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This paper follows a previous paper which was published in Volume 5 Number 3 describing how a pattern language focusing on the initial creative phase of the apparel design process can be useful for innovation management. The patterns define the links between marketing and design knowledge, activities, constraints and resources throughout the process to optimise its efficiency, effectiveness, and the market success of its end‐products. Developing the pattern language involved identifying marketing and design components that are crucial in the initial creative phase of apparel design, and setting them into a model indicating their links to each other and to each of the process stages. The model developed provides a generic framework, or archetype, of apparel design creativity, which is presented in its pattern format in this paper. A total of 14 other patterns were developed around this archetype to grasp its dynamics by defining the links that support and articulate its structure, stages and components. The initial working model of the pattern language was distributed to six design experts for input. Their feedback was analysed, synthesised and integrated into a refined and validated version of the pattern language.

The apparel design process involves gathering and analysing information on fashion trends, markets and past line sales and editing ideas for successful combinations of fabric, style and price. These ideas are the result of creativity. Creativity is most often modelled as a problem‐solving process involving complex chaotic systems. In the fields of architecture and software design, pattern languages have been developed to help understand the various fundamental components and dynamics of complex systems by using a series of related generic problem‐solving patterns empirically proven to be successful in a specified context of forces. Patterns record existing knowledge to make it rapidly and easily accessible and communicated between different users. A pattern language for the apparel design process could channel creative efforts and enhance communication between design team members by providing them with a common working language. Furthermore, pattern languages are increasingly used in the design of software and user‐interface programs (Booch 1996; Gamma et al. 1994). Preparing the ground by developing a pattern language for apparel products could save resources and time as well as improve the quality of future customised information.