Fashioning Your Unique Style with High Tech Tools

Fashion trends like acid wash jeans and bell bottoms come and go. But individual style lasts forever. Yet finding items that reflect your personal flair can be an exhausting – and costly – endeavor. No wonder an increasing number of people are taking matters into their own hands, combining high-tech tools with unbridled creativity to design and manufacture their own masterpieces.

It’s easier than you think. From fabric applique patches to innovative 3D renderings, these innovative technologies are easy to use and readily accessible from a 2-in-1 device.

Here’s how to start building your DIY fashion empire:

1.    High-tech textiles

Every amazing outfit begins with a distinctive pattern. Imagine, for example, a world without Pucci’s geometric shapes or Liberty’s colorful flowers. The good news is budding designers can create their own stunning textile designs using Adobe Illustrator. Simply select an image from the program’s extensive Pixel pattern library and add interesting objects to compose a pattern tile, rotating and scaling graphics as you’d like. Give your pattern a name and experiment with the overlap setting to try out special effects. Once you’ve completed your textile, apply it to a fashion sketch using Adobe Illustrator’s artboard to see it in action.

2.   Make your shirt fit like a glove

A smaller collar, a smoother fabric, longer sleeves – they’re all wishes men make on their off-the-rack dress shirts. Fortunately, there is a way to become a seasoned tailor without having to give up your day job. At Blank Label, visitors can design their own high-quality dress shirts with a series of clicks. In addition to offering a wide array of fabrics, styles, collars, and buttons, Blank Label provides a realistic graphical representation of the shirt as it’s being created. The best part: by submitting exact measurements, gentlemen can count on receiving a final product that’s a perfect fit.

3.   A patchwork of possibilities

You don’t need an army of seamstresses to bring your fashion ideas to life. The startup Apliiq lets visitors customize hundreds of garments and accessories with fabric applique patches. Users simply upload their original artwork onto the site and Apliiq takes care of the rest – cutting and sewing a one-of-a-kind creation on top of a garment and shipping it directly from its Los Angeles workshop. Customers can choose from a wide variety of high-quality items, including tank tops, sweatshirts, pocket tees, and beanies to display their sporty designs.

4.   ‘Spread’ your creativity

Creative types aren’t exactly known for their business chops. That’s not an issue with Spreadshirt. For starters, the well-known online creative platform lets visitors design their own clothing by customizing their own text, design, or image on a variety of custom products, from t-shirts and hoodies to hats and aprons. In fact, Spreadshirt has over 100 unique products to choose from. But that’s not all. Make some money on your creations by selling your goods on Spreadshirt’s global marketplace or create an account to set up your own custom online shop. It’s simple and completely free.

And because inspiration can strike at the oddest times, an ultraportable device like the Dell XPS 13 is a great option for fashion-forward creative types. With a bezel only 5.2 mm thin, weighing a mere 2.7 pounds, and measuring a wafer-thin 9-15 mm, the XPS 13 is low-profile and lightweight enough to stay by your side without disrupting your style.

5.    J’adore Polyvore

When it comes to fashion design, creatively configuring items can be just as inspiring as how you cut and sew them. However, envisioning how a certain pair of gloves will look with a particular purse isn’t always easy. Community-powered social commerce website Polyvore has just the answer.

The fashion fixture offers mood boards – templates that allow visitors to piece together their own outfits. Users can search for a specific item using keywords, or rely on a clipping tool to clip images from a manufacturer’s website. By dragging and dropping items onto a template, fashionistas can then begin the process of moving items around, resizing them and re-formatting images. And because Polyvore’s boards are living documents, designers can continue to work on their creations from any device until it’s time to publish. All of which makes the HP Envy x360 convertible 2-in-1 notebook, with a generous 15.6-inch Touchscreen, a perfect solution for rearranging and organizing ideas.

6.   Add a new dimension

For more experienced fashion folks, Browzwear Solutions recently launched Lotta! – a 3D tool that enables creatives to view and style their unique designs on a realistic 3D body. Users can visualize their ideas in a wide variety of colors, styles, and materials. But the best part is the ability to sync with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. This allows designers to move seamlessly from Adobe tools to 3D and back again, or work directly in 3D, without experiencing production delays. Users can even prepare colors and resources in Illustrator and then import them into the Lotta! program, all in real-time.

Even with all these exciting resources at your disposal, the creativity well can still run dry. Well, inspiration doesn’t always come from within – sometimes you need a boost from other passionate folks with shared interests. Fashion blogs such as Styleheroine.com, The Cut, and Style Bubble can help you stay abreast of developing trends and up-and-coming designers while stoking the fires of creativity.

Armed with a fresh bevy of creative ideas and a 2-in-1 device packed with all the comfort and precision you need to craft your custom wardrobe, you’ll be building your fashion empire in no time.