Support rather than replace. Unlike traditional so-called “analytical” artificial intelligence (AI) (which analyzes existing data to classify it or make predictions), generative AI invents. The direct impact is the acceleration and democratization of content creation. An innovation that is now being found within fashion houses, curious to make use of this tool which, far from wanting to replace creative people, presents itself more as a working partner.
A trend widely observed by Pascal Morand, Executive President of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode and Thibault Henriet, CEO of Awen, a start-up specializing in supporting creation using artificial intelligence.

La French Touch : What is your assessment of the use of AI in fashion houses?

Pascal Morand : Artificial intelligence is developing extremely rapidly, and in all activities of fashion houses, as in the whole economy, whether it is a question of reflection or of developing methods that can support creation.

It’s the same for creation, communication, marketing and coordination. This is what I call the 4 Cs.

Thibault Henriet : In my opinion, we are currently in a very exploratory phase with these technologies. Some fashion houses are not yet clear on the possible everyday use cases.

That's why we encourage them (especially creative teams) to explore, experiment with, and try out these tools. A test-and-learn approach is essential ; this will allow everyone to define, identify, and refine use cases that will be beneficial.

The French Touch: Can fashion benefit from AI?

PM: When we talk about AI-related technologies or those generated by artificial intelligence, we clearly see that beyond aspects of streamlining, information management, or information structuring, there is also a dimension of content generation: images, texts, sounds, and it happens very quickly! However, these generative AIs will not replace designers but will rather accompany and support them in their creative process and allow them to achieve a form of augmented creativity.

TH : This question is central to the creation of awen. To answer it, we met with creative professionals in fashion houses: designers in ready-to-wear, leather goods, accessories, jewelry, beauty, marketing, and retail—all those who create the fashion experience today. The goal was to understand how the creative process unfolds, focusing on the human element, without even mentioning AI.

These discussions allowed us to highlight the fact that creative teams spend a lot of time generating and developing concepts, prototypes and projects which, for many, are shelved or, in the worst case, never see the light of day. This process generates fatigue since we must constantly renew ourselves, innovate and continue to create. It is with this observation that we developed awen, to support creation from inspiration to production, thanks to generative artificial intelligence.

The French Touch: What does that mean?

TH : When we create, the mind engages in mechanisms of searching, sedimenting, associating, synthesizing, and iterating until an idea is perceived as novel enough to be developed. Generative AI algorithms, based on their training data, can generate content, more or less similar in identity, synthesize it, and develop it further. At awen, we are particularly interested in the parallels between the processes of the mind and those of these algorithms. This observation led us to consider AI as a suitable tool to help creative teams in the research, development, and shaping of ideas in image, text, video, 3D, or audio formats.

Applied to fashion, this makes it possible to support design teams in the search for inspiration for product development, marketing teams in the development of campaigns, or even retail teams in the creation of experiences in order to increase desirability for consumers.

The French Touch: Do these technologies also raise issues regarding data protection for fashion houses?

TH : It's both a challenge and an opportunity. A fashion house builds its value on its history, heritage, and intellectual property: so many assets that are largely digitized today. It's crucial to protect this data so that it remains in the house's possession. At the same time, it represents a veritable goldmine of creative inspiration for the teams. To reconcile intellectual property and AI, there are different solutions: creating in-house models or customizing pre-existing, open-source models using fine-tuning methods . This allows them to be adapted to a brand's DNA while protecting it. At awen, we make sure to place customization, security, control, and traceability at the heart of our product. Our tools are aligned with the creative requirements of the teams and the company's protection needs to support them on a daily basis.