14.11.2024
Artificial intelligence is gradually infiltrating all areas of human activity, and fashion is no exception. This once unimaginable union of technology and style has redefined the ways in which fashion is created, marketed, and consumed. We spoke about this new reality with Vahan Khachatryan, the President of the Fashion and Design Chamber and a designer.
The use of AI in fashion began to be noticed when various fast fashion companies started incorporating it to ease online operations. Brands like Zara, H&M, and others have managed to enhance customer online shopping experiences, deliveries, and more, through their work with artificial intelligence.
However, the application of AI in creative work is much more controversial and ambiguous. Some enthusiasts point out that AI in fashion design eases the process and is not limited by human imagination, while others argue that it diminishes true creative thought and individuality, stripping the work of its unique, human-made character. While the best creators’ skills lie in the fusion of thought, judgment, and emotion, AI operates purely through data and technology.
But this is precisely where AI's strength lies: by calculating and using available data, demand forecasting algorithms analyze market trends, taking into account customer preferences, and thereby determine the necessary amount of clothing, minimizing overproduction.
Predicting trends is also a complex and challenging task in the ever-evolving fashion world. By processing enormous amounts of data from social media, runway shows, street style, and historical fashion archives, AI algorithms can reveal upcoming trends much earlier than they become visible to the general public.
Vahan Khachatryan, President of the Fashion and Design Chamber of Armenia and a designer, also sees AI as a very useful tool for the industry. “During the organization of Yerevan Fashion Week, we encountered a challenge with posters. Since over 25 designers were involved, and we couldn't choose which designer's clothing would appear on the poster, we decided to put this complex task in the hands of AI. The instruction was simple: create posters inspired by the colors of the Armenian flag for Fashion Week. Additionally, we used AI several times to create well-structured texts and descriptions for the collections,” Vahan says. This experiment demonstrated that Armenia is not lagging behind global trends and can skillfully use AI, and it was indeed very useful.
However, the use of AI in clothing design is a completely different issue. According to Vahan, it's not even worth taking seriously, as even without going into deep analysis, two major issues stand out: the possibility of trying on clothes and copyright. “A designer cannot present a sketch created by AI as their own work,” Vahan is confident.
Furthermore, it is not entirely clear who will hold the rights to the work created by AI. “If a designer uses a design created by AI, the same can be done by someone else, and no one’s copyright will be protected because it was generated by artificial intelligence, and according to Armenian law, it doesn’t belong to anyone,” he explains.
However, as the President of the Fashion and Design Chamber points out, some countries are attempting to amend their laws to protect AI-created work under copyright, and perhaps this experience will be adopted in Armenia in the future.
Let’s be patient and wait.