Garment Transfer

What is garment transfer?

Garment transfer (also called virtual dressing or image-based try-on) is the process of taking an image of a clothing item and rendering it onto a photo of a person, adapting it to their pose, body shape, and the lighting of the original photo.

It works from standard 2D product photos (on-model shots, flat lays, or ghost mannequin images) rather than requiring a 3D model per product.

How it works

1. Person parsing: image segmentation identifies the body, hair, and the clothes currently worn.
2. Pose understanding: pose estimation maps shoulders, waist, and limbs so the garment lands at the right scale and angle.
3. Garment encoding: the product photo is analyzed for shape, fabric texture, and construction details.
4. Generation: a diffusion model repaints the clothing region via image inpainting, synthesizing drape, wrinkles, and shadows consistent with the scene.

Main challenges

• Drape: fabric folds differently on every body; folds must be synthesized, not copied from the product photo.
• Detail fidelity: logos, prints, and text must survive the transfer without warping.
• Occlusion: crossed arms, hair, or bags must stay in front of the new garment.
• Identity preservation: face, body, and background must remain unchanged; only the clothing region is modified.

Garment transfer vs. 3D try-on

	Garment transfer	3D / AR try-on
Input per product	2D product photos	3D asset per SKU
Typical products	Apparel	Rigid items (glasses, watches, shoes)
Output	Static generated image	Live camera overlay

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Is garment transfer the same as virtual try-on?↓

Garment transfer is the underlying technique; virtual try-on is the user-facing feature built on it. For apparel, garment transfer is what runs behind a try-on widget.