at INR 18219.79.

Cameo v5 Apparel Software

Cameo v5 apparel software is preferred for drafting and editing grade patterns and custom sizes. The free fashion design software offers technical drawings tools and lay markers for making standardized and customized dresses. The software is also trusted for making fashion brochures and portfolios.

Features of Cameo v5 Apparel Software:

Technical drawings and specification sheets
PDF, RTF and standard HTML reporting
Market layout for calculating yardage

Subscription Model: Cameo v5 version is a free apparel software.

Cameo Compatible Platforms: Cameo v5 fashion design software runs on Windows XP, 7, 8 and 10

Price to Upgrade: Cameo v6 version's price is available on request.

Designer Pro Apparel Edition

Designer Pro Apparel Edition is ideal for drafting 3D design models. The software supports plotters and SVG file export functionality. Designer Pro Apparel Edition also provides dimensional viewing for design previews. The fashion design software supports 3D patterns and demos for fulfilling the portfolio requirements.

Features of Designer Pro Apparel Edition:

Suites for making patterns
3D product designing
Easy navigation and interface
Categories for different dress lines and multiple wardrobes

Subscription Model: Paid with free technical support

Designer Pro Apparel Edition Compatible Platforms: Mac

Price to Upgrade: You can download Designer Pro Apparel Edition for a free trial. The upgraded price of the software is ₹5180.

Digital Fashion Pro 9

Digital Fashion Pro 9 offers a complete fashion designing start-up kit for your clothing line. The software provides tools to create fashion sketches as professionals. Digital Fashion Pro 9 also offers customizable clothing templates for designing all kinds of dresses.

Students and fashion designing institute widely use it. This free clothing design software is easy to use and does not require any prior sketching knowledge.

Features of Digital Fashion Pro 9:

Photorealistic DFP sketches
Option to incorporate logos, labels and artwork into your designs
Simulation of screen printing, ripping and abrasions
Customizable model poses for doing styling

Subscription Model: Free trial & paid

Digital Fashion Pro 9/Compatible Platforms: Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Chromebook

Price to Upgrade: The Business plan is available at ₹ 22159, and you can get details regarding other paid plans by connecting with the vendor.

Virtual Fashion Basic 1.0

Virtual Fashion Basic 1.0 lets you visualize different styles and looks. The software provides modules for experimenting with colours and creating three-dimensional garments on different textures, fabrics, and true to life models.

VF Basic 1.0 also supports draping simulation to ensure that the garment always hangs in the desired ways.

Features of Virtual Fashion Basic 1.0:

Reset simulation and progress bar
Cloud collaboration
3D virtual simulations
Patternmaker and brand manager

Subscription Model: Free to download

Virtual Fashion Basic 1.0/Compatible Platforms: Windows, Windows 2000/XP

Price to Upgrade: It's a free fashion design software

Free Fashion Design Software for Art Inspiration

To create new product designs, designers need to have inspiration. Inspiration sources can include another piece of clothing, a movie, a pinboard, a piece of art, and more.

WGSN

WGSN is a global fashion forecasting platform for consumer and design trends. It constantly monitors how consumers think, feel, and behave. As a result, designers can enhance their planning with colour and trend forecasts in 15 major product categories like footwear and accessories.

It also helps in validating product direction, saving time, and improving collaboration via data sharing.

WGSN Features

Royalty-free prints, graphics and CAD designs
250+ new reports and strategy guides
Buyer's guides
City guides
The feed for trends
Early concepts for colour, material and style
Commercial collections for retail drops
Build colour palettes
Image library

Price to Upgrade: You can opt for the WSGN demo. Subscription pricing is available on request.

Vogue Runway

Vogue Runway is an application that helps designers get inspiration from the latest collections from different designers. Users get unlimited access to the shows with clips capturing the catwalk, close-ups of collections and their details, front row sightings, backstage happenings, and more.

The archive also has more than a million runway images from over 12,000 fashion shows during the past decades.

Vogue Runway Features

Archive of fashion shows and catwalk photos
Save looks and collections to mood boards
Livestreams for front row experience
Thousands of street style photos
Enable runway alerts
Share looks and collections via email, SMS, social media platforms
Reviews by internationally recognized writers

Price to Upgrade: Vogue Runway fashion design app is available for free download on Google Play or Apple store. For both print and digital Vogue Runway platforms, the subscription starts at INR 891.60 per year.

FAQs

What are the best free fashion design software for marketing?
Browzwear is a great 3D fashion design tool for marketing. It is easy for designers to work with the marketing team and other people in the chain, resulting in faster time to market.
What are the best free fashion design software for manufacturing?

Blender is one of the best free fashion design software for manufacturing. It prevents material wastage and reduces production time.

Fashion design tools like CLO 3D and EdrawMax offer a free trial and are great for ensuring a smooth manufacturing process.
What is the best program to design clothing for free?
Valentina is one of the best free clothing design software. Clothing designers use it to create unique patterns for the garments.
What is the best app for designing clothes?
Adobe Illustrator is a great app for designing clothes. Designers can work on sketching, patternmaking, and creating their fashion illustrations with this vector graphics editor. Digital Fashion Pro is another popular clothing design app for designers.

Related Categories: Designing Solutions | Graphic Design Software | 3D Design Software