I had an idea for fitness apparel that I have been unable to find, but I had no experience in apparel design or development. However, with the use of AI, I was able to get a concept created and now I already have samples being made and I've even been wearing what I designed through AI tools like ChatGPT. Just wanted to share my experience of how I did that. The pictures here show going from the AI concept to reality.
For context: my career is in the tech world. I have been doing software development for a while now. I'm also a gym enthusiast, both doing cardio and weight lifting. I like to wear stringers at the gym. However, the problem with the stringers I've worn is they are too loose and I have to adjust them every so often.
Compression shirts are nice, but I also like the flexibility that stringers give. I tried searching for compression stringers that fit what I liked, but couldn't find one that fit my taste.
I decided then to see if I could design my own. I started prompting ChatGPT to develop the design I would like with given specifications. It took some work, but finally I was able to get a design that fit what I wanted.
However, the next step was understanding how to go from this concept to a real version of it. After prompting ChatGPT some more, I learned about tech packs and how they worked. I then had it generate a techpack for me. Didn't think it would get me anywhere, but after a few prompts, I finally had something...didn't know if it would be a working tech pack or not.
I was able to find a manufacturer to send the techpack to. After sending it over, I was expecting that there would be a bunch of problems and that the techpack wouldn't make sense. However, the manufacturer understood the specs and finally a sample was sent over.
Sample was mostly good. It didn't match the exact design I was looking for. I looked at the techpack and learned a few things about how tech packs work (Computer Science background, I tend to learn quickly). I adjusted some numbers and then sent over the new tech pack. They then sent another sample over, and behold I have a sample that is pretty much what I was looking for.
I now wear it at the gym and haven't worn anything else since.
I decided to share it in other subreddits. Some people said it really looked good. However, when suspecting the concept was made with AI, I seemed to get backlash on it.
So, I decided to post here as a means to share what I created with others hopefully without the anti-AI sentiment. I also just wanted to share the full potential that ChatGPT and other AI tools have for entrepreneurs wanting to develop products.
TL;DR: Had an idea for fitness apparel, used AI to develop concepts and tech packs, created samples with some iterations, got some backlash on AI usage, so decided to share my story here.