In case you have been living under a rock and did not already know, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere. It plays a part in almost everything we do now. Our phones have had AI embedded in them for years. Now we’re seeing it in cars, in stores, in schools, and more. It is everywhere and people have reasonable fear of it. The new Snapchat AI recently freaked users out when it posted a photo on its story and then refused to answer questions of how or why it did that. AI is on every website now as well. Instead of talking to a real person if you have an issue, an AI chatbot will speak with and try to help you to the best of its abilities, which are usually very limited. And of course, a conversation of AI wouldn’t be complete without mentioning ChatGPT. As an aspiring journalist, I would never dream of using AI to write my papers for me, but some students use it often to complete their schoolwork in a timely manner.
The newest application of AI that I recently discovered is in a fashion house. Finesse is the first AI led fashion house. I came across this company through an ad on Instagram. I liked the clothes I saw in the ad and headed to the caption. I was shocked to read that the clothes in the ad were chosen by AI. The company uses a very interesting concept to reduce waste and overproduction. The AI algorithm searches the internet for clothes and styles that are currently trending. It brings some of those styles back to the website and sets them up against each other. Then users vote on which design they like better and the AI records those statistics. Instead of overproducing a set quota of products like most other companies, Finesse uses the votes they have collected to produce a more accurate number of products that will hopefully lead to less waste.
Inclusion is an important part of Finesse’s brand. They currently carry sizes XS-3X. Finesse is interested in breaking typical gender norms and taking down traditional beauty standards. Company leadership mostly consists of female and LGBTQ administrators. Finesse is looking to empower everyone by using a diverse range of models and ignoring typical gender roles and societal beauty barriers.
While I have yet to order from the company for myself, I did check out some reviews left on TikTok and Instagram about the quality of the products, the fit, and the shipping speed. As with everything online, there are mixed reviews. Some users say the clothes do not fit as they should. Customers have said sizes that would normally fit them are too big or small and do not fit as shown on the website. They also say the quality is pretty terrible and feels cheap. Even the good reviews that loved the fit and look of the products said the quality was that of any other fast fashion brand.
I do not think I will be ordering from Finesse anytime soon. Because the orders are so hit or miss, I do not want to risk it. While the prices are definitely lower than a luxury brand, the prices are higher than other fast fashion sites. At the end of the day, Finesse is a fast fashion website. Even though they are trying to eliminate waste by producing only what they think they need, the company is still using low quality fabric that is not consistently fitting on everybody. Most of the good reviews I saw came from skinnier people and that seems to be who this brand is catering to the most. Plus size reviewers said the clothes did not seem to be made for bigger bodies and in most cases, they returned what they had purchased.
Finesse is a relatively new brand. Maybe they can figure out how to better serve all body types in the future as they develop their company. Hopefully they will work to improve their product quality and work to be more inclusive than they already are. In my personal opinion, their main draw is the fact that AI plays a role in the design of the clothes. Other than that, there is nothing to distinguish them from any other online clothing sites. They need to head back to the drawing board and figure out how to make clothes that do not exclude any body types.