I am delighted to announce the release of FabricGenie, an AI project I recently devised and built for The Millshop Online.

FabricGenie allows online visitors to describe a design or upload an image of their room. It then sends them unique fabric designs matching their description or complementing their room’s décor.  Customers can order their preferred design as either loose fabric or made-to-measure curtains or blinds. This is a world first in the soft furnishings industry.

The FabricGenie concept

The world of soft furnishings has been largely resistant to technological progress.  The only significant development has been a shift from buying fabric in high street stores to browsing and ordering online.  Even this process can often be slow, uninspiring, and overwhelming.

Recent developments in AI image generation allowed us to offer a high level of personalisation to the customer without the need to engage expensive fabric designers. The customer can simply describe their design or upload an image of their room. FabricGenie sends them a selection of designs with instant online ordering from the Millshop website. Our hope is homeowners find this a more creative and satisfying process resulting in a product that precisely matches their requirements.

How does FabricGenie work?

Customers complete a simple form on the Millshop website. They can enter a text description or upload an image of a room, sketch, or an existing design. A few minutes later, FabricGenie sends them four variations of designs matching their requirements. The system is tightly integrated with Millshop’s Shopify website offering instant ordering of loose fabric or custom-made curtains or blinds.

Brand awareness & SEO

Creating an exciting new product can often lead to significant media attention. The press coverage of FabricGenie in technology, ecommerce and home interiors publications will result in increased brand awareness for my client. The links gained from these publishers also have the potential to enhance The Millshop’s organic visibility on Google.  

The Magic behind FabricGenie

I was the back-end developer on this project while Seb Kay at Fhoke designed the front-end form and landing page. The entire back-end system was built on Zapier, making full use of its tight integration with the latest AI models. Where bespoke code was required, this was mostly generated by OpenAI’s GPT4 allowing us to keep development times and costs to a minimum. The entire project took less than 12 weeks from initial concept to public launch.

While AI-generated design lends itself perfectly to the repeating designs used for fabrics, this same concept and process could be easily adapted to almost any other product category. AI can be used to enhance products wherever consumers value personalisation and exclusivity.

If you would like to know more about how FabricGenie was created or are interested in discussing an AI project for your own business, please get in touch.