Artificial intelligence wasn’t just the hottest topic in technology again this year — it’s become bigger than ever, to the point that it’s reshaping the US economy.
AI has inevitably rippled through fashion, too, as brands prepare for it to transform everything from their back-office operations to how their products are discovered and purchased online. Investors, determined not to be left out, have resumed pouring money into fashion-tech ventures, while startups are launching fashion-specific shopping agents and chatbots in hopes of competing against technology giants building general-purpose tools.
In some cases it’s yet to be seen exactly what impacts AI will have and how quickly, though one area where it’s already having visible effects is marketing and content creation. H&M announced it would partner with models to create digital twins that could be used in AI content, framing it as a way to responsibly engage with the rise of AI-generated models. Other brands like Valentino have begun using AI content on social media — and sometimes facing consumer backlash for it (at least when people notice).
But AI wasn’t the only technology to affect the fashion industry this year. Smart glasses are finally catching on after more than a decade of false starts, while millions of fashion products now carry digital identities as brands ready themselves to comply with European regulations in the years ahead.
Next year is bound to see more activity on all these fronts as the fashion industry, like the world around it, is increasingly shaped by innovation.
Top Stories
1. Executive Memo | Everything Fashion Executives Need to Know About AI. The industry’s top decision makers may know all the AI buzzwords, but too many are lacking fundamental knowledge about how the most consequential technology in a decade actually works.
2. H&M Knows Its AI Models Will Be Controversial. The company expects public opinion to be divided on its plan to use “digital twins” of real models in AI-generated imagery. But the best way to protect models’ jobs and rights in the age of AI, it says, is to bring them into the process.
3. Millions of Luxury Products Have Digital IDs. Is Anyone Using Them? Brands are attaching the virtual identifiers to their products to comply with upcoming regulations, and see potential side benefits that could make for a better user experience — if they can get customers to notice.
4. AI Shopping Is Here. Will Retailers Get Left Behind? AI doesn’t see the internet the same way human shoppers do, meaning retailers need to adapt as more consumers turn to AI to find products or even make purchases.
5. The Fashion AI Startups to Watch. BoF highlights 17 AI-powered startups that have raised more than $400 million in the last five years by offering design, operation and shopping services that promise to help brands and retailers reduce costs and increase innovation.
6. How Investors Fell Back in Love With Fashion Tech. With the rise of AI, Silicon Valley is going all in on a new generation of startups that promise to radically change how products are made and sold. This time, they’re backing founders with tech chops and are more patient in helping them grow.
7. Fashion’s Other AI Revolution. Even as AI marketing grabs headlines, agents powered by the technology are transforming fashion’s back-office jobs at a moment when corporations are laying off staff to be leaner and more efficient.
Subscribe to Tech Mode, a monthly newsletter on the latest technology news and trends shaping fashion and the wider world — by our Technology Correspondent Marc Bain.