How fashion lovers can use AI tools to find designer dupes | Money News

Fashion dupes have become increasingly popular in recent years thanks to social media sleuths seeking out cheaper alternatives for trending items.

Dupes (from duplicates) – as opposed to counterfeit items or direct replicas – intend to give the buyer a similar aesthetic but at a much cheaper price, without copying the original.

With the rise of dupe culture, several AI tools have been created to help shoppers find budget-friendly “designer” looks in minutes.

We’ve taken a look at a few…

Dupe.com

The website launched in spring 2024 with the intention of helping people find dupes for luxury furniture, fashion and home decor items at a fraction of the cost.

Users can paste a website link, upload an image or search for a prompt and dupe.com will return suggestions for more reasonably priced alternatives with a similar vibe.

I tried this out by uploading a photo of a De La Vali ruffled maxi dress. It’s totally gorgeous, but at £845 it’s a little pricey.

The returned results were mixed and included links back to the same dress – defeating the object a little. However, it did give results for dresses along similar lines at a significantly more affordable price. Not perfect, but it definitely took the work out of looking for a cheaper alternative.

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Google Lens

This feature is essentially a Google search but using images not key words.

It allows users to search details for products they may have only seen on social media, or even to see how a certain outfit or interior design could look in a different colour.

But it’s also used by fashion lovers for finding dupes, with the “visual matches” section offering links to fashion sites with similar items at lower prices.

Using the image of that De La Vali dress again, I got suggestions for pieces from popular sellers such as Boohoo and Missguided, as well as links to the original dress.

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ASOS style match

If you’ve got the ASOS app, you can use the search function to upload pictures of an outfit you’ve seen online or on socials, and it’ll return similar items from its own brand or other sellers.

I tried it with the same dress as above and got results for alternative dresses around a tenth of the price.

Pinterest

Popular with those who like virtual scrapbooking, Pinterest is another platform you can use to find similar styles through images.

Pinterest Lens lets you upload or take a picture of an item that’s caught your eye, and it’ll return its suggestions from a range of websites.

I went for a different item this time – a £235 floral maxi dress from RIXO. Here’s a snapshot of the results:

ChatGPT

I asked ChatGPT to find me similar styles to that RIXO dress above, but at a lower price point.

It returned a description of the dress and its suggestions for cheaper alternatives.

Of all the platforms listed here, its dupes were probably the least similar to the original, but it’s still a handy way to find similar items at the click of a button.