Fashion design copyright refers to the web of domestic and international laws that protect unique clothing or apparel designs. The roots of fashion design copyright may be traced in Europe to as early as the 15th century.

As of 2016, in most countries (including the United States and the United Kingdom), fashion design does not have the same protection as other creative works (art, film, literature, etc.), because apparel (clothes, shoes, handbags, etc.) are classified as "functional items", except when copyright laws can be applied. This explains the success of the knockoff businesses to the detriment of established labels and emerging designers, the latter ones being especially damaged, because they rely on relatively few designs.

French king Francis I gave out specific privileges related to the production of textiles. By 1711, in Lyon, illegalities were already being defined in regards to fashion materials, and in 1787, in England and Scotland fashion designers had fruitfully pushed their needs for protection into basic legislation. In 1876 Germany began protecting fashion patterns as well as models, and in 2002 European regulation on designs that were new and provided an aspect of fresh character or aesthetic were brought under protection. From 2004 to 2006 the "total production volume for clothing decreased by about 5% each year... [and by] 2006 the European union trade deficit for clothing was at 33.7 billion." These statistics show that while there are benefits of their advanced design legislation, the economic and external factors still hindered their industry growth in ways the U.S. can empathize with. As 2007 came to a close, WIPO, or the World Intellectual Property Organization, had registered twenty-nine international designs.

The protection of fashion design varies greatly from one country to the other.

Unlike in the USA, when the laws regarding the clothing industry were created in Europe, the continent had a booming fashion industry that already started to reshape the clothing manufacturing industry.

In the European Union, the Creative Designs Directive and the European Designs Directive are in effect to protect new designs for three or five years. The European Union Intellectual Property Office are responsible for managing intellectual property in the EU.

The US laws written in 1976 identify fashion as a manufacturing industry rather than a creative one, because fashion design had not reshaped the clothing manufacturing industry yet. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 originally brought more limits to fashion design copyrighting, but a sui generis protection to the design of vessel hulls (DMCA-Title V: Vessel Hull Design Protection Act or VHDPA) was included to give more protection to some useful articles. The House of Representatives deemed fit to enable tighter fashion design copyrights through an extension of the VHDPA. There is no official design rights system, so brands and companies have to use design patents (a technical component of the design) and trademarks (names, slogans, logos) to "copyright" their products. Another option for highly-recognizable fashion designs is to register it as a trade dress with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (ex Hermès and the Birkin bag).

In the 2017 Supreme Court case. Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc., it was ruled that Fashion design can be covered by copyright.