AI PREDICTS WHAT SHOES WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FUTURE
While artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be fluctuating between scaring the bejesus out of us and slowly but surely worming its way into our everyday lives, its impact on the fashion world has been undeniable. From those shots of the Pope and Harry Potter decked out in Balenciaga to King Charles and Queen Camilla decked out in, well, all sorts of things, we all seem to be enjoying a bit of fantasy fashion.
The team at KURU Footwear decided to give in and have a little fun with the technology. For Fall 2023, they used the platform to discover how AI would visualize each state as a shoe. [I’ve gotta say, my home state of Pennsylvania’s lace-up sneaker sure seemed dead-on trend!] This season, they wielded AI’s predictive powers to hypothesize the future of footwear. (Remember, these are AI-generated images, so unfortunately, you will not see actual samples displayed at an upcoming trade show – at least so far as we’ve been told.)
From KURU’s website:
“As shoes have evolved over the decades, we’ve seen everything from footwear that had far more to do with fashion that function (hello, 1950s high heels at home) to the sneakerhead craze of the 1980s—and beyond. Today, we see more and more shoes prioritizing comfort, arch support, and cushion for healthy feet.
“AI’s images, too, illustrate a trend toward comfort, which we’ve already observed in the footwear industry. In fact, in a survey we conducted for our 2023 Foot Pain Trends Report, we found that 88% of respondents bought shoes with foot pain in mind.
“We asked AI in a few different ways to give us studio images of what shoes will look like in the future. We kept our prompts vague to ensure minimal bias. Here’s what AI delivered!
Overall:
• The shoes’ insoles appear particularly thick, which could mean AI believes comfort will still be a priority in the future.
• Shoes will include clear silicone or glass and even lights—especially in the soles—giving a very real “Jetsons” aesthetic.
• Orange and blue hues seem to be a common theme.”
Kuru’s team went even further in their quest, asking to see predictive models of shoes for men, women, fashion boots, ski boots, sandals, running shoes, and “pain relief” shoes.
“Here’s what AI predicts for men’s footwear:
• Sneakers got a major futuristic update, but dress shoes look relatively the same as today—perhaps with a little more shine and flair.
• AI believes that black and orange will be the most popular men’s footwear colors.
• AI predicts sneakers will remain popular, with 3 out of the 4 images being this fan-favorite style.”
To see more footwear predictions (they worked closely with the team at Midjourney, the lab behind man of those fantasy celebrity makeovers mentioned above) check out Kuru’s website here.