We’ve covered a lot in this series.
We started with the foundations: why 3D fashion matters right now, where it came from, and how the modern software stack fits together. Then we talked to real professionals doing this work day-to-day, dug into the nuances of draping and simulation, unpacked how AI is being used (and not used), and explored how personalization is reshaping fashion into a systems problem. Most recently, we looked at why virtual try-on may not be the endgame everyone hoped for—and why the biggest opportunities in 3D fashion might actually be inside gaming worlds.
So what’s left?
In Deep Dive 5, we looked specifically at AI tools in the fashion workflow: what’s actually working right now, where the hype breaks down, and where generative tools help speed up the process without replacing core garment logic.
But today’s piece is a little different.
It’s less about tools and more about the current mood.
Because lately, there’s been a noticeable shift in where conversations start—and who’s leading them.
A few years ago, every conversation I had in fashion was about 3D.
How to scale it. How to hire for it. How to move faster. How to align departments. It felt like the momentum was finally here.
But lately?
Every conversation starts with AI.
Teams are experimenting with text-to-image workflows, feeding style prompts into generative models, exploring automated material generation, and asking, “How can we speed up our design cycle using AI?”
And to be clear…I’m not saying that curiousity is bad. AI could be powerful. It’s already helpful at times and it can make certain parts of the process feel almost instant.
But what concerns me is the quiet reversion to binary thinking:
“This is faster, so let’s do this instead.”
“This feels new, so obviously we don’t need that last new thing anymore.”
The reality is simpler (and more nuanced): AI and 3D are solving different problems. One isn’t replacing the other. They’re complementary, not competing.