Abstract: In this paper, material selection and filament winding design were proposed to improve the mechanical properties of composite transmission towers. The stress and deformation of glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) towers and carbon fiber-reinforced plastic ones under a standard test load were analyzed by a finite element method. The results indicated that the stiffness of the composite towers was effectively improved by the addition of carbon fiber, and their maximum displacement decreased by 20 %. On the basis of these results, the design of yarn spiral wound combined with one-way cloth longitudinal winding was proposed, and the equivalent moduli of composite towers were calculated at different winding angles. The influence of fiber orientation on the mechanical properties of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic towers was analyzed. The optimum angle of filament winding designed in this work was determined as 20 ° for the longitudinal winding angle and 50 °~55 ° for the spiral winding angle.