The Ministry of Textiles launched the NIFT VisioNxt Fashion Forecasting Initiative, along with the fashion trend book ‘Paridhi 24×25,’ a bilingual web portal, and the AI Taxonomy e-book. The event, held at the Longchamp Hall, Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, was inaugurated by the Minister of Textiles, Shri Giriraj Singh, with the Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Textiles, Pabitra Margherita, also in attendance.
The VisioNxt initiative was conceived in response to a gap identified by the Prime Minister at the 2017 Global Textile Summit, where the absence of India-specific, real-time trend insights for industry stakeholders was highlighted. The initiative, established in 2018 at NIFT Delhi’s Creative Lab and NIFT Chennai’s Insights Lab, was developed with the support of the Ministry of Textiles to provide trend insights and forecasting for India’s fashion and retail market. It offers consultancy services, academic courses, and workshops, focusing on trend forecasting for various sectors of the fashion industry.
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VisioNxt is India’s first fashion forecasting platform to integrate both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) to generate trend insights and forecasts. Its mission is to identify and analyse geo-specific trends, reflecting India’s cultural diversity and socio-economic nuances. The platform empowers the Indian fashion industry by offering data-driven, India-specific insights, reducing dependence on global forecasting agencies.
By merging India’s expertise in information technology with the textiles industry, the initiative has made significant advancements, including the development of a pioneering AI model called ‘DeepVision.’ This model decodes patterns in Indian fashion by identifying product attributes such as the style, color, and category of garments. For example, it can distinguish whether a piece is a Kurta or Kurti, its color, and other specific features, all using convolutional neural network architecture.
VisioNxt has produced over 60 micro trend reports, 10 close-to-season trend reports, 3 research papers, and the first AI Taxonomy book for Indian wear categories. Additionally, the platform has published 1 e-magazine, a youth trend report, and a mindset book, helping to shape the future of India’s fashion industry. The reports and insights generated are available in both Hindi and English through the VisioNxt portal (www.visionxt.in), providing valuable resources for weavers, manufacturers, designers, and fashion brands.
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A notable achievement of VisioNxt is the creation of a comprehensive dataset of over 70,000 primary apparel images, supplemented by 280,000 secondary images. These datasets identify patterns in apparel attributes such as style, color, and regional accents. This data-driven approach has enabled the platform to produce precise, geo-specific trend forecasts for the Indian fashion market.
The AI deep learning model developed by VisioNxt identifies more than 60 categories of Indian wear and 40 categories of Western wear with mandated accuracy. These insights are used to generate reports that provide specific design and color directions for the fashion industry, helping brands create consumer-focused collections.
VisioNxt’s educational efforts have trained over 800 students in trend spotting, equipping them with the skills necessary to engage in fashion forecasting through the platform’s data collection system.
By launching VisioNxt, India has positioned itself as a key player in global fashion trend forecasting. The initiative is expected to enhance the visibility of Indian fashion on the world stage while reducing reliance on international trend agencies. Through its efforts, VisioNxt aims to project India’s influence outward while drawing inspiration from within, ensuring the country’s unique fashion identity is recognised globally.
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