Yes, you can work in fashion, even if you can’t draw! I worked in-house and as a freelance fashion designer for 15+ years, and I do not know how to draw.
Many other fashion designers I know don’t know how to draw either.
How to Work In Fashion If You Can’t Draw
1. Get really good at Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard for designing (3D software like CLO, Browzwear and Tukatech is trailing right behind!). Many brands don’t use hand sketches and instead do all their designing with fashion flats drawn in Adobe Illustrator.
The cool think about sketching flats in Illustrator is that the tools are very different from drawing by hand. You can trace images of designs, sort of Frankensteining together the exact look you want. Get started with my free fashion flat tutorials.
2. Use fashion croquis templates
Fashion croquis are a sketch of a blank figure that you use as a base for fashion designing. It’s like a template that you can design on. You can load these into Adobe Illustrator and design right on top of them. That way, your designs will be proportionate and to scale, even without any drawing skills.
Croquis come in all shapes and forms; there are ones for babies, toddlers, kids, women, and men. They are also offered in different sizes such as petite, plus size, maternity, etc., so you can design for any body type and need.
Learn more about fashion croquis, how to use them, and get my free downloadable templates.
3. Use fashion flat templates
It’s a lot easier to start from a fashion flat template than building your design from scratch. That’s one of the cool things about designing in Illustrator – you’re pretty much never starting from a blank page. Season after season, collection after collection, designs build on each other. You’ll use the same bodice, copy pockets or sleeves from one design to another, and clothes sort of build themselves.
Ok, it’s not quite that easy! But there are so many elements you can recycle. You can share fashion flats across teams, or even with industry friends.
I have a fashion flat library of my own to get you started!
4. Learn how to draw
I never learned how to draw during the 15+ years I worked in fashion, but anyone can learn. It’s not something your born with, it’s something you can be taught.
Learning how to draw requires practice and takes patience. The best person to learn from is Zoe Hong on YouTube. She has a ton of free tutorials on fashion drawing and illustration.
You Don’t Need Fashion “Illustration” Skills
There’s a common misconception about working in fashion: many people think fashion “illustrations” are how designs get made. The truth is that most brands don’t use them at all, and most fashion designers aren’t illustrators.
While there are many places when quick hand sketches come in handy (like rapid ideation), fashion “illustrations” are hardly ever used (unless you’re a fashion illustrator, which is a completely different job than fashion designer).
Illustrations look pretty, but they’re not useful during the design and development process. Some more high-end fashion brands use them for marketing and promotional purposes, but most brands never use them.
For design and development, all you need is fashion flats in Adobe Illustrator (and possibly 3D mockups, which are becoming more commonly required by brands and buyers).
