Get Creative—Here's the Best Fashion Design Software on the Market

If you're in school for fashion design or are looking to become a fashion designer on your own, there are certain tools you should have in your arsenal. In today's digital age, it's imperative that you have access to fashion design software to make your ideas and sketches a tangible reality. Take your creative renderings from paper to promotable models with the right program and technological savvy. Many fashion students use Adobe Illustrator to take their designs into the digital space, but there are other fashion design software programs that can prove beneficial. We've highlighted four of the top offerings below. Head below to see the best fashion design software on the market.

Adobe Illustrator is the standard for fashion students. It's a vector graphics editor that can cover all facets of fashion design, from sketching to patternmaking to logo ideation. Illustrator and Photoshop are two of the most utilized CAD (computer-aided design) programs utilized in the industry. Students and instructors can save 60% on the monthly subscription.

Adobe Illustrator CC ($34 per month).

Autodesk offers a range of design software that can assist with fashion design, depending on your needs. From AutoCAD to Sketchbook, these programs allow designers to realize concepts digitally—the latter on a computer, tablet, or mobile device.

Autodesk Sketchbook ($90 per year).

To make your designs materialize, Cameo v6 is an apparel pattern development software for professional patternmakers. Whether crafting custom creations or designing for mass standard-size production, you can draft, edit, and create technical specifications for patterns.

Wild Ginger Cameo Apparel Pattern Software ($950).

In addition to assisting with ideation and creation, C-Design Fashion optimizes production and distribution by allowing you to create and organize technical files and share them with suppliers while managing lifecycle and line sheets for your collection. One offering syncs with Adobe Illustrator.

C-Design Collection Management ($150 per month).

Interested in pursuing a career in fashion design? Read on to see how one of our editors landed a job in fashion.

This story was published at an earlier date and has been recently updated.