Colombian fashion takes a risk with Artificial Intelligence and wins

The exhibitor of the Colombian brand Artextil at the Colombiatex de las Américas 2024 fair is illustrated with images that appear to be from a conventional photo session in the junglebut in reality both clothes how the models are created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The architect of them is Manuela Palacio, a young designer who, of the six years she has been working for Artextil, the last two has been in charge of introducing the AI ​​tool in the production of garments and textile campaigns.

She doesn’t see the tool as something that threatens her job, but instead “It is a co-creation activity that allows my work to be more efficient and faster”he says in an interview with EFE while clarifying that the models in the photographs exhibited “They are not real people.”

In those two years the company has increased its productivity by 1,100% and their collections have been made in record time, selling more than 20,000 designs a year.

Artextil thus became the pioneer in Colombia in the use of Artificial Intelligence for the design and development of fashion collections and presents its sample book with 80 fabrics created at the Colombiatex 2024 fair, which takes place in Medellín. by AI digitally.

“We are super proud of this ‘Fashion Book’, it is our little gem”says Manuela while showing the fabrics printed with images of animals, vegetation or fruits.

The company was born 42 years ago as a dream, and now with more than 350 workers between Colombia and Ecuador, it is one of the most technologically advanced in Latin America.

The creative process

At the Colombiatex fair in Medellín, Manuela explains the process they follow to create digital designs. “We use Midjourney, an image creation AI that is part of the Discord communication application. In just a few seconds, the ‘bot’ creates high-quality images from text messages.”Explain.

As an example of the working possibilities of the tool, Manuela writes the words “sea”, “water”, “beach” and “fire” in the application’s search bar and in just 25 seconds the AI ​​returns four images that “They could perfectly finish, resulting in the print of any garment.”

That is how “In less than two days we can have more than 50 designs for clients to choose from.”

As Artextil’s brand leader, María Paula Fernández, explains to EFE, “we run campaigns with models that do not exist today” thanks to AI.

The platform they use to send designs to clients is called Avat/art., “It is a design software in which we have more than 40,000 designs and generative models” that they share with the big brands and, in fact, “there are already some digital models from the catalog that are associated with them.”

It is a work process that is also sustainable, “Because we are ahead of the industry, we do not have to dye or print the fabric several times to send samples, we already present the final product to customers.”

Collaborative work

Fernández affirms that technology has not replaced any of Artextil’s workers: “We didn’t change the team, what we did was strengthen it.”

Faced with the fear that these technologies will end up replacing humans, “Artextil is proof that human and algorithm must work together, collaborate”because as Manuela explains: “Artificial Intelligence would not work without our guidance.”

They currently produce designs for more than 80% of the fashion market in Colombia, and this tool “It allows that if one of them requests a design on a Wednesday, on Friday we can present them with 50 different and unique options.”

Furthermore, the use of Midjourney makes it possible to obtain “exclusive designs that are free of copyright and have no additional production costs”, the designers explain at the fair.

Thus, the textile company is proof that Artificial Intelligence can be part of a design team and Artextil is optimistic about being able to continue using it in the coming years.