Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with a few small clothing brands, and one problem kept coming up in every conversation:
“We can get new inventory fast… but product photos slow everything down.”
That fascinated me. Most boutiques spend:
days coordinating photoshoots
money on models + photographers
time editing everything
and meanwhile, new items sit in inventory waiting for photos
One boutique owner told me:
“I can add products to Shopify the same day I get them, but photos take 2–3 weeks. I lose sales every time.”
That sentence is basically what kicked off this whole project.
🧪 Early experiments
I started by playing with background removal tools, virtual studios, early AI generation models, pose-transfer models
Results were… okay-ish. Cool tech, but nothing you’d confidently publish on a real store.
What I really wanted was something like:
Upload garment → get realistic model photo → done
No photoshoot, no scheduling, no waiting.
⚙️ The tech stack I’m using
Right now the project is built with:
Next.js (frontend)
Supabase (auth + storage)
Fal.ai (AI inference endpoints)
Vercel (hosting)
The flow looks like this: User uploads a garment image -> It runs through preprocessing (crop, contour detection, smoothing) -> Sent to an AI model for realistic try-on -> Post-processing improves lighting + consistency -> delivered as a final product photo
Still improving it — realism is the hardest part but now it's more realistic than others that I played with.
🎯 The goal
I’m trying to answer one simple question:
“Can small clothing brands get store-ready model photos without photoshoots?”
I’m not sure yet, but early tests have been promising enough to keep building.
Some brands loved it:
“This saves me days.”
Some weren’t ready:
“I still prefer real models.”
Understanding that gap is part of this whole journey.
🚀 Launching soon on Product Hunt
I’m planning to launch the project on Product Hunt soon (next week).
If you like AI + e-commerce + build-in-public stuff, I’ll share the link when it goes live.
Would love any thoughts, feedback, or questions — especially from developers working with:
generative models
computer vision
e-commerce automation
apparel tech
Happy to nerd out on the technical side if anyone’s interested.
Results:
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