Australian luxury brand Atoir is revered for its fashion-forward collections but this season it’s pushing creative boundaries with its new AI-infused campaign.
Cynthia Farchione, Atoir founder and creative director, told Inside Retail that this campaign marks the brand’s first venture into using artificial intelligence.
“Traditional ways of operating were no longer serving the business so we wanted to be at the forefront of trialling what AI could do to enhance various aspects of our offering,” Farchione told Inside Retail.
Farchione discussed undertaking this project with her team for weeks before taking the leap forward to learn how creative advancements in AI could benefit both the business and the customer.
Pioneering the next frontier
Atior’s new technology-forward approach to creative marketing does not compromise the brand’s roots. Instead, it has unlocked new artistic horizons and is reflective of the artistry and skill that go into creating Atoir’s garments.
“Every day we are presented with new tools in technology to be able to assist with business progression,” stated Farchione.
“It more becomes a decision about the if, how and when to implement these, rather than whether to do it at all,” she added.
Unlike some retailers, the team at Atoir would prefer to explore how AI can further its creativity rather than automate its communication with customers – seeking to maintain a personal connection over a robotic one.
“Having been in the industry for over 20 years, one key learning is that the world is in constant movement and evolution. The earlier you find ways to adapt to these new advancements, the quicker you are to meet your customer’s needs,” Farchione said.
“People were dubious about online shopping when it first launched and now society can’t live without it, so similarly we are pioneering what will be the mix of fashion and technology for the future,” she added.
Streamlining and refining
Even with the introduction of AI into its creative process, Atoir still physically designed and sampled the collection and worked with a local photographer to shoot the collection’s ghost imagery.
The brand then collaborated with a local artist to create its e-commerce models and perfect its garment imagery – which presented a learning curve for both the in-house and freelance creatives since using this AI technology in fashion is still new.
A local stylist, Paul Versace, collaborated with Atoir to work through each look and created a styling page per shot for AI artists in the UK to bring all the elements together and the campaign to life.
“Prior to this, we would have to wait for 60 to 100 samples to be produced before we shot the collection. From there a lookbook would be created for our wholesale agents to sell from,” Farchione explained.
“With this new model we can meet demand so much more efficiently and continuously bring revenue through instead of having to wait every three to four months to sell an entire collection at once,” she added.
The campaign seamlessly blended AI with traditional photography and still required a team of talented creatives, including AI artists, garment photographers, stylists, and designers.
Building a new world
For Farchione, part of the appeal of incorporating AI into Atoir’s creative campaign was the ability to take her customers on a journey to a new part of the world – something that is often not financially feasible for small fashion labels.
“Creating an engaging campaign situated in Sicily inspired by my family heritage would be impossible for us but with the use of this technology we’ve been able to produce this kind of story,” shared Farchione.
“Now we are only limited by our imagination,” she added.
According to Farchione, Atoir has received positive feedback from its customers thus far, affirming that the brand is on the path of the future.
“We will assess how our Atoir girl responds this season, listening to her feedback and making any decisions from there but at this stage, we will be proceeding with the use of AI to create our e-commerce and campaign imagery,” Farchione concluded.
“We always do a lot of work with creators in the way of content, so we feel we can maintain a good balance of content and AI-generated creations across our platform.”
The post Atoir’s creative director on blending creativity and technology in new AI campaign appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.
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