From Algorithm to Aesthetics: How AI Is Shaping the Fashion Industry
Written by Isabella Hamilton, Communications Assistant @ Threading Change
November 21st, 2024.
6-minute read.
Spain is experiencing its worst flooding in decades, marking one of the most devastating natural disasters in Europe this century. In the United States, Hurricane Helene has tragically claimed over 300 lives. Meanwhile, South America continues to grapple with severe, unrelenting drought. Against the backdrop of a polarizing American presidential election and the resurgence of climate denialism, these escalating environmental crises will inevitably impact the fashion industry—shaping laws, policies, and workers' rights.
These concurrent environmental disasters and political dynamics underscore the urgency of addressing systemic issues within industries worldwide, including fashion, where emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) are reshaping practices amidst mounting sustainability pressures. AI's ability to optimize resources and streamline supply chains is making it an increasingly valuable asset for fashion brands. Yet, in the absence of robust regulation, AI poses significant risks, including the reinforcement of unsustainable "use-and-discard" practices. These challenges introduce an entirely new dimension of threats, unlike those posed by previous technological advancements.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
AI is defined by the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as “computer systems that can perform complex tasks normally done by human reasoning, decision making, creating, etc.” While it may feel like a cutting-edge innovation, its origins trace back to the 1950s when John McCarthy introduced the concept during a summer workshop at Dartmouth College. McCarthy’s research focused on how machines could use language and form concepts. Since then, the field of AI has grown exponentially, now encompassing advanced fields such as machine and deep learning.
John McCarthy, who helped pioneer computer chess, playing a match in 1966. Image credits: The Wall Street Journal
What does this have to do with fashion?
The fashion industry and the technological sector are deeply intertwined. Technology touches nearly every stage of a garment's lifecycle—from manufacturing and sales to disposal. Unsurprisingly, Artificial Intelligence has become a significant factor in the rise of fast fashion. While AI holds the potential for optimizing resources, streamlining supply chains, and reducing return rates, it also brings risks: increased mass production, social rights, privacy violations, and its carbon footprint.
AI’s role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains contentious. While AI is positioned as a tool for advancing these goals, it is not a universal solution. Climate data modeling must account for global disparities, not just the Global North. Furthermore, lower-income countries face barriers to accessing the technology underpinning AI, exacerbating inequalities and raising ethical concerns.
The good, the bad, and the ugly
How does AI tangibly influence the fashion industry? Consider brands like Zara and H&M. These companies, often criticized as unsustainable producers, have been implicated in harmful practices such as deforestation and land-grabbing. While they publicly acknowledge responsibility for their supply chains—unlike competitors such as Shein and Temu—they often fail to put these promises into action, making them just as damaging.
Textile waste in Chile’s Atacama desert.
Supply Chains
Zara and H&M utilize AI to manage supply chains. The Global Head of Advanced Analytics and AI at H&M has discussed utilizing AI to make more sustainable business decisions: “We’re actually working very specifically on being able to, for instance, calculate and quantify how many cases you’re going to buy [of any item].” In this way, the brand can ensure they are not overproducing a certain product, resulting in additional waste, and opening up a whole new can of worms when it comes to end-of-product lifecycle analysis.
With that being said, H&M releases about 16 collections a year. Their production times range from a few weeks to six months, with investments in AI technology working to speed up production. This perpetuates the purchasing habits that result in a quicker use and discard mindset than ever before. A combination of cheap materials and heavy reliance on the trend cycle lead an average clothing item to be worn only 14 times before it is discarded in the U.K. Brands such as H&M are using AI to predict trend cycles, contributing to an overwhelming tendency to buy more, buy cheap, throw away, and move on.
Return Rates
AI has been more positively leveraged in reducing return rates through innovations like virtual try-on tools. Mirrorsize is an AI-powered mobile & web app that utilizes 3D body measurements to recommend the best size when purchasing online. This program has been shown to reduce returns by as much as 50%. The British Fashion Council’s Institute of Positive Fashion reported that 3% of U.K returns are not resold, destined for either landfill (50%), incineration (25%), or recycling (25%). AI could play a pivotal role in fostering circular clothing design and reducing waste in this way.
Image credits: Mirrorsize
Automation
Automating parts of the fashion industry to cut costs and improve efficiency poses significant risks to labor rights, particularly for vulnerable garment workers. According to the International Labour Organization, 60% of apparel workers in Bangladesh risk losing their jobs to automation. Many of these workers, predominantly women, are already subjected to low wages, unsafe conditions, and limited protections. Automation risks further devaluing human labor, intensifying workloads for those who remain employed, and exacerbating gender and economic disparities.
“A human touch is undeniably important in fashion, which is built on and revolves around how people look and feel. But it’s naive to think that efficiencies, cost-cutting and automation will be something the industry eschews in favor of tradition. ”
To mitigate these impacts, proactive measures like worker retraining programs, wage guarantees, and robust labour protections are essential to ensure automation benefits the industry without deepening inequalities.
Intellectual Property Rights
AI’s increasing role in design and marketing decisions has raised concerns about creativity and intellectual property theft. AI algorithms are increasingly shaping both design and marketing in the fashion industry, often leading to a homogenized landscape where brands release strikingly similar designs. Additionally, AI has been implicated in issues relating to intellectual property.
In 2022, three artists sued generative AI platforms for using their work without permission to train models, and in 2023, independent designers filed a lawsuit against Shein for allegedly stealing their designs. While it remains unclear if Shein employs AI to generate its pieces, the plaintiffs argue that “their design algorithm could not work without generating exact copies that can greatly damage an independent designer’s career—especially because Shein’s artificial intelligence is smart enough to misappropriate the pieces with the greatest commercial potential.” These cases highlight the complex legal and ethical challenges surrounding AI in the design process and its broader implications for intellectual property rights.
AI on the Runway
Despite these challenges, many designers have embraced AI as a creative partner. For example, high-fashion designer Christian Cowan collaborated with Adobe for his FW24 collection to produce a groundbreaking dress featuring “laser-cut polymer dispersed liquid crystal ‘petals’” that change appearance to reveal Cowan’s signature stars. A flexible circuit board beneath each column of petals enables the dress to shift between gray and ivory, offering endless design possibilities. While innovative, the environmental cost of such creations has yet to be fully examined. The broader impact of electronic waste—linked to climate change, health risks, and groundwater contamination—raises critical questions about the sustainability of these advancements. As designs like Cowan's gain traction, the fashion industry must prioritize environmental responsibility alongside technological innovation to mitigate its ecological footprint.
Image credits: Adobe Communications Team, 2024
Artificial Intelligence & Regulations
In February 2024, the European Parliament approved the world’s first act regulating the development and use of AI. Following the increased popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini chatbot in 2023, the bill gained traction amongst European lawmakers. It aims to “protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law, and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI.”
The AI Act divides risk into four main tiers: unacceptable, high-level, limited, and minimal. It was designed in this way to prevent threats to the safety, livelihoods, and rights of individuals. Fashion is most heavily implicated under the limited risk tier, encompassing marketing, design, manufacturing, retailing processes, trend analysis, and personalization.
In the U.S., President Joe Biden signed an executive order in October 2023 to address AI privacy, equity, and civil rights concerns. However, it offered limited guidance on what regulation should entail. Compared to the EU’s AI Act, the U.S. approach lacks the same level of enforceability and clarity, particularly in areas like safeguarding privacy and combating disinformation.
Where do we go from here?
Unchecked AI advancement risks undermining progress toward sustainability, but with thoughtful regulation and ethical innovation, it has the potential to revolutionize fashion for the better. Balancing technological advancement with environmental and social responsibility will be key to building a future where fashion and AI work together to benefit both people and the planet.
References
Cosgrove, E. (2020, January 14). H&M’s AI operation helps make its supply chain more sustainable. Supply Chain Dive. https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/HM-AI-supply-chain-sustainable/570400/
Denise Maheho, D. M., Denise Maheho, D. M., Makal, D., Jong, H. N., Gabay, A., Hyolmo, S. L., Mair-Toby, C., Fabro, K. A. S., Hillsdon, M., & Wicker, A. (2024, April 17). Report links H&M and Zara to major environmental damage in Biodiverse Cerrado. Mongabay Environmental News. https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/report-links-hm-and-zara-to-major-environmental-damage-in-biodiverse-cerrado/
Finamore, E. (2023, August 7). The scandalous reality of fashion retail’s returns. Drapers. https://www.drapersonline.com/companies/multiples-and-etailers/drapers-investigates-fashions-hidden-returns
Fortis, S. (2024, March 15). Europe is clamping down on AI. Here’s what it means for fashion. Vogue Business. https://www.voguebusiness.com/story/technology/europe-is-clamping-down-on-ai-heres-what-it-means-for-fashion
Holdsworth, J., & Scapicchio, M. (2024, October 28). What is deep learning? International Business Machines Corporation. https://www.ibm.com/topics/deep-learning
How AI is slashing fashion ecommerce returns by 60%: The secret to happier shoppers and higher profits. Mirrorsize. (2024, October 3). https://www.mirrorsize.com/blogs/reduce-e-commerce-returns-in-fashion-industry-with-ai
IBM. (2024, October 28). What is machine learning (ML)? International Business Machines Corporation. https://www.ibm.com/topics/machine-learning
Khattak, R. (2024, October 14). International E-waste Day 2024: The Environmental Impact of E-Waste. Earth.Org. https://earth.org/environmental-impact-of-e-waste/
NASA. (2024, May 13). What is Artificial Intelligence?. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. https://www.nasa.gov/what-is-artificial-intelligence/
O’Neil, E. (2024, February 11). Media alert: Adobe and Christian Cowan unveil the first-ever complete wearable garment crafted using Adobe Primrose Technology at New York Fashion week. Adobe Newsroom. https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2024/media-alert-adobe-and-christian-cowan-unveil-the-first-ever-complete-wearable-garment-crafted-using-adobe-primrose-technology-at-new-york-fashion-week
Ridwaan Boda, W. S. (2024, April 4). Shein’s rico lawsuit: A look at the role of responsible AI. The Fashion Law. https://www.thefashionlaw.com/sheins-rico-lawsuit-a-look-at-the-role-of-responsible-ai/#:~:text=That%20algorithm%20%E2%80%9Ccould%20not%20work,with%20the%20greatest%20commercial%20potential.%E2%80%9D
Segal, E. (2023, October 31). What Biden’s New Executive Order Could Mean For The Future Of AI. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2023/10/30/what-bidens-new-executive-order-could-mean-for-the-future-of-ai/
Edited by: Luiza Giocondo Teixeira, Communications & Engagement Director @ Threading Change
Isabella Hamilton
Isabella is a recent graduate of Queen’s University, where she completed a Bachelor’s of Science, majoring in Life Sciences and minoring in Global Development. Her undergraduate thesis, titled “An Assessment of the Current Strategies for Addressing the Global Textile Waste Crisis: Biomaterials & Student Engagement,” reflects her commitment to sustainability initiatives. Isabella is passionate about advocating for a more equitable fashion industry and has a particular interest in sustainable textile innovation. With prior leadership experience as Co-President of Queen’s University’s premier sustainable fashion club, she is dedicated to fostering youth engagement in sustainability initiatives.
