The global fashion industry has been witnessing the same paradigm shift as all other industries around the world. According to Uniform Market, the global apparel market is estimated to become worth up to $1.84 trillion by the end of 2025, contributing to 1.63% of global GDP.
Yet despite being one of the oldest types of human activities – producing clothes has been around for a longer time than scripture – it is far from static. In fact, it now witnesses dynamics unseen before.
Th fashion industry is one of the key markets that swiftly adopted Artificial Intelligence. According to Statista data, the predicted value of AI algorithms’ contribution to the market was valued at $270 million in 2018. This value is predicted to reach $4.4 billion by 2027.
In the context of the fashion industry, Generative AI is a game-changer, as mentioned above. Currently 50% of fashion industry executives and 83% of consumers want AI technology to reduce the time and effort they spend in the research phase.
Why fashion companies need AI Outfit Generators (and AI in general)
One of the most sophisticated and useful applications of AI in fashion is the AI outfit generator. It finds a plethora of use cases and possible applications. To name just a few:
- Standard business operations support – AI can be used to support accounting, customer support, logistics, or for spotting trends (including fashion trends) in social media.
- Fashion ideas and use cases – this area includes only fashion-specific use cases. Including creative support for designers, style analysis, as well as multiple photo and video manipulation applications. This is also the category where creativity and innovation needs to be applied.
EBay, one of the worlds leading retailing platforms and one of a few veterans that survived the dotcom bubble explosion, has come up with an interesting AI feature – an AI outfit generator. But what exactly does an AI outfit generator offer for a fashion retailing company?
What is an AI Outfit Generator?
As simple as it is, an AI outfit generator is an Artificial Intelligence-powered tool that can provide users with outfits matching their desired fashion styles. Usually this type of software enables one to pick from a selection of different styles, including formal attire, smart casual, sport, or something for a special occasion.
A good AI outfit generator combines accessories, patterns, styles, and sometimes more personalized information about the user to create a tailored fashion recommendation. This may include fashion outfits previously generated, body type, complexion, uploaded photos, or purchasing history.
Basically, the more data, the better, and the best AI outfit generators work on thousands of images and millions of examples drawn from gargantuan e-commerce databases.
To create a recommendation, be it coming up with new outfits or exploring existing fashion trends, the AI explores the dataset it works on in search of fitting patterns and combinations of clothes. The machine decides not whether to wear a particular shirt type to a party, or on a trip based on its own programming or software engineers’ decision. It prepares recomendations by spotting the prevalence of particular combinations among its general user base.
For example, if it is generally uncommon to match casual shoes with formal attire, the system is unlikely to recommend this combination.
Benefits for companies Using an Outfit Generator
Implementing the sophisticated tech behind an AI outfit Generator is quite a challenge that requires the assembly of a multidisciplinary team of experts on AI, backend technologies, and customer service. In the end, it is about delivering various outfit styles that will be relevant to customers and stick to the fashion trends, not only turning out the results of gnawing through a database.
Yet the prize is worth the game. There are multiple benefits that AI outfit generator offers both companies and customers.
Better customer experience
Online stores and retailers have a gargantuan repositories of products – and this is reflected in category trees. For example, the Google Product Category tree, used in ads, counts over 6000 categories. Browsing through all of these can be wearying and confusing. Also, when picking a single item, the user usually looks for complementary ones.
For example, a good belt for a skirt or a good scarf to fit a jacket. The AI outfit generator makes this much easier and more convenient by suggesting fitting components for an outfit, where AI analyzes vast amounts of historical data with context to deliver the best recommendation possible.
Exploring customer needs
An AI outfit generator is also a powerful tool to collect information about customer preferences. Depending on the suggestions chosen as relevant, complementary items bought, or combinations explored, the company can mine valuable data. For a customer it is the matter of just a few clicks, but the company derives valuable insights from masses of these clicks, and can quickly spot patterns in them. Also, the customer may ask for a single accessory or piece of clothing to see, but it may be moreeffective and convenient to see it in a context.
Better offer exposure
As mentioned above, there are thousands of categories and sub-categories in retail. These may be used in the same outfit yet been listed in completely different root categories. For example, a dress would be in different category than a belt or bag, yet all need to go together well. From the user’s perspective, it is necessary to switch and click through a great number of categories in search for a desired item.
Overcoming the challenge of poor descriptions
For marketplace-like services like eBay or Vinted, the lack of proper descriptions is a common challenge. People tend to publish their offers not only with poorly-written descriptions, but sometimes even entirely without them.
The AI outfit generator properly exposes items regardless of their descriptions based on their images alone, assuming it is of enough quality. Also, the user gets the image with those of other products, entirely skipping the description-reading or search phase.
Reducing waste
Using the AI outfit generator is a way to encourage users to buy items they would usually not see in their feed or wouldn’t usually be interested in buying. This is a great challenge for fashion companies. Shop the Look, for example is, not exclusive to new clothes, but instead it promotes second hand items among fashion-lovers and people who love to experiment with their look. The same goes for other fashion companies that may blend a new look with items from previous collections and generate new outfit ideas from the existing database of clothes.
Cross- and Up-selling opportunities
For e-commerce companies, cross- and up-selling accounts for up to 30% of revenues and may boost customer lifetime value by up to 40%. While customers see this tool as a highly convenient way to browse offers, it is in fact a powerful tool to encourage users to buy additional goods and products.
That’s why suggested items and “other users also bought” are so convenient to use and an AI outfit generator is the next step of this journey to a better customer experience.
Features of an Outfit Generator
Building upon these benefits, an AI outfit generator offers a range of features that enhance both the shopping and styling experience. As mentioned above, these features are beneficial for the user base, yet in the end, they serve hard business purposes.
AI outfit ideas for many occasions
First, the AI outfit generator empowers users to find stylish outfits for any occasion—with just a few clicks. Whether it’s a formal event, casual outing, or something in between, it helps to navigate a vast array of fashion styles.
Personal style AI outfit
Additionally, the generator provides outfit ideas and inspiration from multiple style trends so users can experiment beyond their usual preferences. It also allows for extensive customization, offering countless clothing items and accessories to fine-tune outfit ideas and reflect personal taste.
Discovering new elements to add to the wardrobe
To spark creativity, a random outfit generator function can introduce entirely new ideas, enabling users to discover unexpected yet cohesive combinations. By exploring different outfit styles, customers can hone in on the perfect look that truly captures their individuality and simplifies the entire decision-making process—making AI a game-changer in modern fashion retail.
Ebay’s Shop the Look system enables one to discover new, fitting elements to add to one’s preferred style, and composes tailored fashion recommendations from all items available on the platform. For example, the tool may use new shirts and shoes, but find fitting pants in a second-hand offer on the platform, enabling one to blend a classic and new look just by hitting a generate button.
Customization and Personalization
By using a range of clothing items and accessories, the client can customize and personalize their outfits to reflect individual tastes. An AI outfit generator provides instant, tailored suggestions, offering both inspiration and convenience. Through these recommendations, the client can explore various fashion styles and discover the perfect look to align with their unique preferences.
Advanced systems like Shop the Look enable users to take their history of purchases into account, so the system will not suddenly suggest an autumn-coloured lady some bright neon patterns. To further improve the work of the AI outfit generator, one may simply upload photos so the system can get a glimpse of the user’s preferred style and can adjust recommendations, taking into account some additional details, like facial features or complexion.
Online Outfit Creators and Generators – how they work
Online outfit creators and generators provide a quick source of outfit inspiration, allowing you to explore various styles and trends with ease. Whether you’re dressing up for a special event or putting together a casual look, these tools offer simple customization and personalization options.
By tapping into the latest fashion insights, online outfit generators make it easier than ever to discover new, stylish outfit ideas for any occasion.
This is made possible due to using AI technology and Machine Learning solutions. The system operates by connecting gargantuan amounts of data with models, and derive outfit ideas from patterns spotted throughout the database.
With human supervision
With human assistance, the system can be guided through existing outfit ideas – be they “casual clothes,” “sporty attire,” or a “party theme.” This needs to be done manually, by training the model on selected and annotated images of people wearing particular outfit ideas.
Shop The Look, provided by eBay, is one of the leading technologies enabling users to leverage this new advantage in their online experience. One can use it to browse outfit ideas using one’s mobile phone to make the experience even more smooth and convenient.
Shop the Look comes with the ability to browse through the endless resources of eBay, including brand-new, and pre-loved items alike.
Summary
Fashion companies can use the AI outfit generator systems as a new type of selling interface. Renowned brands may leverage this type of AI fashion tool to augment selling and boost cross- and up-selling.
