AI in Fashion: Fueling Overconsumption or Driving Innovation?
May 10, 2025
3
min reading
A recent McKinsey report estimates that AI could boost operating profits in the apparel, fashion, and luxury sectors by up to $275 billion within the next three to five years.
This shift goes beyond automation and algorithms, painting a picture of an industry at the cusp of transformation. It's touching every aspect of how we create, consume, and connect through fashion—for better and worse.
We're already witnessing this evolution as fast fashion giants like Shein, Zara, and others embrace AI to predict trends, track customer preferences, and make instant supply chain adjustments to accelerate production.
According to Time magazine, Shein's head of global strategy and corporate affairs revealed that over 5,000 Shein suppliers now have access to an AI software platform. And as we know, fast fashion companies like Shein are major contributors to clothing waste and overconsumption worldwide.
Luxury brands are following the same path, increasingly turning to data-driven design decisions.
While many see AI as a sustainability opportunity—optimizing supply chains, reducing waste, and sourcing sustainable materials—others worry that AI implementation could overshadow the thoughtful, human elements that have historically made fashion a form of creative expression and cultural dialogue.
But, to be clearer, we’re not trying to portrait technology advancements as the villain in fashion's story. Of course, AI has the power to transform sustainability tracking, optimize resource use, and democratize design tools (more of that further in this article).
But it is unquestionable that this current implementation often prioritizes speed over substance, quantity over quality.
Striking the right balance between technological advancement and sustainable, human-centered design is both a challenge and an opportunity. So the real question is: how can AI drive positive change in this landscape?
How AI is being used in fashion
Before diving into the pros and cons of AI in fashion, let's break down how the industry is using it
1. Smarter Shopping Experiences
AI is revolutionizing customer service by making it faster and more personalized. Brands can now provide instant support and recommend products based on a comprehensive analysis of customer data, including potential biometric inputs.
Virtual try-ons powered by AI and augmented reality (AR) allow shoppers to visualize how clothes look on them, creating a more immersive experience.
Recent advancements in 3D and AR technologies have significantly enhanced these virtual try-on solutions. According to a WANNA Fashion article, consumers engaging with 3D models are 44% more likely to add a product to their basket, and those who experience items through AR are 65% more likely to make a purchase.
The same piece also stated that high-end retailers like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Burberry have already embraced AR virtual try-on technology.
2. Virtual Models & Imagery
Generative AI allows brands to create visuals without relying on traditional photo shoots, reducing costs and environmental impact.
By using existing image data, companies can quickly integrate new products into collections. Some brands even showcase their designs with entirely virtual models and influencers.
A Reuters article, for instance, showcased how European fashion retailer Zalando has embraced AI-generated imagery and digital twins of models to reduce image production times from six to eight weeks down to just three to four days—cutting associated costs by 90%.
In the last quarter of the previous year, approximately 70% of Zalando’s editorial images were AI-generated, showcasing viral trends like “brat summer” and “mob wife,” according to the piece.
Image courtesy: https://thefashionography.com/generative-ai/ai-generated-fashion-photography/
3. AI in Design
AI has become an integral part of the design process. Advanced algorithms analyze real-time trends to help brands anticipate consumer preferences.
Generative AI takes this further by inspiring new patterns and design concepts, making it a powerful tool for fast fashion, where staying ahead of trends is critical.
In a recent MIT News article, they interviewed fashion designer Norma Kamali, who has embraced AI to preserve and evolve her brand's legacy. Kamali collaborated with Maison Meta to develop a proprietary AI model trained exclusively on her 57-year archive of designs.
This tool allows her to reinterpret iconic styles and explore new creative directions—while staying true to her brand’s identity.
Image courtesy: https://news.mit.edu/2025/norma-kamali-transforming-future-fashion-ai-0422
Kamali describes the process as “magic,” where fashion, technology, and art converge to unlock new levels of creativity. Her approach shows how AI, when used intentionally, can extend the creative vision of designers.
4. AI in Trend Forecasting
AI is becoming a critical tool for predicting fashion trends with greater speed and precision. By analyzing large-scale visual and behavioral data, AI-powered platforms help brands stay ahead of what's next before trends fully take shape.
A Fashionography article highlights how fashion analytics companies like Heuritech are leading this shift. Their technology scans thousands of runway images each season, using machine learning to detect subtle patterns, silhouettes, and color schemes likely to dominate upcoming cycles.
This allows brands to make more informed design and production decisions, minimizing guesswork and reducing the risk of investing in short-lived trends.
Yes, AI is—and has already become—a game-changer for fashion.
Beyond smarter shopping experiences and virtual models, brands are tapping into its potential for inventory management and supply chain optimization, making operations more efficient and easier to control. This brings undeniable benefits, from reducing waste to streamlining logistics.
But there’s a flip side. When talking about advanced algorithms, it can push production into overdrive, fueling excessively rapid collections and accelerating trend cycles. The result? A greater push toward overconsumption. Let’s break it down.
The dark side of data-driven fashion
AI and technology have undoubtedly unlocked new efficiencies in the fashion industry, but they’ve also amplified a long-lasting issue: overconsumption.
The very algorithms that predict trends and enhance production are fueling a faster, more unsustainable fashion cycle. That’s because, when fast fashion meets AI, the speed at which new trends are created and adopted becomes almost instantaneous.
AI systems gather, analyze, and predict consumer preferences, making it easier than ever for brands to launch collections at lightning speed.
While this may seem beneficial for staying ahead of trends, the reality is grim: excess inventory piles up as trends shift rapidly, leading to financial losses and environmental waste.
The consequences are multifaceted:
Inventory Issues: Rapid trend shifts often result in unsold stock, leading to financial losses for brands and unnecessary waste.
Environmental Impact: The production and disposal of garments contribute significantly to carbon emissions and waste that ends up in landfills.
Privacy Concerns: Fashion trend forecasting powered by AI often involves invasive data collection, raising ethical questions around consumer privacy.
And while AI holds the potential to optimize production and reduce unsold inventory, the reality is that in a consumer-driven market, these tools are more likely to be exploited to drive constant consumption rather than promote sustainability.
But overconsumption isn’t the only risk. There’s something else fashion may be losing in this race for efficiency: authenticity and humanity.
Earlier, we explored four key areas where AI is being applied in fashion. Each of them offers potential, but also comes with its own unintended consequences:
• Smarter Shopping Experiences: While AI enhances personalization, it also raises concerns around consent, biometric data use, and hyper-targeted manipulation. Plus, it distances consumers from in-person shopping; an experience deeply rooted in social and cultural rituals around fashion.
• Virtual Models & Imagery: Generative visuals may cut costs, but they often result in homogenized aesthetics, a lack of body diversity, and an overreliance on synthetic perfection. This risks disconnecting brands from the raw, lived-in realities their customers increasingly seek.
The use of virtual models, for example, has sparked a lot of criticism, especially when brands generate diverse-looking AI models instead of hiring real people. This not only sidelines representation but also bypasses fair pay for models from underrepresented communities.
Activist Brett Staniland raised this concern on TikTok, saying:
I want to see [AI] enhance the great work people already do—not replace people who are the most exploited in the industry already. I find it additionally problematic that, no doubt behind all of these campaigns, there'll likely be a white man reaping the benefits of using model diversity, along with other inclusivity in the campaigns.
• AI in Design: While it can speed up ideation, AI also blurs originality, turning fashion design into formula rather than expression. Furthermore, it brings concerns about the potential replacement of human designers.
With the rise of fast fashion, we already saw creative direction take a back seat. Now the question is: will AI make that seat disappear entirely?
This concern has already being voiced. In 2023, when Business of Fashion posted on Instagram about the launch of the first AI Fashion Week, top comments were filled with anxiety over AI’s potential to erase human creativity in fashion.
Many pointed out that generative AI tools are trained on existing designer work, raising ethical questions around authorship, originality, and exploitation. As the technology advances, so do the fears.
• AI in Trend Forecasting: Anticipating trends early can pressure them into chasing micro-trends with short shelf lives, accelerating production and waste while reducing room for slower, more meaningful fashion cycles.
Therefore, while AI can scale operations, drive numbers, and boost innovation, it’s impossible to ignore a growing shift in consumer values. Since the pandemic, people are craving real, tactile, emotionally resonant experiences.
According to a post-COVID survey by visual content platform Stackla, 88% of consumers say authenticity is a key factor when deciding which brands they support.
Added to this, we’re seeing broader behavioral changes linked to geopolitical shifts and economic pressures. As noted in World Collective’s blog on tariff-driven consumer behavior, shoppers are moving away from fast, surface-level transactions and leaning back into what feels real, rooted, and intentional.
So the question is: can fashion find a balance between algorithmic efficiency and the human touch? Can the industry embrace innovation without losing the emotional depth that makes it matter?
The responsible use of AI in fashion : is it possible?
Let’s be honest: abolishing AI in fashion isn’t realistic, effective, or even beneficial.
The real challenge is finding balance — recognizing the damage AI can cause while championing tools and companies that leverage it responsibly and ethically. AI doesn’t have to fuel overconsumption or sideline human creativity.
In fact, as AI becomes more integrated into creative workflows, its limitations are helping to spotlight the very qualities that define human artistry: emotional intelligence, cultural perspective, and authentic storytelling.
This is exactly what a recent Business of Fashion article tackled. In that piece, Spot On Minds founder Yvonne Pengue explained that what sets creatives apart in an AI-saturated landscape isn’t resisting the tech, but doubling down on what makes them irreplaceable: connection, intuition, and craftsmanship.
That same article also highlighted how brands like emerging luxury label Zhai are actively using AI for tasks like digital marketing and content ideation.
The takeaway? It’s not about rejecting technology—it’s about using it strategically, while staying anchored in the distinctly human qualities that drive long-term brand success.
In a TED Talk titled "Why AI Will Never Replace Humans," computer science specialist Alexandr Wang explains that, contrary to what Hollywood portrays, AI developers aren't focused on building replacements for humans.
Instead, they’re creating tools designed to free up our time and energy—so we can focus on the complex, creative, and human-centered problems only we can solve.
That’s no different in the fashion industry. While AI is increasingly used for tasks like trend forecasting, visual generation, and inventory management, its greatest potential lies in supporting—not replacing—the human creativity and cultural insight that drive true innovation in fashion.
When used right, it can help the industry move toward sustainability and efficiency.
AI-driven solutions have incredible potential to:
Optimize supply chains, reducing waste and improving efficiency.
Monitor carbon emissions and prioritize sustainable materials.
Enhance transparency, from ethical sourcing to environmental impact tracking.
Technology Should Support Progress—Not Replace It
From immersive shopping to predictive design and data-driven sourcing, AI is already transforming fashion.
But as this post explored, when used without intention, these innovations can quietly amplify fashion’s worst habits: overproduction, erasure of human creativity, and performative diversity.
At World Collective, we believe technology should add value, not override it.
That’s why our platform is powered by responsible innovation. For us, technology isn’t a shortcut to scale—it’s a tool to build smarter, more ethical supply chains rooted in transparency, partnership, and progress.
At World Collective, we believe technology is changing textile sourcing, and it should be a force for good, helping fashion brands and suppliers build smarter, more coo
That’s why our entire hub is powered by evolving technologies with responsible innovation at its core.
At the heart of this is World Collective’s Marketplace — a digital platform designed to create meaningful connections between brands and suppliers while championing transparency and sustainability.
• For brands: Effortlessly source innovative, sustainable materials from a global market with transparency and reliability in every transaction.
• For suppliers: Gain global exposure, connect with potential clients, and showcase sustainable practices that attract brands seeking ethical and eco-friendly materials.
We’re constantly evolving, and AI is part of our vision for future innovation. Not to accelerate mass production or fuel overconsumption — but to foster stronger connections, build transparent partnerships, and make sourcing more seamless and ethical for everyone.
If technology can be a tool for progress, why not use it for good?
If you want to dive deeper in how technology can revolutionize supply chains, click here!
Join us in driving responsible innovation and reshaping how fashion operates. If you’re a brand or supplier ready to elevate your supply chain, our marketplace is your next step.
