AI Magic: Crafting a Professional Apparel Catalog from Scratch

David Linke
6 min readMay 24, 2024

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So you want to showcase the capabilities of your e-commerce platform professionally, with sharp-looking assets, quickly, and on a tight budget. Your target audience spans various industries, but apparel stands out. Typically, doing this professionally requires an apparel collection, models, photographers, a set, post-production, copywriters, and more. But you have only $100 and a week to make it happen. Here’s a detailed account of how AI helped me achieve this goal.

Discovering the Best AI: Midjourney Stands Out

The first step in my journey was to evaluate multiple AI tools to determine which one would best meet my needs. I tested several options, but Midjourney quickly emerged as the clear leader. Its capabilities were far superior to the other AI models I tried, making it the ideal choice for creating high-quality apparel images.

Perfecting the Prompt: A Time-Consuming Challenge

With Midjourney selected, the next task was to perfect the prompting process. My goal was to create many pictures of the same outfit, ensuring consistency across the catalog. This proved to be the most time-consuming aspect of the project. Despite extensive searching, I found little concrete information online about how to achieve this reliably. It took me several days of trial and error to refine my prompts to produce the desired results consistently.

Takes a lot of time and tries to master the prompt

Foundational Elements: Comprehensive Views and Variants

For a truly effective catalog, I understood that including both frontal and backside shots of the apparel pieces was essential. This not only provided a comprehensive view of the products but also enhanced the realism and appeal of the catalog. Additionally, generating variants of each apparel piece, such as different colors, was crucial to showcasing the versatility of the products and giving potential customers a better understanding of their options.

Using Image Seeds: A Double-Edged Sword

To accelerate the process, I experimented with using image seeds from existing catalogs and photographers whose work I admired. This approach proved highly effective in achieving the desired results quickly. However, it also raised concerns about potential copyright infringement, making it an unsuitable long-term solution for my needs.

The seed for an image generation. Thanks J. Crew
Prompt: apparel catalog photography of two 23 year old female models matching sweaters, hip style, Canon EOS R5, 85mm lens, F 1.2 aperture, white infinite background

Mastering Prompting Without Seeds

Determined to find a more sustainable method, I focused on learning to prompt without relying on image seeds. This involved studying the precise names of different outfit pieces to ensure the AI understood exactly what to create.

One of my breakthrough prompts was:

fashion photography catalog composition of a (man/woman) wearing a (light sleeveless top / or whatever clothing piece you’d like) taken from front and back perspectives, hyperrealistic, depth of field, hip style, half length, illuminated from different angles, white background, Canon EOS R5, 85mm lens, F 1.2 aperture, white infinite background.

The breakthrough prompt

And the breakthrough prompt to generate variants was:

fashion photography catalog composition of a woman wearing a light sleeveless top in different colors, hyperrealistic, depth of field, hip style, half length, illuminated from different angles, white background, Canon EOS R5, 85mm lens, F 1.2 aperture, white infinite background

A variant of the sleeveless top

Sometimes the AI just duplicates the pose of the model in the variant, which in real life is highly unlikely unless you use a mannequin. To overcome that, you use the vary region tool to modify the portion you'd like to change:

Vary region (the heads of the models)
fashion photography catalog composition of a woman looking away from the camera, hyperrealistic, depth of field, hip style, half length, illuminated from different angles, white background, Canon EOS R5, 85mm lens, F 1.2 aperture, white infinite background)

Specificity is key

Another tip to generate diverse apparel pieces is to research well the elements you want to generate. For instance, specifying a “sleeveless top” yielded vastly different results than a “night out blouse.” Mastering this nuance was crucial to generating accurate images.

Prompt: apparel catalog photography of two 23 year old female models wearing a matching sleeveless top, Canon EOS R5, 85mm lens, F 1.2 aperture, white infinite background
Prompt: Fashion photography catalog composition of a woman wearing a night out blouse taken from front and back perspectives, hyperrealistic, depth of field, hip style, half length, illuminated from different angles, white background, Canon EOS R5, 85mm lens, F 1.2 aperture, white infinite background

Generating Consistent Models

Another key challenge was generating consistent models for the catalog. The key to achieving this consistency was to start with the face of the model and then generate other poses based on that initial image. This approach ensures the same model appears in multiple images wearing different outfits.

I began with the following prompt:

“Prompt: portrait of an apparel female model with a white background, deep depth of field — iw 2 — v 6.0 — ar 1:1”

Next, I used the vary region tool to expand the images progressively with these prompts:

Prompt: “model portfolio composition of 2 portrait color photos taken from different angles, all photos have white background, all photos have depth of field, Canon EOS R5, 85mm lens, F 1.2 aperture — ar 1:1 — v 6.0”
Prompt (Pan Right): model portfolio composition of 4 portrait color photos of the same model taken from different angles, all photos have white background, all photos have depth of field, Canon EOS R5, 85mm lens, F 1.2 aperture — v 6.0 — ar 2:1

This method allowed me to create a good set of pictures of the same subject that I could work with, ensuring a cohesive and professional look throughout the catalog.

A complete view of the subject
Full body representation (using zoom out and pan down)
Vary region: Apparel catalog photography of a model wearing a blue summer dress with red sandals — ar 3:2 — v 6.0

Refining the Perfect Image

With the initial images at my disposal, I moved on to refining and perfecting them. Utilizing Canva’s “Magic Expand” feature, I filled in any missing details, ensuring each image was flawless. Adjusting brightness, vibrance, and shadows became an effortless task, transforming raw images into polished masterpieces.

Canva Magic Studio

Crafting Compelling Product Descriptions with ChatGPT

Having achieved excellence in visuals, the next step was to generate engaging product descriptions. I employed ChatGPT for this purpose. I crafted a detailed prompt, requesting descriptions in the style of well-known retailers such as The Gap and J.Crew.

Prompting ChatGPT for complete product descriptions.

I provided ChatGPT with images of the apparel and instructed it to generate detailed descriptions. The outcomes were exceptional. Each description was meticulously crafted, covering every aspect from fit and sizing to features and care instructions. ChatGPT’s ability to produce consistent, high-quality content proved to be a significant advantage.

Uploading the Catalog to the Sample Store

With the images and descriptions perfected, it was time to upload them to the e-commerce platform. I performed subtle upscales to correct any minor errors, ensuring each image had a uniform style and quality. The result was a stunning, professional catalog that appeared to be crafted by a team of seasoned photographers and writers.

A sample product from the apparel store.

Embracing the Future

Exploring AI-powered catalog photography and descriptions has profoundly transformed the approach to showcasing e-commerce platform functionalities. The ability to generate high-quality images and comprehensive product descriptions efficiently has not only saved time and resources but also significantly enhanced the overall presentation.

AI’s usefulness extends beyond creating visually appealing catalogs. It aids in maintaining consistency, generating realistic product variants, and providing detailed descriptions that elevate the customer experience. The integration of AI into the workflow enables a focus on curating and offering products that resonate with customers.

By leveraging AI, businesses can innovate their product creation process, ensuring high quality and consistency that can captivate and convert customers.

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David Linke

UX Professional, User Advocate and Product Developer.