Josep Abril was born in 1962 in Barcelona, where he studied Fine Arts and Fashion. In 1991 he won the first edition of the Gaudí Award for new Barcelona designers. He presented his first collection in Barcelona in 1997, his first one under the Josep Abril brand name.

Since then he has remained faithful to the Barcelona catwalks and fashion events, and has worked as the creative director for the Armand Basi One menswear collection. In 2004 he was awarded the GQ prize for best national menswear designer (Spain). Today, in addition to designing and producing his own menswear collections he also teaches at the ESDI (School of Design) and the IED (European Institute of Design) and designs costumes for the theatre, dance and other types of performing arts.