How to Make Designs For Your Clothing Brand

Starting a clothing brand is exciting, but creating standout designs is what separates successful brands from the rest. Whether you’re a designer crafting your first collection or an entrepreneur looking to build a streetwear empire, knowing how to make designs that resonate with your audience is crucial.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• How to develop a signature style.
  
• Where to find inspiration for your designs.
  
• The best tools for making high-quality designs.
  
• How to create product mockups quickly and easily with Mock It.

By the end of this article, you’ll have a solid strategy for designing clothing that sells. Let’s get started!

How to Make Designs That Define Your Brand

Your clothing designs should reflect your brand’s identity and appeal to your target audience. Here’s how to create designs that stand out:

Develop a Unique Aesthetic

• Decide on a style—minimalist, bold, retro, or futuristic. Choose a style that is going to best represent what your brand stands for.
  
• Stick to a consistent color palette and typography. Coolors is a great tool to gain inspiration for what color combinations stand out to you.
  
• Create a recognizable logo or symbol that represents your brand. Your logo will impact how your designs will be viewed by potential customers.

Understand Your Audience

• Who is your ideal customer? Consider age, lifestyle, and fashion preferences.
  
• What designs resonate with them? Research what they wear and follow on social media.
  
• Test ideas with small focus groups or Instagram polls.

Balance Trends and Originality

• Keep an eye on fashion trends, but don’t just copy them. See where trends are heading so you can get in early. See what trends were in the past, in fashion they often repeat themselves.
  
• Mix trending elements with your brand’s unique style. Gain inspiration from multiple different sources to create your own unique design.
  
• Create timeless pieces that won’t feel outdated in a few months. You don’t want your designs to not even make sense after a short time.

Where to Gain Inspiration for Creating Designs

If you’re feeling stuck, here are some of the best places to find design inspiration:

Fashion Trends & Runways

• Follow major fashion brands and streetwear labels.
  
• Watch seasonal fashion shows for color and pattern trends.
  
• Check out what’s trending on Hypebeast, Highsnobiety, and Vogue.

Pop Culture & Streetwear Influences

• Look at music, film, sports, and social media trends.
  
• Follow influencers and celebrities known for their style.
  
• Analyze how culture influences fashion (e.g., anime-inspired graphics, hip-hop branding).

Social Media & Online Platforms

• Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok showcase trending fashion ideas.
  
• Dribbble and Behance are great for graphic design inspiration.
  
• Reddit fashion communities offer discussions on streetwear and brand-building.

Vintage & Retro Styles

• Thrift stores and vintage collections showcase timeless aesthetics.
  
• Study how 90s, Y2K, and retro sportswear styles are making a comeback.
  
• Experiment with classic typography and faded color schemes.

Customer Insights & Niche Communities

• Engage with your target audience through forums and surveys.
  
• Look at customer feedback on competitors’ products.
  
• Use insights from your existing customer base to refine your designs.

The Best Software and Tools for Making Clothing Designs

Professional software makes a big difference in design quality. Here’s a breakdown of the best tools:

Graphic Design Software

• Adobe Illustrator – Best for vector designs and logos.
  
• Adobe Photoshop – Great for digital artwork and print design.
  
• Procreate – Best for hand-drawn designs on iPad.
  
• Canva – Beginner-friendly, easy to use for simple designs.
  

Typography & Font Tools

• Dafont and Google Fonts for free font downloads.
  
• FontStruct for custom font creation.
  
• WhatTheFont to identify fonts from images.
  

Mockup & Product Visualization Tools

• Mock It – Instantly place your designs on high-quality mockups.
  
• Pixel Sauce – Photoshop mockups, great for editing your designs on your mockups.

Different Types of Clothing Designs & Their Effects

Typography-Based Designs

• Clean, bold, or hand-drawn fonts can create a strong brand message. They are also more unique as there are so many different fonts to choose from, you can also edit your fonts to match your vision.
  
• Great for statement tees and motivational phrases. These are great for what is trending in the world right now, focus on what your brand represents. Clothing and font color combinations are a focus, two colors that work well together will make your design pop.

Illustrative & Hand-Drawn Graphics

• Adds a unique, artistic feel that sets brands apart. You can always outsource designs if it’s the direction you want to head in, but may not be skilled in that area of creation.
  
• Popular in streetwear and alternative fashion. You can always incorporate your logo in these styles of design to make them more engaging and your brand more recognisable.

Minimalist & Logo-Based Designs

• Perfect for high-end, modern, or luxury brands. If making your logo the centrepiece of your brand, this is where you want to be heading.
  
• Less is more—subtle branding can be powerful. Colorways are very important to catch the eye if you’re going to be more subtle.

Streetwear & Bold Graphic Prints

• High-impact visuals that appeal to younger audiences. Massively in fashion right now with the sports and hip-hop style graphic prints.
  
• Often influenced by graffiti, hip-hop, and skate culture. Create your own unique take on this style to make your own but still cash in on the fashion trends.

All-Over Patterns & Abstract Art

• Eye-catching and unconventional. A more niche market that if you play your cards right, could have you dominating the game.
  
• Great for premium and experimental fashion pieces. Draw customers in purely on your designs, convert the sales by using high quality materials.

Creating Mockups to Visualize Your Designs

Once you’ve designed your clothing, mockups help bring them to life before production. Mock It is the easiest way to generate professional-quality mockups in minutes.

Why Use Mockups?

• Show customers realistic representations of your final designs..
  
• Create marketing materials without needing a photoshoot.
  
• Test different colorways and styles before manufacturing.
  
• Watch your designs come to life on actual styles from the biggest blank brands.
  
• Using high quality mockups creates a high level of trust as they won’t make you look cheap.
  
• Improve your marketing by using mockups for your website and social media.
  
• Use mockups to gather feedback from the community with polls to see what is worth printing and releasing.

Mockups are essential for e-commerce success. They increase conversions and build customer trust by showcasing products realistically.

Design Trends That Are Selling Right Now

• Minimalist Logos & Neutral Colors – Clean and premium. Make everyone want to wear your apparel purely to represent your brand.
  
• Vintage & Nostalgia Designs – Y2K, 90s, and grunge aesthetics are in. Fashion trends often move around in circles and right now they have headed back to the 90s.
  
• Oversized Graphics & Bold Typography – Streetwear staples. Streetwear has a large community which will widen your potential sales market.
  
• Anime & Pop Culture Influences – Huge appeal in niche communities. Niche communities are much harder to tap into but the payoff if successful can pay dividends.
  
• Earthy & Sustainable Fashion – Eco-conscious branding is trending. A market that is getting bigger and bigger every day, if this is what your brand’s values are this is a no brainer. More and more people are caring about where their clothing comes from, what they’re made from and how theyre made. Make sure you tick all the boxes.

Tips for Creating Marketable Designs

• Use High-Quality Images – Pixelated designs look unprofessional and untrustworthy. Once trust is lost it is almost impossible to gain back.
  
• Understand Color Psychology – Certain colors influence emotions and buying behavior. Researching what colors are beneficial for what your brand represents is crucial.
  
• Test Your Designs – Run A/B tests or ask for audience feedback. Use Instagram polls to gauge the potential success of your designs.
  
• Create Limited Editions – Scarcity can drive demand. Use mockups and social media to market limited edition designs, even create competitions to gain more brand awareness and followers.
  

Consistency is Key – Your designs should reinforce your brand identity. Quickly bouncing around to different styles can confuse your audience on what your brand represents.

Start Designing & Selling Faster

Now that you know how to make designs for your clothing brand, it’s time to put your skills into action. Experiment, create, and test designs until you find what works best for your audience. Develop a unique style, use the right tools to create high quality designs and visualize your products with Mock It.Ready to bring your clothing brand to life? Sign up for Mock It today and start creating pro-level mockups in minutes!