Fashion’s AI Dilemma Is Getting Worse

When nylon bag maker Baggu debuted its collaboration with the equally buzzy label Collina Strada last week, the two brands were expecting a smash hit. Ahead of the release, their young online fans fawned over the psychedelic prints and a horse-shaped purse in the collection — styles that exemplify Collina Strada’s irreverent aesthetic.

The capsule is selling well, according to Baggu chief executive Emily Sugihara. But on social media, the collection, which includes Baggu’s signature reusable shopping bags, pouches, towels and a tent, met a more mixed response. Some consumers expressed anger and disappointment over the use of generative artificial intelligence by Collina Strada, pointing to the technology’s implications for the livelihood of artists as well as its potential impact on the environment.

“Using AI is unforgivable. Hurts my heart but I will not be buying from Baggu anymore,” one user wrote.

“It’s a big disappointment,” said another.

Collina Strada founder and creative director Hillary Taymour has been incorporating AI in her design process since last year and is hardly the first brand to receive consumer pushback over use of the technology. In January, Los Angeles-based brand Selkie came under fire for using art made with AI to promote its floral dresses. Last year, Levi’s halted the rollout of a pilot where AI-generated models appeared on its website.

Even amid these controversies, the fashion industry has embraced the tool with more or less open arms. In a survey of industry executives, 73 percent said generative AI would be a key priority for their business this year, according to BoF’s 2024 State of Fashion Report.

In December, Tommy Hilfiger announced it was launching a mobile fashion game that uses generative AI. Brands like Valentino and Casablanca have been incorporating the technology into their marketing campaigns. Monse’s Autumn/Winter 2024 collection also featured prints designed with AI.

In the case of Collina Strada, the AI software Midjourney was used to generate two prints in the Baggu collection by mixing existing hand-drawn graphics from the brand’s archives to create a layered effect. This means no external designs were appropriated in the process, and the result is wholly reflective of the label’s own creative identity, said Taymour. It was then applied to a collage of other prints from previous collections and hand-drawn Collina Strada logos were added.

“[AI] has helped me see my work differently, and it has supercharged my creativity,” said Taymour, who likened it to a writer using a Thesaurus. “It’s an incredibly common tool … more brands should be transparent about how they are using it.”

AI has yet to gain mass acceptance in the public sphere, despite a number of brands adopting the technology. The public’s reaction is heightened by “the fact that the brands often characterise themselves as having high ethical standards, which some consumers and critics believe should have led them to be especially cautious about using AI,” said Susan Scafidi, professor and director at the Fashion Law Institute.

As the use of generative AI proliferates, brands that choose to employ the technology must tread carefully and should have have strategies in place to assure consumers that their use of the tool will not replicate the work of other artists, safeguard the output of their own human designers and minimise environmental effects in other ways.

Ethical Qualms

AI’s critics often point to potential replication of copyrighted designs from artists without compensation or credit. Others are concerned about AI replacing human designers. The most vocal of Baggu’s critics called attention to the energy-intensive process required to train AI models. Researchers from the University of Washington estimate that training a large language model emits over 55 times more carbon dioxide than the average person’s annual carbon dioxide emissons.

Calculating the carbon footprint of each use of AI, however, is more complex. Research from AI start-up Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University states that the individual use of AI has a lower carbon footprint with “images and text on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of emissions” racking up between 0.002 and 0.007 kWh for 1,000 prompts — the equivalent of charging a smartphone. The study notes, however, that individual routine use of the technology will generate more emissions in the long run compared to training AI models.

How Brands Can Toe the Line

Brands that incorporate AI, whether in the product development process or elsewhere, need a clear communication strategy to convince customers that the tool is being used in responsible ways.

“People are just scared. It’s a new thing, and it’s different, and a lot of people don’t understand it,” said Sugihara. “I always wish that we had done an even better job of communicating that so nobody was confused, and we take total responsibility for that.”

While Baggu does not use AI in its product design, the brand said the use of AI in creative work and its environmental impact, “are areas we care deeply about, and will continue to approach with thought and consideration.”

Brands can avoid possible replication of other artists’ work by inputting only their own designs into the AI software, as Taymour did with the Baggu prints, which first appeared in the brand’s Spring 2024 runway show.

Copenhagen-based ready-to-wear label Heliot Emil used generative AI to create its Spring/Summer 2024 collection having trained it on the brand’s previous collections and imagery. Norma Kamali, with the help of Maison Meta, is adopting a new type of succession planning by designing an AI system that will replicate the 78-year-old’s design philosophy and continue the legacy of her label when she decides to step away.

With regard to AI’s environmental impact, Taymour said smaller brands using the technology are unjustly targeted and that consumers concerned by AI’s carbon footprint ought to hold larger corporations to the same standard.

Collina Strada will “continue to monitor the research and development in this area to make sure we stay in reasonable alignment with our ideals as a sustainably-minded brand,” the company said in a statement to BoF.