If you’re looking into getting custom kit for the first time, or you want a fresh take on the same old club kit you and your Herd have been riding (or running) around in for longer than you can remember. One of the main struggles can be coming up with a design concept that you love, and that’ll look epic out on your adventures. It might be that you’ve got an idea in your head and you just can’t quite put pen to paper. Or you just have no idea where to even start. Which can make getting in touch to discuss your ideas a little bit tricky!
This is where our NEW custom kit AI design tool comes in. Some of you may not know that Stolen Goat founder, Tim Bland, is a bit of a coding wizard when he’s not having his work cut out for him keeping all the SG HQ Goats vaguely in line. Tim has created the new AI design tool (which you can find over at Stolen Goat Custom) to help you get the wheels turning on your custom kit ideas.
Keep reading to find out more about what the AI custom kit design tool is, how it can help you to get the best custom cycling kit (or running kit) going and for some insights from Tim on what went into creating it.
What is the Stolen Goat Custom kit AI design tool?
The Stolen Goat AI kit designer is a nifty little tool (if we do say so ourselves) that you can use to spark your design inspiration and start playing around with ideas. It’s easy to use – no art skills (or techy know-how) required.
Step 1: Choose your colour palette
You can select up to five different colours for your design
Step 2: Select a vibe with style presets
Choose between minimal, bold, retro and geometric.
Step 3: Pick a model
When the tool generates the design, you can see it on either a male or female model.
Step 4: Add references (optional)
Seen some existing kit you like? You can upload it as a reference.
Step 5: Add a quick description
Tell the tool what design you’re after. Be it ‘geometric patterns inspired by the mountains’ or ‘baby goat riding a bicycle drinking an enormous cup of coffee’
Step 6: Start playing!
Tap ‘generate design’ and you’ll get a live preview. You can then make tweaks to iterate on your initial design, or if it’s not what you were picturing you can start from scratch.
So is the AI tool a replacement for human designers?
Definitely not! The tool is just a starting point to help you get the juices flowing. It’s also completely optional. Our very human (and very awesome) designers will work with you to turn your design into something that will translate into a great-looking real life kit. And you can skip the tool all together and just start with a good old fashioned conversation. No sweat.
Why did you create the AI designer tool?
Aside from ‘because it’s cool’, you might be wondering why we decided to launch our AI custom kit designer in the first place. The TL;DR version is: it’s about adapting to the way people are using AI – and making the process of creating custom kit easier! But over to Tim for some more detailed insights:
“We only ever use our highly skilled human designers to create designs for custom projects. But more and more people were coming to us with generic AI-generated kit designs anyway,” Tim explained. “So we figured, why not give them an actual tool to do it?”
“People like to be able to see something, and it’s a fun way to generate a quick visual to share around the club or the office.”
“The tool is only supposed to act as a starting point. It’s also optional, so people can still just chat to use directly from the start to bring their ideas to life. But for example, we had a client who wanted a cycling jersey with a chihuahua riding a Raleigh Chopper. That was their only design requirement, and they didn’t have time to put any further thought into it. The AI tool meant we could quickly demonstrate an example of what it could look like before our designers set to work meticulously drawing the design up from scratch.”
Was it hard to create?
Now it’s out in the wild, the tool is pretty agile and easy to use. But it’s taken a bit of time to get there. “I’ve been experimenting with AI tools and apps for a little while now, and what I’ve found is that (at least in the current form) the hardest thing to achieve with AI is consistency. So getting a design of someone wearing a kung-fu unicorn jersey is pretty easy to achieve. But making the ‘model’ consistent as well as the style that comes out consistent takes some time, and constant feedback loops.”
“We also wanted the user to be able to iterate the design rather than start from scratch each time – again not obvious out of the box.”
What’s the craziest design you’ve generated so far?
The fun thing about the tool is that you can put in a completely outlandish idea to see what it will look like, without having to actually commit to getting it on a jersey.
“We had a conversation in the office about designing a cycling jersey with a monochromatic flying monkey eating spaghetti (just an average Tuesday morning chat here at SG HQ!). The result was pretty cool if you ask me…”
“Hey, reckon we could get the AI design tool to mock us up a cycling jersey with a flying monkey chowing down on some spaghetti?”
What are your thoughts on AI in general?
“Firstly, anything I say here won’t age well as the pace of development is ridiculously fast right now!”
“But I think AI is an incredible tool currently. People often react with fear about these things but right now AI is not a replacement for skilled people, it’s an incredible time saving tool if used correctly.”
“On the coding side you can create fully functioning apps in minutes just by describing what you want, or you can create a full music album just by describing it. Granted there’s a lot of “AI slop” being created right now because people see a financial opportunity. But it’s easy to spot, for now at least.”
“Ultimately a skilled person can leverage AI to make an amazing thing faster than ever. And an unskilled person can use AI to make something that’s pretty good.”
Where can I test out the new Stolen Goat Custom kit designer tool?
Head over to our dedicated Stolen Goat Custom website to start creating. If you like what you see, you can also easily get an instant quote to find out more about how to bring your creation to life!
Explore our custom kit options
Ready to get started? Learn more about what we can create for you:
- Custom cycling kit – jerseys, bib shorts, gilets and more
- Custom running kit – running tops and vests
- Custom triathlon kit – tri suits and multisport gear
- Club and team kit – for cycling clubs, running groups and teams