Fashion in Where Winds Meet goes far beyond dyes and full-set skins. Garment Design Shards sit in a quieter corner of the wardrobe system, but they unlock something you can’t get from color sliders alone: structural changes to specific outfits.
What a Garment Design Shard is
| Item | Type | Effect text | Primary use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garment Design Shard | Cosmetic item | Diagram for tailoring common designs. | Unlocks alternate styles for supported outfits |
Garment Design Shards are a cosmetic currency used in the tailoring side of the appearance system. They do not change stats, don’t interact with armor or gear sets, and exist purely to modify how certain cosmetic outfits are cut and layered.
Think of them as a pattern book: when you spend one on a compatible outfit, you’re not recoloring fabric, you’re swapping to a different cut of the same set (for example, changing sleeves, removing a cape, or adding extra layers).
How to get Garment Design Shards
| Source | Cost | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season Shop | 100 Jade Fish each | 2 per week | Jade Fish have a 20,000 weekly cap |
The only documented way to obtain Garment Design Shards is through the Season Shop. Each shard costs 100 Jade Fish, and you can buy up to two per week.
Given that you can earn up to 20,000 Jade Fish weekly, the shard purchase is a very small slice of your total seasonal currency budget.
Tip: if you care about fashion long term and you know you like one of the supported sets, it is safe to treat the weekly limit as a soft nudge to stockpile a few shards early. They do not expire.
Which outfits use Garment Design Shards
Only a small set of cosmetics currently accept Garment Design Shards for alternate styles. The known sets are:
| Cosmetic set | Has alternate style | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Loyal Heart | Yes | No alternate version for the male outfit |
| Enlightened Mind | Yes | Alternate style for both body types |
| Ephemeral Bloom | Yes | Alternate style for both body types |
| Hidden Scent | Yes | Alternate style for both body types |
| Veiled Edge | Yes | Alternate style for both body types |
Within each set, only some pieces actually change: usually the main outfit body, sometimes specific accessories. The alternate-style column in in-game menus shows only the parts that support tailoring.
In the wardrobe UI, compatible outfits are marked differently from standard, non-tailorable sets. Players on the Chinese client have also seen a small scissors icon used to flag designs with an alternate cut; global clients may surface the same information through icons or tags in the Cosmetic Appearance Menu.
How Garment Design Shards are used on outfits
Garment Design Shards interact with the Workshop section of the Cosmetic Appearance Menu, which handles dyes and tailoring. The logic is simple: dyes change color; shards change structure.
| Action | Menu area | Resource used | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recolor an outfit | Workshop → Dye Outfit | Softweave / Rosycloud Dye Powder | Adjusts color of fabric or accessories |
| Tailor outfit sections | Workshop → Tailoring / Select Tailoring Design | Garment Design Shard | Unlocks an alternate cut or version of a cosmetic set |
When you apply a Garment Design Shard to a supported outfit, you unlock an alternate style “record” for that set. After that:
- You can freely switch between the original and alternate versions without spending more shards.
- The alternate style can be combined with dyes just like the base version.
- Wardrobe plans can store either version as part of a saved outfit.
The actual visual changes vary by set. Examples include:
- Removing or shortening sleeves.
- Adding or removing capes, scarves, or over-skirts.
- Changing layering around the shoulders or waist to expose or cover more of the undergarments.
Note: for some sets such as Loyal Heart, only one body type currently has an alternate cut. Spending a shard on that set does nothing for the other body type.
Where Garment Design fits in the wider appearance system
The Cosmetic Appearance Menu in Where Winds Meet is split into distinct tabs: Wardrobe, Backgrounds, Weapons, Mounts, Extras, and Workshop. Garment Design Shards only matter in one of them, but the way they’re exposed depends on where you’re looking.
| Tab | Role | Relevance to Garment Design Shards |
|---|---|---|
| Wardrobe | Equip cosmetics, build outfits, manage saved looks | Shows which sets have alternate styles once unlocked |
| Workshop | Apply dyes, tailoring, and rare weapon visual edits | Consumes Garment Design Shards to unlock alternate outfit cuts |
| Extras | Martial/Mystic art animations, idle stances, result screens | Unaffected |
| Weapons / Mounts / Backgrounds | Separate cosmetic layers | Unaffected |
Once an alternate style is unlocked for a cosmetic set, you can treat it like a separate visual variant in Wardrobe. Outfit plans can pin the base version for one preset and the alternate for another, letting you swap your overall silhouette as easily as you swap hair.
Should you buy Garment Design Shards every week?
The decision comes down to two questions:
- Do you own any of the supported cosmetic sets (Loyal Heart, Enlightened Mind, Ephemeral Bloom, Hidden Scent, Veiled Edge)?
- Are you already allocating Jade Fish to higher-priority seasonal unlocks?
Because each shard costs only 100 Jade Fish and the weekly Jade Fish cap is 20,000, the direct opportunity cost is low. At the same time, only a handful of outfits use the item at all, and you only need to unlock each alternate style once.
Practical rules of thumb:
- If you don’t own any of the supported sets yet, it’s fine to skip or buy sparingly; there is no immediate benefit.
- If you own a supported set and like its alternate preview, one or two weeks of purchases will usually cover you for that set permanently.
- There is no need to buy the maximum two shards every single week unless you are intentionally stockpiling for future cosmetic sets.
Players focusing on pure progression can safely prioritize other Jade Fish sinks first and circle back to Garment Design Shards once their core seasonal goals are met.
Garment Design Shards sit in an interesting space between free dyes and expensive premium skins. They don’t unlock new outfits, but they do let a small group of cosmetics flex into multiple silhouettes without burning through more currency every time you want to switch. If you care about fine-tuning how those specific sets drape on your character, picking up a few shards from the Season Shop is an efficient way to do it.
