India launches AI-powered fashion forecasting with VisioNxt

At the event, also attended by Minister of State for Textiles and External Affairs Pabitra Margherita and Textiles Secretary Rachna Shah, Giriraj Singh highlighted the initiative's role in promoting indigenous design. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, India has focused on prioritising local manufacturing and design since 2014, a shift that VisioNxt epitomises, the Ministry of Textiles said in a press release.

Singh noted that VisioNxt is set to revolutionise the Indian fashion landscape by harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) to deliver real-time fashion trend insights. By offering a tech-enabled forecasting system, India aims to assert its leadership in the global fashion market. The VisioNxt project is expected to foster competition on a global scale while elevating Indian culture and design.

India's venture into fashion forecasting was inspired by the Prime Minister’s remarks at the 2017 Global Textile Summit, where he identified a gap in India-specific trend prediction systems. This initiative, established in 2018 at NIFT's Delhi and Chennai centres, fills that gap by providing insights tailored to India's unique cultural and socio-economic diversity.

The VisioNxt project, centralised at NIFT Chennai, is India’s first-ever initiative combining AI and EI to forecast fashion trends. It delivers insights for various stakeholders, from manufacturers and retailers to homegrown designers, with a focus on localised trends. Paridhi marks the first inclusive fashion trend forecast for India, which will be disseminated through the newly launched web portal, offering trend analysis in both Hindi and English.

The core of this initiative is the AI-based ‘DeepVision’ model, developed in-house by NIFT. This advanced system decodes apparel patterns, styles, and colour preferences, reflecting Indian cultural plurality. By identifying over 60 categories of Indian wear and 40 categories of western wear, the model provides an accurate and comprehensive fashion forecast for India, marking a milestone in the global fashion forecasting space.

VisioNxt reduces India’s reliance on international agencies, establishing it as a key player in the global fashion market and empowering Indian designers to create consumer-focused collections based on real-time, India-specific insights.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)