It's such a beneficial tool. It helps you create a vision straightaway." - Sian
Emma-Louise Amanshia talks to Sian Robinson, a fashion designer at ASOS HQ. While aspiring young designers still need traditional skills such as pattern cutting, fabric and construction knowledge, watch the film to find out how AI tools are enhancing the creative process.
EMMA-LOUISE AMANSHIA: Meet Sian. She's a young designer here at ASOS HQ. They've been at the forefront of fashion tech since the early 2000s. So, how would you use generative AI day-to-day in your job?
SIAN ROBINSON: I would use my sketch and upload it to the generative AI tool, which would then give me a photo-real image.We can then type in different fabrics, different colourways. We can even drop prints in there as well.
EMMA-LOUISE: How would that work?
SIAN: Sometimes, like, say our seasonal fabrics would be mesh, and then we might want to see it for Christmas time in velvet, so we could do that. Then, the other teams might want to see it in denim if it's a bestseller.
EMMA-LOUISE: Like any powerful technology, AI in fashion raises questions about jobs, creativity and sustainability that the industry is still working to address. How is the system trained?
NICK ELEY: The system we use at the moment is trained on publicly available data—catwalk images, historical fashion images, archive images. So that's kind of the base of the model. What we're doing now with the advent of AI is that we are creating photorealistic visuals. So as well as a sketch, we can show them something which is ultimately exactly how we want the product to look. That means that the supplier’s first sample is much more accurate and much more close to what we want. So it kind of cuts out the wastage which we would have seen before.
EMMA-LOUISE: AI is obviously really helpful, but the people are still key, aren't they?
NICK: Absolutely. Young designers will still have to have all of the skills which we see now, so they're going to need to understand pattern cutting and fabric and construction—all those types of things. But I think more and more, it's now going to be important that young designers are coming out of university or college with those kind of data skills. So, AI literacy is kind of something which we're going to need. They're going to need to know how to AI prompt—so that's using text to create an image. They're also going to need to understand the importance of reference images and the weights of those images, because only using those can you really tailor the output. So, these are all skills which are relatively new, but they are going to be necessary for the young designers of the future.
EMMA-LOUISE: So, do you think AI is definitely here to stay?
SIAN: Yeah, I think it's such a beneficial tool. It's just so speedy, it helps you create a vision straight away. It would be nice to merge the visual side of it at the minute with a fit side of it, so you can fit your dress online. It'll cut down the process of sample and wastage as well.
Sian's journey
The Bitesize Guide to AI team spoke to Sian to find out more about her journey to using AI tools in fashion.
How has AI impacted your job?
What excites me most now is how AI is transforming design. It allows you to instantly visualise ideas that might be hard to capture with a quick sketch. The constant evolution of digital tools keeps me inspired, there’s always something new to learn, and I love that.
When I first started at ASOS, most designers were sketching by hand and using physical fabric swatches and trims to bring ideas to life. Digital CADs weren’t widely used, so working digitally felt quite different. Now, AI has completely transformed that process. I can take a basic or coloured up CAD and instantly elevate it into a realistic visual. This makes it much easier to communicate ideas to suppliers, often helping us get a garment approved on the first fit.
AI also makes tasks like recolouring or exploring new fabric options much more exciting and efficient. I can quickly generate realistic mock-ups to see how a style might look and assess whether it’s right for our customer. It’s made the design process more dynamic, visual, and collaborative.
What have you always wanted to do in fashion design that you couldn’t do before AI?
One of the most exciting possibilities AI brings to fashion design is the ability to digitally fit garments before creating physical samples. This could massively reduce waste and allow for quicker, smarter adjustments if the original sketch doesn’t quite translate into the final style. It’s something that’s already emerging in the industry, and I’m really keen to learn more about it and bring it into my own workflow.
AI is evolving at such a rapid pace, and that’s what makes it so exciting. The recent rise of AI figures like Tilly Norwood in the film industry makes me wonder what’s next for fashion. Could we see AI models or influencers taking over fashion weeks? How will that change the way we design, present, and interact with fashion? There’s so much potential, and I love being part of an industry that’s constantly pushing boundaries. AI feels like the next big leap, and I’m excited to keep learning and exploring how it can elevate creativity and innovation in design.
Where do you see the AI going in the future?
I think one of the most exciting directions for AI in fashion is creating a truly immersive online shopping experience. Imagine being able to digitally try on clothes before buying, styling full looks as if you were shopping in real life. It could feel like having a personal shopper, but all online. This kind of technology could completely change how we shop, making it easier to see how pieces fit together and whether they suit your style before committing to a purchase. It’s still evolving, but I think it has huge potential to make fashion more interactive, personalised, and accessible.
What was your route to being a designer?
From a young age, I’ve always loved fashion and dressing up. That passion naturally evolved into sketching dresses whenever I had the chance, especially at my grandparents. Fashion has always felt like the career I was meant to pursue.
I studied textiles at both GCSE and A-level, which I absolutely loved. That led me to do an Art Foundation course, where I was first introduced to digital design. Using Illustrator to create CADs was a game changer for me. I was instantly hooked and spent hours practising.
I went on to study Fashion with Business at Brighton University. There, I realised that not everyone was as into digital design as I was, which only pushed me further. I kept developing my Illustrator skills, creating detailed fashion illustrations and building a strong portfolio for the industry.
After showcasing my graduate collection at Graduate Fashion Week, I was scouted by ASOS and started working there shortly after graduating. Since then, I’ve made it a priority to join every digital workshop I can, always looking to learn and grow.
How the AI tool works
- AI has numerous uses in the fashion industry and is being used as a creative tool or collaborator in fashion production and marketing. Generative AI tools can process different forms of data such as text, images, and video, and can produce a variety of media such as 3D clothing designs and virtual models for video campaigns.
- Fashion designers at ASOS are using generative AI to enhance and streamline the design process, transforming sketches into photorealistic images using an AI model trained on a huge dataset of fashion and design references from a wealth of catwalk, historical fashion and archive images.
- ASOS designers benefit from using the AI tool to develop and change ideas, fabrics and fits quickly and efficiently, and send a variety of visuals to colleagues, suppliers and customers.
How else is AI used in the fashion industry?
| Fashion marketing | AI is used in fashion marketing to create more personalised experiences. When online shopping, you get personalised recommendations and instant search results. Computer vision technology can analyse an image and match it with products of a similar style, colour, pattern, and shape so customers can upload an image and find similar products. |
| Trend analysis and new collection design | Companies are using AI to track shopping behaviour, consumer mood and social media to predict fashion trends so that fashion brands can design new collections. |
| Sales analysis | AI is used to analyse sales trends and respond to shifts in customer demand. Companies can anticipate what stock is needed to prevent stock building up and create a more flexible and sustainable supply chain. |
| The selection of materials | AI is also being used in the selection of materials by analysing their environmental impact and durability, so companies can select more sustainable materials with a view to improving sustainability. |
| AI fashion models and influencers | Now there are even AI-generated models and fashion influencers on social media, virtual characters that offer a new way for brands to connect with their followers and customers. What could be next for the future of fashion design? |
Did you know?
The textile and fashion industry have already been shaped by technological advances. Designed in 1805, the Jacquard loom revolutionised the manufacture of patterned textiles. It could weave complex and detailed patterns far more quickly than master weavers could. It is often considered a predecessor to the modern computer because it used a binary system to store information that the loom read and reproduced.