AI Startup Claims 95% Cut in Photo Costs
Brazilian startup VestiAi has launched an AI platform that it claims can reduce fashion photography expenses by up to 95%. The technology generates on-model imagery for e-commerce brands, substituting traditional photoshoots. The platform is positioned to accelerate content creation for digital lookbooks and client presentations, significantly altering the economics of campaign production.
- While VestiAi is a new entrant, other AI platforms have been gaining traction; for instance, Botika's technology is noted to reduce visual production costs by 90% and decrease time to market threefold. - The core technology often involves uploading flat-lay or mannequin photos of garments, from which AI generates on-model images, allowing for the creation of studio-quality photos in minutes without traditional shoots. - A key challenge for these AI platforms is the exact replication of the look and feel of real clothes, ensuring consistency in the subject and outfit across multiple images, and allowing for a high degree of creative control. - Beyond static images, some platforms are developing capabilities to generate UGC-style videos from static shots and even integrate virtual try-on features for shoppers. - While the "uncanny valley" is a concern, one study found that 71% of shoppers could not differentiate between real and AI-generated apparel images, and 60% reacted neutrally or positively when informed the images were AI-created. - The adoption of AI in fashion photography is creating a shift in creative roles, with potential for job displacement for photographers and models, but also new opportunities in tech-focused positions. - Major brands are already experimenting with AI in the creative process; Notably, Vogue Italia utilized AI artist Chad Nelson and the text-to-image tool DALL-E in a photoshoot with supermodel Bella Hadid. - From a sustainability perspective, AI-generated imagery can help reduce fit-related returns and support more demand-driven inventory planning by allowing brands to market pieces before mass production.
