AI has moved from the fringe of fashion tech innovation to be widely adopted across the industry. Pioneers in the fashion world have long recognised its potential and rightly so. AI has the potential to change the way fashion works forever.
Why now?
The fashion industry has come to the forefront as a tech innovator, harnessing various experimental and nascent technologies. As such, you can’t discuss luxury fashion today without touching the Metaverse, NFTs, and Augmented or Virtual Reality.
However, the fundamental shift is down to generative AI; the tech behind the - now unavoidable - consumer-facing tool 'ChatGPT'. A McKinsey report predicts that generative AI could add up to $275 billion to the operating profits of apparel, fashion and luxury sectors in the next three to five years.
AI is already making waves in fashion
It’s still early days, yet generative AI use cases are fast emerging. Brands have begun using generative AI to create custom clothing. The tech has also been utilised to produce original patterns for fabrics and prints, saving designers significant time and money.
However, the impact of generative AI on fashion extends beyond new designs. The technology is also changing how we shop for fashion through personalised online customer journeys and offers based on individual consumer preferences. The automation of certain tasks is also freeing up professionals' time to focus on activities that make for a better customer experience.
So what exactly is generative AI?
To understand how generative AI will impact fashion retail, it’s essential to understand what’s happening ‘under the hood’. Traditional AI focuses on detecting patterns, making decisions based on analytics, classifying data and detecting fraud. Generative AI can generate new outputs based on the data that’s fed into it. These outputs include images, text and audio.
Suffice it to say that, despite only being released on a global scale at the end of last year, this is not a genie that will go back in the bottle. Generative AI is something fashion brands will need to implement if they want to remain relevant.
It’s time to pay attention to the future of fashion
The future of fashion will be determined by how technology is being used to enhance the industry. Generative AI will form a crucial part of this. If this blog has opened up more questions than it has answers, or if you want to learn how to get started in fashion’s future - you’re in luck.
To help you understand AI’s potential in the fashion industry, we’ve compiled a cheat sheet on three key evolving areas in Generative AI that we at Célibataire believe you need to watch out for - Personalisation, Content Creation, and Organisational Efficiency.
Covering everything from its potential to brand opportunities and challenges, we’ll give you the lowdown on what you need to know to begin your AI journey. Keep an eye out for our blog about how fashion is set to get more personal soon.
