Melbourne-based fashion label Atoir has included AI in the post-production process of its latest designer collection ‘Sotto il Cielo Sicilia’ (“Under the Sicilian Sky’) in a bid to speed up lead times.
Speaking with Ragtrader, Atoir founder Cynthia Farchione said she engaged a team of AI artists both locally and in the United Kingdom to design and bring to life its latest collection through its editorial marketing campaign.
“We designed and sampled this collection as we always do,” Farchione said. “Once we reach the completed sampling stage, we then create the product photography with a local photographer and AI artist.
“Using this ghost imagery, we worked with the local artist to create our ecommerce models which was quite an investment of time. As this technology in the fashion space is relatively new, AI artists themselves are still developing specific skills, so we were all learning in some capacity which was exciting for everyone involved.”
The Atoir team then worked with the AI artist to perfect the garments on the models and used both the product imagery and e-commerce images to help the UK AI artists in creating the editorial campaign. Essentially, this extended the collection to places that wouldn’t be possible without AI, Farchione said.
Farchione noted that the process for the new campaign wasn’t entirely dissimilar from its usual process. They provide a creative concept and brief for the artists to start working building out each scene.
“While this was taking place we also collaborated with friend of the brand, Paul Versace to style the collection. This process was entirely as it usually is, working through each look and creating a styling page per shot.
“This was then shared with the UK team to bring to life.”
With the collection going live this week, Farchione looked back at the entire process and confirmed that the use of AI across its ecommerce imagery has allowed the team to fasten its wholesale timelines.
“We can receive a sample, have it ghost shot and inserted onto our ecommerce models within a week,” she said. “Prior to this we would have to wait for 60-100 samples to be produced before we shot the collection.
“From there a look book would be created for our wholesale agents to sell from. With this new model we can meet demand so much more efficiently and continuously bring revenue through instead of having to wait every 3-4 months to sell an entire collection at once.”
Atoir has also been able to expand its online representation to a size small (8) as we as a size large (12)
“This is being rolled out with [our recent] Occasion 25 collection and we’re proud to be actioning this.
“As a small business the cost of shoots was exorbitant and just not feasible to be able to maintain so shooting an entire collection across multiple different models just wasn’t economically viable. Now with AI we can more easily exercise these kinds of projects to better our customers' online shopping experience.”
Looking ahead, Farchione said her team will assess how its shoppers respond to the new imagery, but confirmed Atoir will continue the use of AI in its e-commerce and campaign imagery ahead.
“We always do a lot of work with creators in the way of content, so we feel we can maintain a good balance of content and AI generated creations across our platform,” she said.
In fact, the only challenges her team faced were that the timelines were unclear due to it being a new process for everyone involved and the usual navigating of restrictions and spotting possible opportunities.
“Every day we are presented with new tools in technology to be able to assist with business progression. It becomes a decision about the if, how and when to implement these,” Farchnione said.
“For example, there has been much advancement in automations to customers, however we feel keeping a personal connection is vital so instead our efforts have been focused on expansion in the creative zone.
“Having been in the industry for over 20 years, one key learning is that the world is in constant movement and evolution and the earlier you find ways to adapt to these new advancements, the quicker you are to meet your customer’s needs.
“People were dubious about online shopping when it first launched and now society can’t live without it, so similarly we are pioneering what will be the mix of fashion and technology for the future.”
All the AI artists involved in the campaign came from a creative background in the fashion arena, and were also on a path of evolving AI technology across their own businesses.