Kidswear on model, without the shoot day

The shoot is booked for nine. By half past ten the two-year-old is done, there is banana on the cardigan and four of the fourteen looks are in.

Everyone in kidswear knows this day. It is the reason so much of the collection ends up flat on a white background, while parents want to see how it looks when worn. It doesn't have to stay that way: brands like WE Fashion, Donsje and Wehkamp now put the rest of the collection on model with AI imagery from Lookgen.

Why most kidswear never makes it onto a model

It is not a lack of ambition. A kids shoot runs on different terms than any other shoot.

• The window is short. A young child gives you a brief stretch of good mood, and much of it goes to getting changed. You plan fourteen looks and hope for eight.

• The sample decides the cast. Samples usually come in one size. You don't book the child that suits the brand, you book the child that fits the sample that week.

• Every age is its own shoot. Baby, toddler, kid, teen: four casts and four ways of working. A baby can't take direction and a ten-year-old has opinions.

• There is no reshoot. By the time someone spots the missing image, the child has grown a size and lost a front tooth.

• The days are capped. In the Netherlands a child of six or younger may work six days a year, four hours at most, with an exemption per production. Rightly so, and it makes every shoot day scarce.

• The image isn't yours. The buyout sets a term, a territory and a list of channels. When the term ends the image comes down, even if the item is still selling.

So you choose. The hero pieces get a child and a campaign. The basics, the carry-overs and the third colorway go online as a flat lay.

What changes when a product photo is enough

Lookgen turns a product photo into a styled look on a virtual model. A flat lay, a hanger shot or a photo from the supplier will do. That takes the shoot day out of the equation for the part of the collection that never got one anyway.

The image is ready when the stock is

The supplier sends a product photo long before the delivery comes in. You no longer wait for the sample, the cast and the next shoot day. The on-model image can be ready when the stock lands.

One item, shown the way it is worn

Kidswear is made to mix and match. Parents don't buy a dress on its own, they buy something that goes with the sneakers, the cardigan and the rain boots already in the closet. On a shoot, every combination is one more outfit change inside that short window. Here it is one more image.

The same goes for age. A dress that runs from toddler to seven-year-old can be shown on both, not only on the child who fit the sample.

A new season for stock you already have

Take a skirt photographed in spring with bare legs and sandals. In September it is still in stock, but the image says summer. Add tights, boots and a knitted sweater and the same skirt is an autumn item.

Same SKU, same stock, new image. On a shoot, that would mean rebooking a child who has since outgrown the skirt.

Three brands, three ways

Take a skirt photographed in spring with bare legs and sandals. In September it is still in stock, but the image says summer. Add tights, boots and a knitted sweater and the same skirt is an autumn item.

Same SKU, same stock, new image. On a shoot, that would mean rebooking a child who has since outgrown the skirt.

WE Fashion: Wear the moment, for kids too

WE Fashion's brand promise is "Wear the moment". That holds for kids as much as for adults: one sweater has to work at school, at a birthday party and on the weekend. Showing that takes several looks per item, and that is exactly what a kids shoot can't deliver across a whole collection.

With Lookgen, WE shows each item in multiple stylings. Click-through rate doubled. Return rates are on par with traditional on-model photography, a sign that shoppers get what the image shows. WE is now scaling up.

Donsje: the very youngest in the picture

Amsterdam-based Donsje makes shoes, clothing and accessories for babies and children. This is the age group with the least room to shoot. At the same time the brand has a distinct visual language that has to be right in every image.

Wehkamp: scale and speed

Wehkamp carries a wide range of kidswear from many brands, with new items arriving all the time. What counts there is how fast an item goes live with good imagery, and whether that works for thousands of items at once.

Where Lookgen makes the difference

One good AI image is easy to make. The gain comes when every image is consistent, the whole collection is covered, your stylists stay in control without being an AI expert and one tool takes you from product photo to finished image. That combination is what delivers speed, ease and quality at the same time.

• Consistent. The product stays the product: print, fabric and layering are preserved. Your own backgrounds and exclusive brand avatars keep the first image and the thousandth on brand.

• At scale. Not just the hero pieces but the full range, in every combination you want to show.

• In control. Lookgen was built with professional stylists. Your team picks the model, items and accessories and adjusts pose or camera angle. Nobody has to learn prompting.

• Studio, scenery and video. The same look works as a studio shot for the product page, in a scene for a campaign and as video for social.

• End to end, at any size. Upload your collection in a few clicks, or connect your PIM and DAM so images are imported, coded and published automatically. The connections are optional, so Lookgen fits enterprise retailers as well as smaller brands that don't have those systems.

More volume, and more options

AI makes the volume possible. The bigger shift is what opens up beyond volume. A campaign with children on a beach, in the snow or in a city on the other side of the world is normally complex and costly: travel, chaperones and capped working hours. With scenery shots and video, the location becomes a creative choice instead of a production.

Your vision stays the same. Lookgen is a tool, and your team stays in control of every look. You simply get to do more with it: more of the range on model, more variations per item and more ways to tell the story.

Curious what this means for your kids collection? Book a demo. The consultation is free of charge and without obligation.