Vietnamese fashion 'transforms' with AI

AI is opening a new era for the global fashion industry, and Vietnam is no exception.

More and more domestic fashion businesses are proactively applying artificial intelligence (AI) to improve production efficiency, optimize creativity, and personalize customer experiences. However, this path also comes with challenges in terms of culture, data, and copyright.

Unleash your creativity

The modern fashion industry is a race for speed, because customer tastes change rapidly, product life cycles are short, and the demand for personalization is high. In that context, AI helps businesses reduce repetitive work and focus on creativity and strategy.

From the perspective of a large retail business, the CEO of IVY Moda does not assign tasks rigidly but instead empowers each department to proactively choose AI tools suitable for their specific work.

PHOTO: IVY MODA

Entrepreneur Nguyen Vu Linh, CEO of IVY Moda, shared: "AI helps us optimize many activities, from data processing, reporting to content creation, saving time for administrative work, increasing efficiency in key stages. Especially, in image and video production, just from flat product images, AI helps to combine them into many contexts or create 3D images, vivid motion with just a few commands, saving time and reducing production costs".

In the design room, AI acts as an idea assistant, helping to look up trends, materials, and build 3D models to shorten the creative process. "When information about materials or trends is needed, the team only needs to enter a command, and the system quickly synthesizes concise information. After the initial design, AI is used to build the product on a 3D model and test it in a simulated environment, helping to better visualize the shape, fall, and flexibility of the design, while also assessing feasibility before production. This virtual testing not only saves on prototyping costs but also speeds up product launch," CEO Vu Linh added.

In another segment, designer Do Trinh Hoai Nam said: "Using AI helps us optimize the process from design, production to marketing and performance. Our customers are businesswomen, politicians, and overseas Vietnamese - requiring a balance between tradition and modernity. AI helps analyze the living environment, needs, and habits, combining traditional cultural elements, creating suitable designs, inspiring and guiding creativity."

Trang Tran, founder of Tranbe Local, said: "The Tranbe team uses Google Analytics and Meta Business Suite to analyze sales data and user behavior, thereby creating more accurate collections. In communications, we use ChatGPT to come up with ideas and write content. Just one marketing staff member can complete a collection launch plan in 2-3 hours instead of the previous 3-5 days for the whole team... In addition, Tranbe Local also uses Midjourney to create moodboards, color schemes, and layouts, making the sketching process quick and easy to test. The team is also researching integrating AI into inventory management, predicting raw material needs to optimize costs and reduce inventory risks."

No small challenge

AI brings many opportunities but also poses many challenges for Vietnamese fashion businesses.

Ao dai by designer Do Trinh Hoai Nam introduced in San Francisco (USA)

PHOTO: SVF

"For AI to work effectively, big data and standardization are needed. The Vietnamese fashion industry still lacks a complete data ecosystem, so integrating AI requires time and a long-term strategy. Many designers are worried that AI will lose their "uniqueness", or gradually replace them - this is a challenge in terms of thinking and culture. AI creating designs and marketing content also raises copyright issues, requiring a legal corridor to protect intellectual property... AI videos in sales are very hot, but many AI-generated images are not authentic, easily causing customers to lose trust," said founder Trang Tran.

CEO Nguyen Vu Linh said: "AI opens up many great opportunities at lower costs. However, if we abuse AI without a strategy, or follow new tools without forgetting the original goal, it will not only be ineffective but also easily disorienting" and affirmed: "What makes the difference is still people - the brand story, the artistic vision, the emotions in each design. I believe AI will be a very powerful tool, but still needs the human element to shape its own character. The difference is not in using AI or not, but in how each person, each brand uses AI according to their own personality and philosophy".

AI is a springboard for Vietnamese fashion to accelerate digital transformation, shortening the technology and innovation gap when integrating globally. However, to take advantage of it effectively, businesses need a long-term strategy and maintain their own "unique" identity.

What makes the difference is still people - the brand story, the artistic vision, the emotion in each design. I believe AI will be a very powerful tool, but it still needs the human element to shape its own character.

Nguyen Vu Linh (General Director of IVY Moda)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thoi-trang-viet-chuyen-minh-cung-ai-185250621201133847.htm