Pushed by advances in synthetic intelligence (AI) and metaverse applied sciences, digital clones are reworking fast-fashion advertising and marketing. At all times accessible, ageless and adaptable to any setting, these digital figures allow manufacturers to create immersive, cost-effective campaigns that resonate with at this time’s digital-first shoppers.
Digital influencers — digitally created personas used to supply leisure, generate content material and endorse manufacturers — have gotten more and more influential, particularly amongst Gen Z and digital-first audiences.
These digital figures fluctuate in type: some, like Lil Miquela and Shudu, are solely computer-generated, whereas others, akin to Hatsune Miku, incorporate human parts like voice or movement.
Hybrid influencers mix actual and digital parts, permitting for brand-specific customization. These digital influencers enhance model visibility, drive engagement and affect market efficiency.
Actual individuals, digital personas
The estimate for international influencer market dimension for 2024 was valued at over US$24 billion and is projected to develop to over US$32 billion in 2025. The rise of digital influencers is especially outstanding in Asia.
This development can be reshaping the US$2.5 trillion modelling {industry}, in accordance with The Enterprise of Trend. AI-generated avatars and digital clones allow manufacturers to chop manufacturing prices and speed up marketing campaign improvement. In consequence, corporations akin to Levi Strauss & Co. are partnering with AI modelling companies to combine these digital personas into their advertising and marketing methods.
Digital twins
Digital twins — digital replicas of actual individuals — are gaining traction in advertising and marketing to boost personalization, streamline content material creation and deepen buyer engagement.
Within the trend world, they supply a method to take care of a way of human connection whereas utilizing AI for precision and quantity functions. Quick-fashion retailer H&M just lately launched AI-generated digital twins of real-life fashions for promoting and social media content material. Positioned as a artistic and operational support somewhat than a substitute for human expertise, the initiative has ignited industry-wide debate.
Whereas the model highlights the benefits — decrease manufacturing prices and sooner catalogue improvement — some critics have raised moral considerations concerning illustration and transparency.
These digital twins fall into the class of “front-of-camera” instruments: static avatars utilized in visible content material with out unbiased personas or social media presence. In contrast to digital influencers, they don’t work together with audiences or construct followings. As a substitute, they operate strictly as visible stand-ins for conventional fashions, who’re compensated for using their likenesses, just like standard campaigns.
As these avatars don’t converse, endorse or interact instantly with shoppers, they continue to be topic to conventional promoting laws — not influencer advertising and marketing legal guidelines.
Digital fashions are used for operational effectivity: testing and refining artistic methods earlier than rollout, decreasing prices and doubtlessly providing immersive digital experiences to boost buyer connection and model loyalty.
Quick-fashion retailer H&M just lately introduced that will probably be utilizing AI-generated digital twins of actual fashions to advertise merchandise.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin
Authenticity and different challenges
In July 2024, fast-fashion retailer Mango launched its first promoting marketing campaign that includes AI-generated avatars to advertise a limited-edition assortment for teenaged women.
These AI-generated influencers and digital twins introduce quite a few moral and authorized challenges. These improvements elevate tough questions in regards to the displacement of human expertise — together with fashions, make-up artists, hairstylists and photographers — and broader implications for artistic industries.
Key considerations centre on consent and compensation. The unauthorized use of a person’s likeness, even in digital type, poses a danger of exploitation and underscores the significance of clear requirements and protections. The authorized panorama concerning picture rights and mental property remains to be evolving, which makes compliance each important and sophisticated.
Because the strains between actuality and digital fabrication blur, manufacturers danger eroding shopper belief. The authenticity that audiences worth could be undermined if AI-generated content material appears misleading or inauthentic.
Firms should tread fastidiously, balancing innovation with transparency.
Variety is one other essential situation. Whereas AI gives customization, it might additionally perpetuate biases or create an phantasm of inclusivity with out real illustration.
An Related Press report on AI fashions and variety.
As using AI proliferates, making certain that digital fashions assist, somewhat than hinder, significant development in illustration might be important.
Finally, manufacturers should implement moral frameworks to make sure that AI enhances creativity whereas sustaining integrity, inclusivity and authorized accountability.
Strategic concerns
Digital clones present fast-fashion manufacturers with a strong instrument to create personalised purchasing experiences and allow better illustration of various physique sorts and elegance preferences. This diploma of customization can considerably improve buyer satisfaction and model loyalty.
To make sure moral integration, transparency is essential. Manufacturers should clearly disclose when digital fashions seem in campaigns. These digital representations ought to embody all kinds of demographics to genuinely promote inclusivity and have interaction with a broader viewers.
Establishing moral and authorized safeguards is equally essential. Creating digital clones requires express consent and cautious consideration to mental property rights. With out clear pointers and permissions, manufacturers danger violating privateness, misusing likenesses and going through authorized repercussions.
