A Look at the Future of Fashion in the Light of Artificial Intelligence

Throughout the centuries, the garment industry, which is one of the oldest human activities, has continually adapted to technological advancements and societal changes. As the fashion industry advances in terms of style, design, and trend, it is adopting new technologies to meet the rapidly changing needs of consumers. Whether it’s designing, producing, or consuming clothing, technology, particularly artificial intelligence, has exerted influence on every aspect of the fashion industry.

Historically, fashion has adopted new technologies as they emerge, always looking toward the future. It is no different with Artificial Intelligence since it is evolving as rapidly as fashion. For over a decade, fashion trends and consumer needs have been analyzed with artificial intelligence. Fashion and style are impacted by technology today, and experts predict its impact on the industry will continue to grow in the future as deep learning and artificial intelligence become more prevalent.

The global fashion industry is estimated to be worth 1.7 trillion dollars, i.e., equal to Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP). A leading market research firm has reported that the United States apparel industry alone accounts for $369.39 billion in yearly revenue, which is forecasted to reach $494.89 billion by 2023. AI is expected to have a significant role to play with automation and prediction models in the fashion industry, considering its size and future potential.

AI in Fashion: How the Industry can Harness the Potential of AI

As a result of the sustainable fashion movement, fashion consumers have become more conscious of style rather than only considering needs when it comes to making purchase decisions. In spite of this, it can still be stated that our population has never consumed so many clothes as it does now, and with it, the way they do so has also changed.

AI and fashion experts firmly believe that implementing artificial intelligence in fashion can substantially boost the industry’s growth. AI, as a matter of fact, embodies a number of methods that can benefit the fashion industry in a number of ways. AI techniques are already being used across all sectors of the fashion industry. As the fashion industry and related markets face uncertainty, volatility, and complexity, artificial intelligence can come to aid to procure it with speed, variation, and quantity with workflow automation and accurate production predictions.

The fashion industry can benefit from artificial intelligence in the following ways to enhance the production, sales, and consumer experiences:

1. Increase Speed & Efficiency in Fashion Industry by Enabling Automation

The fashion industry can already benefit from AI improvements; some forward-thinking retailers are tracking trends on social networks (Instagram, Pinterest) and responding quickly. In each stage of the supply chain, the leading companies have adopted smart technologies to increase speed and efficiency, lower costs, and increase flexibility.

In addition, many of these companies now have automated production and delivery capabilities. Furthermore, it can forecast, and analyze new trends, choose and combine the appropriate fabric and color combinations, design the desired cut with zero waste, and organize the production process in an environmentally-friendly and flexible manner.

2. Data Mining and Fashion Sales Predicting Methods based on AI

Information has always been part and parcel of the progress of every single business or industrial process since the evolution of mankind. The big data backed by AI-powered applications holds a bouquet of opportunities to scale up the fashion industry.

The new league of AI applications can assist apparel manufacturing, marketing distribution, and sales through data mining from different sources, e.g., point-of-sale (POS) data, social media data, geographic information systems (GIS) data, and textile physical data.

AI can help the development of intelligent methods for extracting information from industry datasets and restructuring it to gain insight into fashion predictions and goal accomplishments.

3. Utilizing AI as a fashion designer for enhanced precision & accuracy

A fashion garment is an expression of a person’s fantasy regarding their body, a shaping of the silhouette of their outfit, and a manifestation of custom beauty. Fashion is an artistic activity that designers and artists do. However, the misconception is that the fashion industry, which is built upon creativity, won’t be able to make use of artificial intelligence in the same way other industries do. It is evident that the way AI aided the fashion industry in recent years is entirely reciprocal to the experts’ belief.

Artificial intelligence can help the human brain focus on higher-value decisions, so it is logical to ask: Can AI be a fashion designer? As expected, the answer is yes. In the future, artificial intelligence algorithms will be able to recognize fashion styles by tracing them on images and then create similar items based on the patterns.

Final Thought

At any level, employing artificial intelligence in fashion and retail will lead to rapid and sustainable growth. Consumers are now more fashion- and style-conscious than the older generations, and this is where the scope lies for the fashion industry to leverage AI in the future. It is expected that the consumption of apparel and other fashion accessories will rise in the era of AI. As digitalization expands, the fashion and apparel industry will have more opportunities to benefit from AI in the time ahead.