Generative AI: Unleashing Future Fashion Trends

Rishikesh Sharma
CAP 450
Lovely Professional University
Jalandhar, Punjab
[email protected]

The fashion industry is not an exception to how artificial of business. In the next three to five years, generative AI could
intelligence (AI) is emerging as a transformational force in add $150 billion, conservatively, and up to $275 billion to the
different industries. This essay examines the various ways that apparel, fashion, and luxury sectors’ operating profits,
artificial intelligence (AI) is affecting the fashion industry, from according to McKinsey analysis. From codesigning to
manufacturing and design to marketing and retail. Fashion firms speeding content development processes, generative AI
are transforming their operations, increasing innovation, creates new space for creativity. It can input all forms of
customizing client experiences, and streamlining supply chains by “unstructured” data—raw text, images, and video—and
utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technology, such as machine
output new forms of media, ranging from fully-written scripts
learning, computer vision, and natural language processing.
to 3-D designs and realistic virtual models for video
However, issues with data privacy, ethics, and employment
displacement are also raised by the use of AI in the fashion
campaigns.
industry. This paper offers insights into the fashion industry's
growing AI ecosystem and its consequences for stakeholders
through a thorough review of current trends, case studies, and These are still early days, but some clear use cases for
future prospects. generative AI in fashion have already emerged. (Many of
these use cases also apply to the adjacent beauty and luxury
sectors.) Within product innovation, marketing, and sales and
Keywords—Artificial Intelligence, Fashion Industry, Machine customer experience in particular, the technology can have
Learning, Computer Vision, significant outcomes and may be more feasible to implement
in the short term compared with other areas in the fashion
value chain. In this article, we outline some of the most
I. INTRODUCTION promising use cases and offer steps executives can take to get
started, as well as risks to keep in mind when doing so.
In addition to producing and marketing the designs they
have just shown off on the runways, brands are already
beginning work on the collections for the upcoming season as In our view, generative AI is not just automation—it’s about
this season's fashion weeks come to an end in London, Milan, augmentation and acceleration. That means giving fashion
New York, and Paris. It's quite feasible that those designs may professionals and creatives the technological tools to do
combine the skills of a creative director with the capabilities certain tasks dramatically faster, freeing them up to spend
of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the future, more of their time doing things that only humans can do. It
accelerating the time to market for clothing and accessories, also means creating systems to serve customers better. Here’s
increasing sales, and enhancing the shopping experience. where to begin.

By now, we’ve likely heard of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the AI

chatbot that became an overnight sensation and sparked a
digital race to build and release competitors. ChatGPT is only
one consumer-friendly example of generative AI, a
technology comprising algorithms that can be used to create
new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations,
and videos. Rather than simply identifying and classifying
information, generative AI creates new information by
leveraging foundation models, which are deep learning
models that can handle multiple complex tasks at the same
time. Examples include GPT-3.5 and DALL-E. (For more on
generative AI and machine learning, see “What is generative
AI?” and “Generative AI is here: How tools like ChatGPT
could change your business.”2)

While the fashion industry has experimented with basic AI

and other frontier technologies—the metaverse, nonfungible
tokens (NFTs), digital IDs, and augmented or virtual reality
come to mind—it has so far had little experience with
generative AI. True, this nascent technology became broadly
available only recently and is still rife with worrisome kinks
and bugs, but all indications are that it could improve at
lightning speed and become a game changer in many aspects
A. Understanding the Use Cases

5) Store operations:
1) Merchandising and product: a) Optimize store layout planning by generating and
a) Convert sketches, mood boards, and descriptions testing layout plans under different parameters (for example,
into high-fidelity designs (for example, 3-D models of foot traffic, local consumer audience, size).
furniture and jewelry). b) Optimize in-store labor to avoid bottlenecks such as
b) Enrich product ideation by collaborating with AI gaps in staff allocation and theft detection through real-time
agents that generate creative options (for example, new monitoring of video data.
ideas, variations) from data (for example, past product lines, c) Support AR-assisted devices to better inform
inspirational imagery and style). workforce in real time on product (for example, condition,
c) Customize products for individual consumers at assortment, inventory, recommendations).
scale (for example, eyeglasses based on facial topography).

6) Organization and support functions:

2) Supply chain and logistics: a) Coach sales associates to sustain successful
a) Support negotiations with suppliers by compiling “clienteling” relationships via real-time recommendations,
research. feedback reports, and high-value consumer profiles.
b) Augment robotic automation for warehouse b) Develop individualized training content for
operations and inventory management through real-time employees based on role and performance.
analytics (for example, insights enabled by augmented c) Enable self-serve and automate support tasks (for
reality, or AR). example, HR tickets, accounting for large documents, review
c) Tailor product return offers based on individual of legal documents).
consumers.

3) Marketing:
a) Identify and predict trends to improve targeted
marketing from unstructured data (for example, consumer
sentiment, in-store consumer behavior, omnichannel data).
b) Automate consumer segmentation at scale to tailor
marketing initiatives.
c) Generate personalized marketing content based on
unstructured data from consumer profiles and community
insights.
d) Collaborate with AI agents to accelerate content
development and reduce creative blocks for in-house
marketing teams.

4) Digital commerce and consumer experience:

a) Structure and generate sales descriptions based on
past successful sales posts.
b) Personalize online consumer journey and offers (for
example, web pages, product descriptions) based on
individual consumer profiles.
c) Tailor virtual product try-on and demos to
individual consumers (for example, clothing try-on, styling
recommendations).
d) Enhance intelligent AI agents (for example,
conversational chatbots, virtual assistants) and self-service
to address advanced consumer inquiries (for example,
multilingual support).
 Generative AI has the potential to affect the entire fashion Creative directors and their teams could input sketches and
ecosystem. Fashion companies can use the technology to help desired details—such as fabrics, color palettes, and
create better-selling designs, reduce marketing costs, patterns—into a platform powered by generative AI that
hyperpersonalize customer communications, and speed up automatically creates an array of designs, thus allowing
processes. It may also reshape supply chain and logistics, store designers to play with an enormous variety of styles and
operations, and organization and support functions (see looks. A team might then design new items based on these
sidebar, “Generative AI use cases in fashion”). outputs, putting a fashion house’s signature touch on each
of the looks. This opens the door to creating innovative,
limited-edition product drops that may also be
collaborations between two brands. Products such as
eyeglasses could be designed for individuals by using facial-
recognition technology powered by generative AI to scan
facial topography and adjust for a customer’s size and style
preferences.

B. Product Development And Innovation

Instead of relying on trend reports and market analysis

alone to inform designs for next season’s collection, both
mass-market fashion retailers and luxury brands’ creative
directors can use generative AI to analyze in real time
various types of unstructured data. Generative AI can, for
example, quickly aggregate and perform sentiment analysis
from videos on social media or model trends from multiple This scenario became reality in December 2022, when a
sources of consumer data. group of Hong Kong–based fashion designers from the
Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Design (AiDLab)
held a fashion show featuring generative-AI-supported
designs.3 Using tools from tech companies such as Cala,
Designovel, and Fashable, fashion designers are already
tapping into the power of generative AI to spark new ideas,
try myriad design variations without having to produce
expensive samples, and vastly accelerate their processes.
(For beauty businesses, generative AI also provides an
opportunity for brands to identify new product formulations,
potentially helping to reduce lab testing costs.)
 Creative directors and their teams could input sketches and
desired details—such as fabrics, color palettes, and
patterns—into a platform powered by generative AI that
automatically creates an array of designs, thus allowing
designers to play with an enormous variety of styles and
looks. A team might then design new items based on these
outputs, putting a fashion house’s signature touch on each
of the looks. This opens the door to creating innovative,
limited-edition product drops that may also be
collaborations between two brands.

C. Marketing and Trend Analysis

Marketing executives and agencies can use generative AI to

brainstorm campaign strategies, product campaign content,
and even virtual avatars for every marketing channel—and
do it fast.

Striking marketing gold can often be a numbers game.

Consider TikTok: there’s no single winning formula for
going viral on the platform. Instead, the more you produce,
the higher your chances are of becoming a trending topic
and boosting brand awareness and sales. Prompting a
generative-AI-powered video platform to create short-form
videos for TikTok or other social-media platforms can help
save time and costs associated with pumping out social-
media content. Generative AI can recognize patterns and
Products such as eyeglasses could be designed for
trends in viral content and create new content that also
individuals by using facial-recognition technology powered
follows specifications from the marketer.
by generative AI to scan facial topography and adjust for a
customer’s size and style preferences.

Several start-ups—CopyAI, Jasper AI, and Writesonic, to

name just a few—are helping pioneer personalized
marketing at scale through generative AI. Using these tools,
a marketer’s daily tasks might start to look like this: they
could choose the type of content they want to create,
whether it’s an email, a long-form blog post, or something
else; add a prompt describing what they are looking for;
and include the targeted audience and other parameters,
such as tone, that help create marketing communications
that are in line with the brand. The AI tool then offers
These exercises can help in-house marketing teams manage several options from which the marketer can choose.
their workloads while reducing their reliance on
outsourcing work to creative agencies. Marketers will want
to be careful with this approach, however: trying to reach
consumers by replicating what other brands have done can These tools are most helpful when applied to lower-funnel
counteract the unique identity and value proposition that a marketing channels (those that are mostly used to
brand spends years building. encourage sales conversions) as opposed to more
prestigious brand-building communications. Marketers are
still required to prompt and edit the work.
Generative AI could also be applied to personalized
customer communications. Companies that excel at
personalization increase revenues by 40 percent compared
with companies that don’t leverage personalization,
according to McKinsey research
 working. Generative-AI-powered tools can keep the
conversation going or make styling recommendations after
a shopper leaves the store, coach sales associates on how to
engage with customers, personalize communications for
specific customers, and analyze consumer profiles and
online real-time interaction.

D. Sales And People’s Experience

Today’s generative-AI-powered chats, which use stronger

natural-language processing to better understand and
interact with humans, are already a measurable In July 2022, apparel retailer Stitch Fix said it was
improvement over existing AI chats. That said, there isn’t experimenting with GPT-3 and DALL-E 2, the text-to-image
(yet) a foolproof generative-AI chatbot for businesses— AI generator, to boost sales and improve customer
current chatbots and other text-generating tools still satisfaction with better styling services. These generative
occasionally make errors that could cause serious customer models are being tested to help stylists quickly and
service disasters. Eventually, though, this technology could accurately interpret reams of customer feedback and curate
help customer support agents outsource complex inquiries— products that customers would be likelier to purchase. For
for example, using chatbots to help provide personalized example, the AI tool could analyze all of a customer’s
responses in numerous languages. feedback, which could include hundreds of text comments,
email requests, product ratings, and online posts. If a
customer regularly comments on, say, the “great fit” and
Today, there are services that assign a generative AI “fun color” of a certain style of pants, DALL-E could
“representative” to a brand to handle customer service generate images of similar pants that the customer would
queries across email, chat, text, and a brand’s own likely want to purchase. The stylist could then find similar
platforms. These services help to reduce customer service items in Stitch Fix’s inventory and recommend them to that
wait times and improve response times. customer.

Generative-AI agents can also serve luxury brands, Virtual try-ons are yet another example of how generative
particularly when it comes to “clienteling,” a retail strategy AI can improve sales and consumer experience. Paris-based
whereby sales associates develop long-term relationships Veesual enables virtual try-on integration for e-commerce
with a brand’s highest-spending customers to encourage fashion brands, meaning customers can choose their model
purchases and improve brand loyalty. (High-end brands can and pick clothes to try on.
hit a sales conversion rate of 60 to 70 percent in luxury
boutiques, through appointment-only shopping, for
example.5) That process has remained somewhat analog
and manual, relying on brands’ sales associates to reach
out to customers through a variety of messaging platforms
or texts, and is limited to only when those associates are
E. How to Get Started

As exciting as generative-AI technology might be,

companies will still want to tread cautiously before
entrusting any of their core tasks entirely to generative AI.
But neglecting to explore the possibilities that this
technology offers could be just as risky, given the pace at Once the value is identified, use cases should also be
which it is evolving and the explosive growth of the user prioritized according to how feasible they are to implement;
base. Executives can start thinking now about how their determining how seamlessly generative AI can be used will
businesses could use generative AI. There are a few steps depend on things like a team’s technical skills. Afterward,
leaders can take to begin. teams should build a short-term road map to test and
validate these use cases. At the same time, they can also
consider what long-term goals might include, such as how
to build a generative-design platform that can be updated
and used by designers for every season.

F. Make Value Your North Star

Fashion leaders should outline where generative AI can

offer the greatest value to their business. Start by noting
which areas—creative design, merchandising, runway
campaigns, or clienteling—could benefit the most from
generative AI. Leaders can then prioritize the generative AI
use cases they should pursue based on the level of impact
the use cases may have on their business. Some measures of
impact include improving customer satisfaction scores and It may be tempting to have a bit of fun with generative AI,
reducing customer service wait times. but harnessing its power will take extra diligence. Fashion
executives must be intentional in building tools that can
deliver value rather than experiment with existing tools
indiscriminately.
 Another risk is bias and fairness in generative-AI systems,
particularly around biased data sets, which may present
reputational challenges for brands that rely on the
technology. For example, if an image-generating tool
produces an advertising campaign with inappropriate or
offensive images that are then shared globally, a brand’s
reputation could be hurt. And pointing fingers at the
company AI in an attempt at damage control may do little to
G. What are the Risks? calm consumer ire.

Legal parameters around generative AI’s use are still being

ironed out. Designers are sometimes criticized for creating
derivative works and copycat designs. Determining who
owns the intellectual property and creative rights to AI-
generated works, which could be based on multimodal data
sources such as other designers’ past collections, will be
decided on a case-by-case basis until there is a strong legal
precedent. (Although it doesn’t involve generative AI, the
high-profile battle between Hermès and artist Mason
Rothschild surrounding MetaBirkin NFTs, in which a judge
ruled that the NFTs infringed on Hermès’s trademark,
shows how fashion brands can become embroiled in legal
conundrums when new technologies emerge.)

There is also the risk that employees who use generative AI

are not fully aware of its shortcomings and may fail to check
for errors introduced by the technology. In this case,
businesses must regularly train employees and provide them
with the resources they need to understand how to use the
technology.

While risks are unavoidable, executives can mitigate their

potential impact by establishing a process to address risk,
ethics, and quality assurance.
 making them valuable for analyzing
fashion trends and generating new
designs.

3. VAE-GAN (Variational Autoencoder-Generative

Adversarial Network):
a. VAE-GAN combines the principles of
variational autoencoders (VAEs) and
GANs to generate diverse and realistic
images.
b. VAEs are used for learning latent
representations of data, while GANs
H. AI Image Generators refine these representations to generate
high-quality images.
c. This hybrid approach allows for more
precise control over the generated images'
1. StyleGAN (Generative Adversarial Networks): attributes, making it suitable for fashion
a. StyleGAN, developed by NVIDIA, is a trend generation and customization.
prominent example of generative adversarial
networks (GANs) used in fashion.
b. GANs consist of two neural networks, a 4. Neural Style Transfer:
generator and a discriminator, which compete a. Neural style transfer is a technique that
against each other to produce high-quality combines the content of one image with
images. the style of another image, producing
c. StyleGAN enables the generation of high- artistic and visually appealing results.
resolution images with controllable features b. Fashion designers and trend analysts use
such as style, color, and texture, making it neural style transfer to generate unique
suitable for fashion design exploration. visual aesthetics and explore different
design combinations.

5. Transfer Learning:
a. Transfer learning involves pre-training
2. DeepFashion: deep learning models on large datasets,
a. DeepFashion is a dataset and framework such as fashion image databases, and
that leverages convolutional neural fine-tuning them for specific tasks.
networks (CNNs) for various tasks in the b. Fashion trend generators often employ
fashion industry, including trend analysis transfer learning to leverage pre-trained
and image generation. models and adapt them to generate new
b. CNNs are particularly effective for image trends and styles efficiently.
recognition and feature extraction,
Overall, these technologies enable fashion professionals to that employees who come from traditional technology
experiment with diverse styles, textures, and patterns, backgrounds might otherwise miss. The program also helps
accelerating the design process, informing trend forecasts, teams with different specializations—such as design teams
and fostering creativity in the fashion industry. and engineering teams—communicate better and find
common ground. Furthermore, Levi’s has found that the
program helps improves employee retention.

I. How to Upskill Current Work Force?

1) Generative-AI tools could add value to a host of

different areas of a business, so it will be important to educate
and train employees—including designers, marketers, sales
associates, and customer service representatives—on the use 3) With an AI-savvy workforce, collaboration will take on
of the technology. a new meaning. Leaders should consider: How do we define
responsibilities and operate collectively between technical
and nontechnical roles? Design and software engineering
teams can set up weekly leadership meetings to strategize
quarterly road maps and working sessions among teams.
Design leads can share their needs for certain insights and
tools (a tool that generates design variations from a sketch,
perhaps), while engineering teams deliver those tools.

J. Partner with the Right Tech Support

Fashion businesses will no doubt have to invest in their

workforce when it comes to leveraging generative AI, but
they won’t have to build out applications or foundation
models themselves. Instead, fashion leaders can partner
with generative-AI businesses and experts to move
2) Some businesses have already introduced AI-focused quickly. A fashion executive might partner with a business
training. Levi Strauss, for one, launched a machine learning (such as Microsoft or OpenAI) that provides new
boot camp in 2021 to train nontech employees on how to use technology or a partner that provides support capabilities
machine learning in the company’s design process. (such as cloud computing or APIs).
Employees who complete the program create new AI tools
that are relevant to their work.6 One of Levi’s goals with the
program is to increase the diversity of employees who have
tech knowledge so that the company can uncover problems
K. Disadvantages rapid turnover of styles and the pressure to constantly produce
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers numerous benefits new designs may contribute to unsustainable practices and a
to the fashion industry, it also comes with several culture of disposability.
disadvantages and challenges: Addressing these disadvantages requires careful
1. Lack of Creativity and Originality: consideration of ethical, social, and environmental
implications, as well as proactive measures to mitigate bias,
AI algorithms may excel at analysing existing data and protect privacy, and ensure that AI technologies are used
generating designs based on patterns, but they may struggle to responsibly and sustainably in the fashion industry.
produce truly innovative or original concepts that reflect
human creativity and intuition. This limitation could result in
a homogenization of designs and a loss of the unique artistic SUMMARY
vision that human designers bring to the industry.
2. Bias in Data and Algorithms: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the fashion
industry by transforming traditional processes and enhancing
AI systems rely heavily on data for training, and if the creativity, efficiency, and customer experiences. From design
training data is biased or lacks diversity, it can lead to biased and manufacturing to marketing and retail, AI technologies
outcomes. In the fashion industry, biased data could reinforce such as machine learning and computer vision are reshaping
existing stereotypes or preferences, perpetuate exclusionary every aspect of the fashion value chain. While AI offers
standards of beauty, and limit the diversity of styles immense opportunities for innovation and growth, it also
represented in AI-generated designs.
presents challenges related to data privacy, ethics, and job
3. Ethical Concerns: displacement. By understanding these challenges and
embracing AI responsibly, fashion companies can harness its
The use of AI in fashion raises ethical questions related to
privacy, consent, and ownership of data. AI-driven potential to drive sustainable growth and meet the evolving
personalization and recommendation systems may infringe on demands of consumers in the digital age.
consumers' privacy rights by collecting and analysing their
personal data without their explicit consent. Additionally, the
ownership of AI-generated designs and intellectual property ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
rights may become ambiguous, leading to legal and ethical
disputes. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who
4. Job Displacement: contributed to the creation of this article on fashion trends
using AI. Special thanks to the researchers, designers, and
The automation of certain tasks in the fashion industry, professionals in the fashion industry who shared their
such as pattern-making and garment assembly, through AI and expertise and insights, as well as the developers and engineers
robotics could lead to job displacement for workers in these who developed the AI technologies powering these trends. We
roles. This displacement could exacerbate existing
also extend our appreciation to the reviewers and editors who
socioeconomic inequalities and contribute to unemployment
in the industry, particularly for low-skilled workers. provided valuable feedback and guidance throughout the
writing process. This work would not have been possible
5. Overreliance on Technology: without your support and collaboration.
Overreliance on AI technology may lead to a reduction in
human involvement and creativity in the fashion design
process. Designers may become overly dependent on AI-
generated recommendations and trends, limiting their
willingness to take risks and explore new ideas independently. REFERENCES
This overreliance could stifle innovation and hinder the [1] McKinsey & Company (Generative AI: Unlocking the future of
development of truly groundbreaking designs. fashion).
[2] New York Times (AI Fashion Week).
6. Environmental Impact:
[3] Pinterest (Photos and Images).
While AI has the potential to optimize manufacturing
processes and reduce waste in the fashion industry, the
Make sure to remove all placeholder and explanatory
proliferation of fast fashion fuelled by AI-driven trends and
recommendations could exacerbate environmental issues such text from the template when you add your own text.
as overconsumption, pollution, and resource depletion. The This text should not be here in the final version!