Designers must research current trends and refer to fashion trade reports which provide information on the styles, colours and fabrics that may be popular at any one time. They will also be required to source fabrics and organise samples to get an idea of what will work best for a particular piece. During the planning stage, fashion designers will generally begin by sketching out designs. They may use computer-aided design (CAD) to experiment with different colours and shapes using lifelike virtual models, or they may prefer to sketch by hand and transfer prototypes onto a computer to make edits. This sketch will then be used to develop a rough model of the design to show how the finished piece may look.
