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Chatbot consultant. When secondhand shopping, not everyone enjoys the thrill of the hunt. Fashion resale start-ups are distinguishing themselves by offering improved generative AI chatbots to help shoppers find coveted luxury items efficiently. One new chatbot, launched in March 2023, can better understand images and context than previous generations of retail chatbots. It aims to make secondhand shopping more convenient for users. Still, winning the trust of consumers may be a challenge. [Vogue Business]
AI fashion models. What would a runway show with exclusively older models wearing Afrofuturist designs look like? One Nigerian artist uses generative AI to bring that question to life in digital form. The images of AI-generated models dressed in shades of gold, plum, and cerulean have gone viral online, garnering more than 100,000 social-media likes. However, some detractors wonder about the ethics behind creating digital models altogether. [BBC]
Supercharging design. Generative-AI-powered design platforms can produce entirely new designs based on inspirational pictures and directions that designers use as prompts. AI-enabled product development and innovation can reduce the need to produce expensive samples and help design teams create new products faster, McKinsey senior partner Holger Harreis and coauthors explain. Marketing and sales and consumer experience are two more areas where it’s feasible for fashion executives to begin integrating generative AI into their work.
Getting started. Identifying which areas of a fashion business—such as creative design, merchandising, campaigns, and “clienteling”—could benefit most from reducing costs and increasing efficiency is the first step executives should take in their generative-AI journey. They must also create processes to address risk, ethics, and quality assurance issues specific to the fashion industry before diving in. See the other steps that fashion businesses should take on their generative-AI journeys, including ideas for educating and training employees.
— Edited by Alexandra Mondalek, editor, New York
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