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FabricGenie request form. Image courtesy of FabricGenie.

A look at how artificial intelligence is being used for fabric surface design.Ìý

Over the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of our everyday lives. From Google using AI to provide better searches, Amazon using AI to suggest products based on your shopping history, to Alexa using AI to remind you of an appointment, this technology is more part of your world than you realize.

Image courtesy of FabricGenie.

Image courtesy of PatternedAI.

Another area where AI is seeing growth is in the textile industry, especially fabric surface design.

&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;Recent advancements in generative AI have opened the door for this technology to be utilized in producing high-quality content across various media, including textile design,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; explains Danny Richman, AI consultant at Richman AI, which developed the AI-powered fabric design tool . &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;These new generative AI models can create fabric patterns on par with those of human designers and can iterate on these designs at a low cost.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;Over the past two years, AI image capabilities have matured rapidly, disrupting design processes across various industries, including fabric pattern design,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; says Amr Mashlah, CEO and founder of the AI-based AI fabric design creator . &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;The new wave of AI streamlines the design process and opens up new possibilities. It automates a significant portion of the design workflow, freeing designers to focus on original creative work. AI can now generate seamless patterns, showcase designs on mockups, and produce thousands of images based on aesthetic directions. It also creates variations on existing designs, maintaining the designer&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217;s unique style while introducing new elements.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

Let’s take a closer look at how AI is currently being used in fabric surface design, the pros and cons, and where it may go in the future.

Image courtesy of Fabric Genie.

How Does AI-Generated Fabric Design Work?Ìý

Image courtesy of Patterned AI.

FabricGenie leverages the latest generative AI models to create fabric designs based on either a description provided by the customer or an uploaded photograph of their room, Richman explains. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;The AI then suggests designs that align with the style and décor of the room, offering a personalized approach to fabric design,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; he adds.

According to Mashlah, PatternedAI works similarly with a suite of tools that allow users to generate patterns with AI from a text description or a reference image. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;Our tools are simple and intuitive, providing fine-grain control over the placement of individual motifs through our pattern editor,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; he says.

Unlimited Fabric Surface Design Options

Image courtesy Jennifer Lee at FIT.

One of the potential benefits AI-driven fabric surface design offers is the opportunity to create designs at a much faster rate.

&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;I attended FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in the 90s &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8230; (and) I saw many of my friends studying textile design,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; recalls Byoungho Ellie Jin, the Albert Myers Distinguished Professor in the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;They basically hand-drew, to a very accurate level, like a painting, tons of hours by hand, overnight, to create one surface design. But now just (by scanning) one image and clicking it &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8230; automatically generated tons of designs.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

Jin says AI is helping to create unlimited options of surface design, which may eventually change the role of fabric surface designers. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;I&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217;m thinking the designer&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217;s role is not like a creator before—it&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217;s more likely curator because there are tons of designs out there already,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; she continues. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;It&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217;s a matter of what to choose, when to choose, why you choose that option.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

Image courtesy Jennifer Lee at FIT.

Assisting With Designers’ Creativity

Jennifer Lee, associate professor in the Fashion Business Management Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), says AI has helped make the process of creating realistic 3D texture on fabrics easier, as well as image visualization concepts such as when a designer wants to change one color of a current textile surface design to another that has multiple colorways.

&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;Before, when we were expanding colorways of the target fabric, we had to spend some time in Photoshop, so everything was manual,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; Lee explains. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;We recognized each color of the fabric, and we manually changed the colorways. But using AI, &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8230; AI does the job for you. Of course, it is not perfect compared to manual work in Photoshop, but it is good enough to preview in the early stage of decision making for designers and merchandisers.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

Image courtesy of Jennifer Lee of FIT.

And Lee says AI has become helpful for designers&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217; creativity, especially during the initial ideation stage. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;We used to spend a lot of time on the manual work, which is repetitive and very time consuming,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; she says. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;AI would reduce time in the ideation stage, because we used to spend hours and hours in the ideation stage to visualize the very early stage image creation manually. Now, designers can focus more on the creative side to elaborate the design.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

Examining AI’s potential drawbacks

Image courtesy of FabricGenie.

As with everything, AI-based textile surface design also comes with some potential drawbacks, one of which is regarding job security for traditional textile designers, Richman says. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;However, at present, highly skilled and creative human designers still surpass the capabilities of the best generative AI models available,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; he adds.

Image courtesy of FabricGenie.

Another area of concern is the potential for copyright infringement. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;There&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217;s no copyright regulations or copyright laws around AI as far as I know, because depending on who gives what prompts in what context, AI gives all different answers,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; Jin explains. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;So, who has the copyright—the person who gave a prompt or AI?&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

There has also been customer backlash from at least one design label after a customer identified their product as using an AI-created design remix of an original design, Lee says. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;They (complained) we&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217;re spending our money to purchase your original design, we are not paying for your AI generated design because it is not ethical, it is a fake,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; she explains. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;That was a great insight for all the textile designers—should we tweak more when we are using AI generated design to be overlaid on top of the previous design?&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

Image courtesy of PatternedAI.

&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;Consumers also are aware that we cannot avoid the era of AI,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; Lee continues. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;We cannot resist that—it will become more and more bigger in the market. So right now, on the designer side, both students and faculties are educating students, and I am also educating myself as a designer—we have to credit if it is AI generated.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

Image courtesy Jennifer Lee at FIT.

A Future of Greater Diversity and Efficiency

All experts agree that the use of AI for textile surface design will continue to grow in the future.

&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;We envision hyper-personalization at the individual consumer level,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; Mashlah explains. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;AI will make it easy for anyone to express themselves and design something without any prior design knowledge or

Image courtesy Jennifer Lee at FIT.

experience. Fabric designs will incorporate motifs from individuals&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217; lives and exhibit much greater diversity in styles.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;AI is set to become an essential tool for textile designers, aiding them in creating designs more efficiently and at a lower cost,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; Richman adds. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;The integration of AI will streamline the design process and enhance creativity within the industry.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;AI really will definitely be utilized in fabric design &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8230; the designer&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217;s role (will be) curating, selecting, and then revising,&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221; Jin says. &/aatccnews-2025-01a/8220;I don&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8217;t think people use it as it is, but they will tweak it a bit, and then that means that they need to be more creative—they should be more creative than AI.&/aatccnews-2025-01a/8221;

Image courtesy Jennifer Lee at FIT.

There are still obviously a lot of questions to be answered and decisions to be made regarding the use of AI-based textile surface design. With the potential for many benefits to the textile industry, answers and guidelines should not be far off.

ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥ the Author

Ìýis a journalist, editor, and freelance writer with more than 26-years’ experience. A former associate editor for Nonwovens Industry, her byline can be found in a variety of consumer and trade publications, with past and current clients including Medical News Today, IAAPA’s Funworld Magazine, Rinksider Magazine, International Bowling Industry magazine, and HomeTalk.com, as well as ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥Review and ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥News.