Vogue Probes AI’s Creative Limits, Depop Turns Collaging into Commerce, Synflux Codifies Sustainable Design
Vogue Business evaluates 2025's AI-generated campaigns; Depop’s new Outfits tool fuses resale with self-expression; Synflux’s Algorithmic Couture slashes fabric waste.
Fashion Brands Test AI Campaigns, and Public Patience
As brands venture into AI-generated campaigns, Vogue Business evaluates what's worked and what hasn't in 2025. J.Crew and Guess faced online backlash for “AI slop” and “fake perfection,” while Valentino and Moncler earned praise for more transparent and artful experiments. As tools like Runway’s Gen-4 and Google’s Veo 3 push visual fidelity to new heights, Vogue Business notes that the line between human and machine creativity is rapidly dissolving, forcing brands to rethink where control, credit, and authenticity sit in the creative process.
Why it matters: As Vogue Business reports, AI’s role in fashion storytelling is evolving from gimmick to genuine creative tool, but public sentiment hasn’t caught up. The tech enables cinematic campaigns at speed and scale, yet without human taste and transparency, outputs risk feeling soulless.
Amy O’Brien
Depop Launches “Outfits” Tool for Collage-Style Fashion Inspiration
Depop has unveiled Outfits, a new in-app styling tool that lets users create and share Pinterest-worthy collages of clothing and accessories. The feature allows users to cut out items, layer them on colourful backgrounds, and build curated looks using templates, all with shoppable links. If a featured item sells out, Depop suggests similar alternatives, turning creative styling into a sales driver for sellers and inspiration hub for buyers.
Why it matters: Collaging has become Gen Z’s preferred visual language for self-expression, and Depop’s Outfits feature smartly blends culture and commerce. By bringing a Pinterest-style aesthetic directly into the resale ecosystem, Depop is positioning itself as a creative playground where style discovery, resale, and social sharing converge. With sales up 35% year-over-year and a $1 billion GMS run rate in sight, Outfits could further cement Depop as Gen Z’s go-to marketplace for creative fashion expression.
Lauren Forristal
Synflux Expands Algorithmic Couture Software to Cut Fabric Waste
Tokyo-based Synflux is advancing its Algorithmic Couture platform - a fashion design system that merges machine learning with 3D simulation to automatically generate garment patterns with minimal material waste. The software analyzes fabric parameters and design intent to produce optimized layouts, reducing traditional waste rates of 15-30% to near zero. Unlike conventional CAD systems, Synflux’s algorithm can convert even complex designs directly into production-ready patterns, linking creative design with manufacturing precision. The technology has already been applied in collaboration with Goldwin brands The North Face, Neutralworks., and Helly Hansen under a joint initiative called SYN-GRID.
Why it matters: Synflux is using AI to hard-code sustainability into the act of design itself. By removing the trade-off between creativity and efficiency, its system reframes waste reduction as an outcome of good design, not an extra step. For manufacturers, that means fewer offcuts; for designers, a smarter, more integrated digital workflow.
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