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AI’s Impact on Pattern Design, Trend Forecasting and Sustainability

13-11-2023   


Written by Özgecan Üstgül, founder & CEO of AI-driven pattern design tool Myth AI

It’s well known that in the fashion industry, trends drive decisions. But perhaps a lesser known fact is that the accuracy of trend forecasting – whether it’s colour palettes, pattern designs or fabric choices – and the efficiency of the design process carry significant implications – not just for style or the bottom line, but for sustainability. 

Sadly, the sustainability issues within the fashion industry continue to be huge; and fabric’s part to play, significant. It’s a £1.65 trillion global industry that’s accountable for at least 4% of worldwide emissions, of which 70% come from upstream activities including raw material production, fabric preparation and processing. Couple this with the 92 million tonnes of fabric that’s discarded annually and the fact that fashion is an industry notoriously rife with greenwashing, and it’s clear a change is very much needed. 

Thankfully, expectations for sustainability in the world of fashion are on the up, particularly among consumers. While the most important thing about clothes may still be how they make us look and feel, what a brand stands for – whether it’s around environmental practices, social responsibility or responsible retailing – is becoming an increasingly major consideration.

Changing expectations 

This attitude shift among consumers is in turn pushing the industry to adopt more sustainable and ethical practices throughout the supply chain; a change I wholeheartedly welcome after coming up against various roadblocks when establishing sustainability-led Turkish clothing brand, Women&Women.

With my mother’s expertise in textiles and patterns, my sister’s talents in 3D design and fashion, and my business development skills, we launched Women&Women with the goal of being as ethical and sustainable as possible.

While certain efforts to achieve this goal were certainly doable – such as sourcing local, eco-friendly and sustainable materials, optimising pattern layouts to minimise fabric waste during production, and focusing on designing high-quality, durable products that last longer – I soon came up against issues. Designing patterns and keeping up with fashion trends, colours, and themes for every collection was simply not sustainable – nor was it a particularly speedy or efficient process when having to heavily rely on manual work. 

I realised that in order to really reduce waste, save costs, and provide a competitive edge in the industry, accurate pattern and colour forecasts and streamlining the design process were also key – which got me thinking ‘why can’t technology be harnessed to revolutionise design production?’

In fact, to put a real dent in the fashion industry’s sustainability problem, I felt we needed to combine these non-tech strategies with technology-driven solutions. 

Enter AI

As is the case across almost every industry, AI has the power to revolutionise design and production processes in the fashion and textile industries, not only enhancing sustainability, but efficiency and creativity too. This realisation led me to not only develop an AI-powered tool to address the issues I was facing in my own line, but also harness existing AI tools to support a number of other functions, including:

Designs by Women&Women

Why the human touch is so vital

From colour forecasting – where machine learning extracts palettes from catwalk images – to pattern generators – streamlining design processes and reducing reliance on physical prototypes and samples – AI’s played a vital role in Women&Women, and its potential to empower the rest of the industry’s designers and trend forecasters is clear. However, the role of human experts in designing and interpreting and curating trends cannot be overstated.

Fashion is an art form deeply rooted in culture, emotion, and human expression. AI, as a tool, can aid and augment that creative process – streamlining certain aspects of design and production. But it cannot replace the creative vision, cultural understanding, and emotional connection that human experts bring to the fashion industry. 

By harnessing the strengths of both AI and human expertise, the fashion industry can evolve to become far more sustainable, all while staying in tune with the ever-changing cultural and political vibes of our world.

Intro image by Natalie Dupin – Pexels.com




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