Can Fashion And Ai Create A Smart Stitch?

“The world is changing and so is Fashion”; this statement by legendary fashion designer Giorgio Armani can not be truer.

Let’s start with basics. What exactly is changing the world? Is it the melting ice at the Antarctic, the terrorist attacks around the world, women empowerment, education and other such burning issues? Well in addition to all the above, the one thing which is going to change the world isArtificial Intelligence. Yes! You read that right! AI coupled with powerful data analytics tools is a weapon which if mastered upon is no less than a Sorcerer’s stone!

Fashion is one such industry which is ever evolving. What was a fad a couple of months ago would be deemed a faux pas in the fashion world. So to keep up with the trends, fashion giants are making use of advanced AI to stay ahead of their competitors. And one thing which helps ace competition is customer satisfaction.

In today’s fast paced world, where people are literally living off their mobile phones, how can fashion be left behind? Take a simple task as ordering your clothes online. You ordered a blue-coloured check shirt. The very next time when you go forplacing an order, there will be a dozen recommendation like the shirt you ordered. What is that? How is that? Well, people, that’s AI at work. Mapping your purchase patterns onto the company’s system.

Imagine, you could try a hundred clothes without going to the mall? WellVirtual Dressing Roomsare not a distant reality anymore. All you must do is upload your photo from a couple of different angles and let the software do the rest.

You spot a pretty dress and want to find similar other designs online. Just click a picture and upload it.Visual Recognition, such as that of the Indian Brand Myntra let’s you do the same.

Cosmetics are an essential part of Fashion.Virtual Assistantssuch as Sephora’s Virtual Artist lets you try on different kinds of makeup, helping you decide what looks good on you and what doesn’t. The major advantages of such technologies is that they are above the space and time constraints. And we all know, we have a thing for such anAugmented Reality.In exchange Sephora collects information about the customer’s buying patterns for the next time and hence give product recommendations the next time saving time and energy. An interesting example is,Sephora also has an exclusive technology calledColor iQ,which“scans the surface of your skin and assigns it a Color iQ number, which reveals scientifically precise foundation matches. And all you have to do is remember that number for any skin specific product.

Let’s see how AI affects the various segments related to Fashion:

1.The Design Process:
Google’s project Muzetrained a neural network to understand colors, textures, style preferences, and other aesthetic parameters, and trend data sourced byGerman fashion platformZalando. Many such projects are being run worldwide but the designs do not always turn out smooth and often end up being scruffy.

2.The Manufacturing Process:
Gauging the trends, companies are manufacturing only those styles which are in demand in the market elimination the traditional seasons (Autumn/Spring) of the fashion industry.

3.The Inventory:

Eliminating unnecessary stock-ups, companies are able to maintain their inventories more efficiently. Brands are increasingly making use of scanners, RFID tags and other such tracking technology to make the inventory process transparent.

4.The Retail Experience:
The AI/VR has completely revolutionized the in-store retail experience. Customers are able to try out clothes on smart mirrors. The digital inventory let’s you know if the required size and style are available in the stock or not.Amazon’s Echo Look is a personal virtual assistant is a hands-free, voice controlled camera which also gives you a second opinion on your outfit. A chatbot giving suggestion!? Who would’ve thought about that a couple of years ago!

According to a study by IMRG and Hive, 75% of fashion retailers will invest in AI over the next 24 months. In fact Alibaba and fashion giant Guess teamed up to come out with a new retail concept in which the customer enters a QR code and all the items in the store are displayed. Whenever a customer picks up a dress, the RFID tags attached to the product display it in a smart mirror.

Accessorizing AI
Not only clothes and cosmetics, but fashion accessories such as jewellery and watches are becoming tech-oriented. Recently crystal giant Swarovski manufactured a smart crystal necklace to track work outs and sleep patterns. Digitsole’s shoes can auto-lace themselves.

But everything said and done, though AI is everywhere now, and disrupting almost every other industry we could come across, integrating AI and Fashion requires more than just AI and Fashion. It requires a team that is as creative as it is technologically advanced. The company requires a platform to promote the newly created, AI driven product and most importantly acceptance by the consumers.

Also, Fashion Industry has always been human driven. Sewbots may eliminate millions of jobs and produce better quality products than humans. So, the sword of AI replacing jobs hangs on this industry as well which will require reskilling on the part of the current workforce. Privacy as a concern can not be overlooked. The leakage of personal information could be catastrophic both for the end user and the company.

But companies cannot overlook AI’s influence as a competitive advantage. Ignoring AI would lead to their own peril.

Can AI completely take over the Fashion Industry? Is it that creative? Designers draw inspiration from a plethora of unimaginable things-a falling leaf, a happy child, Egyptian pharaohs and what not! Is AI capable of thinking on its own to such an extent to create a clothing which indelible impression on the wearer? Will people in the fashion industry lose their jobs? For now it is too early to say anything as they say, “Predicting the future isn’t magic, it’s Artificial Intelligence”