At the University of Central Florida’s graduation on May 8, commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield, a prominent real estate executive, described generative AI to the graduating class of 2026 as the next industrial revolution. She was met with loud boos and disapproval. Generative AI has faced everything from reducing entry-level jobs to the education system and even the stock market, as companies like OpenAI have gone public.
Generative AI is defined as a subset of artificial intelligence that creates new, original content, such as text, images, audio, and video, in response to user prompts. Instead of just analyzing existing data, it uses machine learning models to learn patterns and generate entirely new outputs that mimic human creation. This is the type of AI that has built platforms, like ChatGPT, and has become widely talked about in the last several years.
Fashion is not immune to the effects of generative AI; however, it’s not having the same effect on us as the college education system, where professors are constantly stressed about finding ways to make sure students are writing their own papers and not using generative AI. But like all industries, both traditional corporate and creative, AI is transforming the fashion industry.
There is this concern, as there has been across all sectors of business, of whether or not generative AI is taking jobs. While there has not been a dramatic reduction in jobs due to AI, the rise of AI and the fact that we are in a recession (whether the U.S. Department of Labor wants to admit it or not) have led to a shrinking fashion industry, with hopes of a rebound. However, AI has caused a severe reduction in the number of entry-level jobs for fashion, as it has across other sectors, even law, tech, and finance.
Many entry-level professions in areas such as copywriting, trend analytics, digital marketing, and junior design roles have been reduced as generative AI has taken on many of the simpler tasks that would typically be assigned to an entry-level worker at a fashion company. Even in design studios, tasks like pattern making and grading have become accelerated by AI platforms such as Social Plus. Rather than rendering pattern marks completely obsolete, former pattern makers have pivoted to becoming optimization specialists, focused on fit and construction.
When it comes to aspects of luxury fashion design, many of those jobs remain safe. The major luxury houses are still looking for top human design talent from institutions such as Central Saint Martins and Parsons School of Design. Although there is a future where human design can be integrated with AI, as there are AI tools to help prototype test design concepts. At the end of the day, the human component to design is necessary. When it comes to haute couture, the requirements are so strict that dressmaking by hand is required and cannot be rendered by generative AI.
Backoffice roles related to administration, data entry, and customer service have seen AI integration, which is reducing the demand for more humans in these roles and entry-level roles. Still, design roles are expected to take the hardest hit from the rise of AI.
While the role of fashion designer still requires a unique touch and unique creative vision, and building a brand is building an entire world, the junior design roles are expected to see a major reduction in the next 3 to 5 years. Despite AI automating many simpler tasks often relegated to junior workers, this is not a situation where AI is expected to completely eliminate an entire workforce or industry, unlike the doom and gloom hanging over some other fields.
All aspects of fashion, from design to wholesale, if integrated with AI, require that it be known as a “human-in-the-loop,” where AI technology still requires a human approach to reach a project’s final outcome. Humans are also there to oversee the technology to ensure it is functioning correctly, with AI acting as an aid rather than a substitute for workers.
The human-in-the-loop model is not new either. Companies have been using AI to collect data on consumers for years to help personalize individuals’ shopping experiences, but at the end of the day, plenty of major stylists and sales associates still have jobs that can often make easier by knowing what their customers like.
Generative AI has garnered the fashion industry’s attention. In 2023, there was the first AI Fashion Week. Designers worldwide use generative AI and 3D visualization tools to create hyper-realistic garments and immersive virtual runway experiences. There was a competition component to this, where the winning designer got their designs produced and sold in real life by e-commerce retailer Revolve.
On the reverse side, AI can also lead to the creation of jobs in the fashion industry. 3D garment designers, who use software programs like CLO3D or Marvelous Designer, are on the rise to help build digital prototypes. There is a growing need for designers who can create clothing for avatars, virtual environments, and gaming.
More fashion executives are also encouraging their employees to explore AI and how they can integrate it into their jobs, rather than be left behind in this new aspect of the digital age. While it might seem scary, we’ve had this conversation before when everyone thought computers would completely take away jobs.
With generative AI’s ability to start automating certain aspects of fashion production and administrative tasks, the path to entry-level jobs in the industry might be smaller, and some roles might be eliminated, but AI doesn’t stand to decimate the entire global fashion ecosystem as is. Rather, there will be more AI integration within fashion jobs, and even the potential creation of some new jobs related to AI.
For many in creative industries, generative AI might seem like a big, bad evil, but despite some of its faults, it’s something that fashion can learn to live and build with rather than shy away from. The future is still fashionable, and AI won’t be the death of this longstanding multi-billion-dollar monolith known as fashion.
—Kristopher Fraser
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