Fashion Tech Review: Fashion Design App

Apps are a very useful tool in this age and time that we live in. That is why people have come up with innovative apps for every industry in the world, including the fashion industry. In this column, we take a look at different apps in the fashion industry to inform you of what to expect before you download it.

Fashion Design App is a flat sketch drawing app that can be used to design female garments to get an idea of what the finished outfits will look like before they are made. It is suitable for use by fashion designers, pattern maker, fashion illustrators, fashion students and anyone passionate about fashion.

Garments like blouses, skirts, dresses, pants, jackets, and jumpsuits can be designed on the Fashion Design App. All of these garments can be customised by adding details from the library or by drawing your details on them with a pencil. Zippers, buttons, belts and pockets can be gotten from this app to finalise your designs.

You can always export your designs from the app to pass them on to your pattern maker in the form of an image or you can print your designs and add them to your tech packs.

Fashion Design App is Free

Fashion Design app is free and can be downloaded by both Android users and iOS users from Google Play Store and Apple App Store respectively. It is suitable for use on tablets, android phones, iPhones and iPads.

I downloaded this app on an android phone to get a first-hand feel of the environment so you can know what to expect. Here is what I found;

Fashion Design App Features

​​​​The first screen I saw after downloading and installing the app was a Welcome screen. This screen serves as a form of introduction to the app to let you know what to expect as you delve into it. It has 4 pages.

To get into the main app and start designing, I clicked on the ‘Got it, Let’s design’ button. 

The Choose Garment Screen

The first screen I saw after the welcome screen was the Choose Garment screen. On this screen, you get to pick which outfit you want to design – a blouse skirt, dress, pant, jumpsuit or jacket. 

Right beside those options are the options to select neckline, long, fitting, style, waistline, or style depending on the outfit you want to design. For the sake of this review, I chose to design a jumpsuit.

The select neckline option for the jumpsuit has 19 options in it, from sweetheart necklines to v-necklines, boat necklines, and so on. Right under it is the select long option to use in choosing the length of the jumpsuit pants. It has 6 options under it, ranging from knicker length, to make a playsuit, to full length. 

Select fitting is the next option, below select long option, where you can decide on the fitting on your outfit. It has 3 fitting options under it. The select pants style was the last option in the playsuit column. It has 6 pant style options in it from skinny jeans to wide-leg pants.

The Design Screen

After selecting all the components in the previous screen and clicking the Done button, the next screen that came up is the Design screen. On this screen, all the features of my jumpsuit were displayed. 

The display screen has 8 icons at the top of it with different functionalities. The first group of 4 buttons at the top left-hand side of the screen are the Info, New, Back, and Forward buttons. 

The Info button gives you general information about the app, how to contact Laura Páez, the creator of the app, and also provides a link to help you get design information. It also gives you an option Buy Vectors to apply to your designs.

The New button is used to start a new design and the Forward and Backward buttons are used to redo and undo an action respectively. 

The second set of 4 buttons at the top right-hand side of the screen are the Add details from the library, Draw your details, Hide mannequin, and Send to camera roll buttons. 

1. Add Details From Library Button

This button is used to add details like Sleeves, design Details, Pockets, Belts, and Closing to your outfit. 

The sleeves option has 22 different sleeve choices in it. There are options for flared sleeves, puff sleeves, cap sleeves, Victorian sleeves, long sleeves, tiered sleeves and so on. Depending on the look you are going for, you can choose whichever sleeve you like.

The Details button has 30 details choices in it. These details are little designs you add to your outfit to make it unique and add some beauty to it. Options for adding pleats, bows, fringes, flounces, draping, gathers, trains, and so on are under the details button. 

The Pockets button has may different pocket options under it. There are options for side pockets, hidden pockets, visible pockets, pockets with zips, and so on for any outfit you wish to put pockets on. It has 34 different pocket choices under it. 

The Belts button has 10 choices of belts in it, from slim belts to big belts, belts with bows and other detailing on them to belt plain belts. The Closing button has options for adding different types of zips, buttons, lacing, clasps, and so on in it. It has 18 different closing options in it. 

2. Draw Your Details Button

This button is used to add your details to your outfit designs. It has two options under it – a pencil and an eraser. The pencil is used to draw whatever you want to on your designs. There are no colour pencil options and there is an option only for a black pencil. 

The eraser option is right next to the black pencil option and it can be used to clear up whatever mistake you made while drawing. You have to be careful with the eraser, though, because it can erase your croquis and the outline of your outfits.

3. Hide Mannequin Button

Under each of your design is the outline of a fashion croquis. The outfits sit on this croquis to give you an idea of what your outfit will look like on a human form. 

The Hide Mannequin button is used to remove the croquis from under your design to show only the outfit. 

4. Send To Camera Roll Button

This button is used to save your finished designs. It has 2 options under it, the Send to Email and Save to Gallery buttons. Using the send to email button provides options for you to send your design out through your Email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Google Drive, and so on.

Overall Thoughts About the App

The Fashion Design App can be used to make many beautiful designs but is not a very user-friendly app. Here is why;

1. The undo button brings back every component you removed from your outfit right from the start of the design process so you have to go on and delete everything manually again.

2. The save to gallery button does not save your designs to your phone’s camera so you have to use the send to email button if you want to save your designs. 

3. The details you add to your outfits cannot be made longer but only wider so some design ideas cannot be realised using the app. Also, flounces and the likes cannot be put under each other to make layers that fall beautifully on your outfit design. There is also no option to make the top boundary of any detail curvier.

When some details are reduced in size, the boundary lines tend to blur out, leaving behind an unrecognisable detail. Zooming into the screen can help with this, although, you cannot readjust details once you have zoomed in.

4. The absence of colour also serves as a disadvantage.

Overall, the Fashion Design App, like many others, has its flaws and can be difficult to use but is also good for viewing your design ideas on a flat sketch.