Journey to build clothing brand continues...

Last week, we discussed the initial steps I took to create a clothing brand. To recap, I talked about my research process, the UI inspirations I explored, and the process of conceptualizing the logo. Checkout here

I’ve decided to use one of print-on-demand providers for my brand as of now. While I'm still unsure about how everything will turn out, my current focus is on developing the website. Initially, I considered using Astro for the building website, but I found that the libraries and ecosystem I want to use are better suited for Next.js. As a result, I switched to Next.js and have created two pages so far: one for products and another for product details but before we go there let's talk about products.

When it comes to selling clothes, the first question that arises is, “What kind of clothes do I want to sell?” For me, the answer was simple: I decided to start with t-shirts. The next question is, “What kind of t-shirts do I want to offer?” I opted for solid plain colored t-shirts, ideal for everyday wear. The inspiration came from the brand name I decided "Essential", which reflects my vision of creating everyday clothing that people, including myself, would love to wear.

But now as it is decided I need to sell plain t-shirts, product photos for the website is required. I wonder where to get them. I can't buy all t-shirts just to test it! Even if I had them, I prefer not to spend money on a photoshoot. Therefore, I decided to use AI to generate the images. I used my knowledge of prompt engineering to generate some images, but there are still significant challenges with AI-generated images. One major issue is the difficulty in achieving precise color specifications. For instance, if you prompt the AI to create an image of a man wearing a white t-shirt and green cargo pants, the results may vary. You might get a man in a green t-shirt and white cargo pants, or the AI might generate a shirt instead of a t-shirt. Additionally, the AI could produce variations such as t-shirts with or without pockets, or oversized t-shirts instead of regular ones. There are many details that can go wrong in the process.

While there are still limitations in replicating human perception with artificial intelligence, it's amazing how much we can achieve today. After generating the images, I edited them in Photoshop to match the t-shirt color accurately. I'm really proud of the results. I put those on initial website layout I created and here’s a glimpse of what I accomplished last weekend.

That's it for the week. Let's catch up next week!