The Future of Fashion

We are all familiar with the iconic Fashion Week that happens every year all around the world, from New York to Milan, Paris, São Paulo, Tokyo, London and so on. Well now we have AI Fashion Week, a project (competition) founded by e-commerce retailer Revolve Group in 2023, this years edition will happen in Tokyo where people can create and submit entire collections using AI to showcase their creativity and abilities with the new tool used in design. The collections are judged online and in person by the public, but the five finalists are chosen by well known people in the fashion industry. The winners will have their collections brought to life and be available for sale online in partnership with The Revolve Group. On top of that, after the collections are transformed into real physical garments, a in-person event is hosted where finalists can showcase their creations.

This project tries to show the world how AI and designers can work together to create innovative and creative designs, instead of using AI to replace them, Revolve’s Mente says. “As a company, it’s important for us to stay at the cutting edge of what’s going on. It’s going to be incredible to show the world that the technology — with a human element — is a big opportunity for a new generation of creatives.”

This is an interesting take in how to work with AI in the fashion industry as a designer, this competition offers an open door for new designers to experience with AI and create collections digitally and even have an opportunity to have their collections turned into real garments. This makes easier for new designers who don't have the budget to spend on fabric testing, a team or brand.

For many, this project is more than just creating digital garments with AI, it is also about the image itself and what the designer wants the public to see, there is storytelling, photography and composition involved. This lets designers express themselves as much as they want without having to be a millionaire to pay for actual photoshoots and the labor that goes into creating a physical collection.

Of course there are still problems with this, as always, designers need to be careful when creating collections using AI to not end up using already created designs that AI may copy from different sources, and how the AI can copy models faces, which could be unethical.

Sources: AI FASHION WEEK| Worldwide AI Fashion Week made with Artificial Intelligence – The First Ai Fashion Week 2023

What to expect at the first AI Fashion Week | Vogue Business

It is no secret that AI has been making its way into every industry possible in recent years, including the fashion industry, and although there is many positive points to it, let's talk about the disadvantages of using this powerful tool in the fashion world and how it impacts us.

AI is a new technology in the field, and like any other new tool, it needs training. If the fashion industry wants to implement AI in their businesses they have to be prepared to offer training to their employees on how to use the tool, both literally and morally. Also the training would be a great idea to avoid job displacements, instead of replacing humans with AI, make those humans enhance their work and make the job easier by teaching them how to use AI to gather data more accurately or how to enhance their designs when creating.

Another thing to worry about is that if companies start adopting AI, that will come with a BIG cost, specially to maintain the tool updated and going with system improvements.

Data Gathering and Privacy

One of the biggest problems with AI in general is invasion of privacy, and in the fashion industry is no different. To gather data and analyze customers, companies can use AI to track what consumers research and consume on their phones, which could be interpreted as an invasion of privacy if the consumer is not aware of it, and with all this data being stored online, the chances of cyberattacks are increased making it more likely that people's sensitive information's could leak if not managed correctly.

Another problem is, depending on how the AI is trained, it could run its data and analysis based on specific groups, excluding others by not having a diverse range of consumers, making consumers face limited options.

Sustainability

Yes, the fashion industry is one of the biggest industries to discharge waste into the world, with their many kilometers of fabrics going to the trash and waste of water and energy when creating new designs and garments, and one thing AI could help is to minimize that waste by running analysis and help designers see their garments in a 3D image with different types of fabrics and prints without having to waste tons of fabrics, but still, when training and running a high and complex AI program, the electricity and water used on it have great impact in the world that could lead to an even bigger carbon footprint in the world.

Creativity

Designers could face big problems when using AI to create new garments, one being the ethical concern of copying already existing designs, if not careful, AI could simply give you a copy of something already made years ago. Another problem would be the creativity behind designs, when working with AI, designers may rely too much on the technology and lose their own identity and ideas, specially because when AI creates designs, it does through data and trend analysis, which could make designs lose their innovative ideas and be created simply to sell or fit a trend. Another problem would be the competition between authentic and creative designers against machines that create basic designs that sells well based on trend forecasting, which could lead to many designers being unemployed.

Models

Another group of people that could have problems with AI entering the world of fashion are models. From one side, AI models can show you how different garments look on different types of bodies in a single click, but what does that mean to models? And are companies doing that for diversity or just to not pay models? The question remains unanswered. But with that there's also the problem of AI possibly stealing model's faces and bodies to create their digital model, which goes into the invasion of privacy and stolen data section. We could be going towards an era where models lose their jobs and are replaced by AI-generated people. Of course we would still have our legendary models on the runway... for now.

Conclusion

Fashion has always been all about art, culture, and innovation, all combined. From the hand-stitched gowns from past centuries to the digitally printed designs of today, the fashion industry is always evolving and embracing new technologies to push designs even further. Now, we are about to witness another transformative era of fashion, the era where AI will reshape how we design, create and think about fashion.

But at the same time, there's still a big question that hasn't been answered yet, will AI stagnate human creativity, or will it push the limits of design with great innovations and a new form of artistic expression?

With the use of AI, designers are able to create new and unique designs from a draft idea they might have in the back of their minds but don't really know how to make it a concrete design. Of course we're talking about a specific AI-powered platform made for fashion design, and not your day-to-day ChatGPT. With the right tools and an idea in mind designers can create fully developed garments or just a first, more abstract, draft for inspiration for a garment or collection.

And of course with the use of AI trend analysis platforms, like Heuritech, designers can generate specific designs tailored to specific clientele based on trend forecasting.

Another great AI platform for designers is Genera, a platform that can replicate real-world textures and details, an important part when making new garments. Genera can create photorealistic garment images from a technical drawing, where designers can see the garment they created with multiple types of fabrics, trims, finishings and many other details, which is a great method to be sustainable, since a big problem in the fashion industry is waste, and sample-testing is a huge part of it.

Conclusion

I do think AI can help enhance creativity during the designing phase, pushing the limits of the human mind to new and exciting designs, but it is important to maintain balance, because AI cannot replace or replicate the human mind and its creativity.

Trend Analysis

For the longest time designers and brands have been relying on trend reports and market analysis data to figure out what's next for them, thinking about what the consumers will want, what trend will be the next big thing, what should they invest in next? and gathering that data manually is a hard job and not 100% accurate since there is billions of data to gather across many different social medias and outside social media too, but AI has made this a easier and more accurate job, as AI can run through many data and compile the research much quicker to figure out what is trending across the world, in the different places, with different social groups and etc.

Marketing

AI is a powerful tool when it comes to marketing, they can be used to personalize campaigns and appeal to the public more easily, that's why we have been seeing a lot more of virtual mascots for brands in their marketing campaign, in Brazil for example, many brands have optioned for a virtual persona to interact and promote their products on social media, where the characters become an important and iconic figure for the country where they do collabs with one another and even get fan art on twitter. (tweet from 2022 reporting a "beef" between virtual brand personas). According to data retrieved from The value of getting personalization right—or wrong—is multiplying | McKinsey, companies that use AI to personalize their marketing strategy have a 40 percent increase revenue compared to companies that don't. With the right prompts and research these brands can use AI to help them enhance their websites with colors, layouts, and designs that appeal to the customers they are aiming for, making it a much easier and faster task.

Consumer experience

The most common way we see AI in this section is when we need help to talk to someone and the company gives us an AI chat bot to fix the problem at hand, and to be honest, I am not the biggest fan of that, but the use of AI in consumer experience could go much further.

It's undeniable that the AI chat bot has helped many people around the world, specially if the brand has one with multilingual support, but what else can be done in that section? AI can make product descriptions based on past successful sales posts/reviews, it can offer personalized web pages and descriptions to fit the consumer using the website, AI can even be used as a personal online stylist to help you find more items that could match with the garment or item you are buying and even make it possible for the online consumer to try on the items they are interested in buying.

Conclusion

For my first post, i just want to introduce the most common uses of AI in the fashion industry as of right now, as it is something that has been growing since 2023, and even more in 2024 as it is a tool being integrated in many parts of the industry.

Sustainability - AI have been helping a lot with waste control in the fashion industry, as it is one of the most pollutive contributes, AI can control fabric and water waste, pollution and carbon emissions by measuring environmental metrics during garment production.

AR - One of the biggest news in online shopping is the augmented reality-based shopping tool which makes clients be able to try and experience the garments and accessories virtually almost as if they are in person, something Burberry already implemented in their online shopping experience, making a more inclusive space for online shoppers who can't see themselves in the base models used by companies to showcase their items.

Creativity and Design - Some brands already started using AI tools to to create new designs that appeal to their customers using a trained AI with millions of research and inspiration from the brand themselves to create new designs, silhouettes, color palettes and more. FIT students already worked with AI in classes to create designs and explore the tool and creativity.

Trend Forecasting - For a long time people in the industry had to analyze and study fashion runways, street fashion and pop culture to predict trends a year ahead, and now with AI that can be made in a more quick and efficient way with AI being able to analyze all those things AND millions of social media posts, sales and search data to make trend forecasting easier and more accurate.

Photoshoots - Photography and fashion have always walked side by side, and now with AI is no different, companies can use AI to create new and exciting ways to express art, fashion and photography. The AI in this case is used to enhance the experience, push boundaries and redefine the concept of fashion photoshoots, one example is Vogue Italia's May 2024 with Bella Hadid.

AI is complementing the fashion industry in a very interesting way, helping with sustainability in the future, making customer experience more interactive and improved and pushing the limits of creativity and design creation forward.