Hands weeding a cut vinyl design by hand with a weeding tool on a cutting mat

How AI Is Changing the Clothing World (and How We're Using It, Sparingly, at Firefly)

Samuel Frost

You can't go far these days without hearing about AI. It's turning up in almost every industry, and the clothing world is no exception. As the owner of a small printing business, I've been thinking a lot about what it means for us, and for anyone running a shop like ours. So in this post, I wanted to share an honest look at how AI is changing the industry, and how we're using it (sparingly) here at Firefly Print Co. in Lockton.

How AI is changing the clothing world

AI is already having a big effect on how clothing is designed, made and sold, and it's moving quickly. A few of the areas where it's showing up most:

  • Design tools: there are now tools that can help people come up with design ideas, artwork and layouts much faster than before.
  • Mockups: showing how a design might look on a garment can be done in a fraction of the time it used to take.
  • Personalisation: shops can tailor what they show to each customer, from product suggestions to custom designs.
  • Print-on-demand: combined with print-on-demand services, AI makes it easier to launch a range of products without holding lots of stock.
  • Customer service: chat assistants and automated replies can help businesses answer common questions at any time of day.
  • Product research: working out what people are looking for, and what's trending, can be done much faster.

There are real positives here. Tasks that once needed a whole team, or a lot of specialist knowledge, are becoming possible for one person. That's going to make it much easier for people to own and run their own businesses, which I think is a good thing.

But it isn't all simple. When everyone has access to the same tools, it gets harder to stand out, and there's a risk of a lot of online shops starting to look and feel the same. That's something every small business will need to think about.

Why I think things are about to get more competitive

This is just my own view, but I expect the online e-commerce world to get extremely competitive over the next few years. With AI changing how work is done, I think there are likely to be a lot of job losses in other sectors, particularly in technology. My expectation is that this will lead to a surge of new entrepreneurs and people starting up their own businesses, many of them doing similar kinds of things to us.

I don't see that as a reason to panic, but it does shape how I think about Firefly. For me, it means it's going to be very important to look after the customers and clients we already have, and to keep them coming back. Repeat customers are the backbone of a small business, and I'd much rather earn someone's trust and keep it than chase new orders at any cost.

Our policy: use AI as little as possible

Here at Firefly, our policy is to use AI as little as possible. That might sound a bit old-fashioned given everything above, but it's a deliberate choice.

We see a lot of value in the in-person and manual approach. Real conversations, careful work and a personal touch are a big part of what makes a small business worth buying from, and they're exactly the things I don't want to hand over to a machine.

Four branded Clinch Coffee T-shirts in black and burgundy laid out flat after printing

Printing: 100% manual

On the printing side of things, it's 100% manual. There's no AI involved at all. Every order is printed by hand, worked through from its print sheet, packed and posted from here in North Yorkshire.

White T-shirt hand printed with the slogan "If things get better with age then I'm approaching magnificence", folded on a desk

That's the heart of what we do, and it's not something I'd want to change. When you order from us, you're getting something that a real person has made by hand.

Where we do use AI

That said, I'm not completely against it. There are a few places where AI genuinely helps a small business like ours, and we use it there:

  • Admin: helping with some of the day-to-day admin that comes with running a business.
  • Website work: things like coding that can be difficult and sit outside my own skill set.
  • Business analytics: giving us good insight into how sales are doing across all of our different sales channels.

When you're running a business on your own, there's only so much time in the day. Using AI for these behind-the-scenes jobs frees up more of my time for the parts that matter most: the printing and the customers.

Finding the right balance

I think the businesses that do well over the next few years will be the ones that find the right balance. AI can be a useful tool, and it's going to open the door for a lot of people to start something of their own. But it can't replace the care that goes into a hand-printed garment, or the relationship you build with a customer who keeps coming back.

Navy hoodies printed with the Well Hung Picture Framers logo for a business customer

For Firefly, that balance means keeping AI in the back office and keeping people at the front: real printing, real service and a real person on the other end of your emails.

Thanks for reading

So that's where we stand on AI: useful in a few places, but never a replacement for the hands-on work and personal service that Firefly is built on. If you're a small business owner thinking about the same questions, I hope this has been helpful.

If you'd like to see what we make, you can browse the shop. And if you've got a question about an order, just get in touch. You'll usually find me at the printer or in my inbox!

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