David Appel is one of 13 successful designers on NBC's reality competition series "Fashion Star."

Appel is a Los Angeles-based menswear and women's wear fashion designer. He has always had an eye for fashion and been around clothes his entire life. One of his first fashion memories is accompanying his mother on trips to California Mart to purchase samples as a kid.

Appel is a fashion industry veteran, having been in the industry for over 12 years. Fashion has always played a big role in Appel's life, but his interest in design was first overshadowed by his other love, soccer, which he played at UC Santa Cruz. After transferring to UC Santa Barbara to study economics and fine arts, he realized that the natural blend of his two interests and his eye for fashion screamed out clothing industry. Appel decided to revisit his passion for design and began painting jeans, printing shirts and selling them to friends and stores.

After graduating, he went on to develop a non-woven outerwear fabric for Security Textile in addition to selling interlining garment products. He then started Blue Tattoo Denim, a men's and women's denim line which sold at major retailers Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom, as well as in boutiques across the U.S. Following Blue Tattoo Denim, Appel began his work at the men's sportswear line Cohesive. Appel is the co-owner and designer of Cohesive, in addition to designing a private label for Kmart.

Appel's Cohesive collection has been sold at Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Kitson, Gilt, HauteLook, Atrium, Neiman Marcus Last Call and Cohesive & Co. online.

Appel's passion, other than fashion, is sports. He has played sports all his life, and is currently playing basketball and soccer weekly, as well as practicing yoga.