We decided to make hippist AI in November 2023. Many people ask where this idea came from. hippist AI emerged from our own experiences and needs. I’ve personally experienced the struggles of product photography through my own jewelry brand and while consulting over 50 e-commerce businesses for over 10 years.
We have a natural stone jewelry brand that we founded 6 years ago. We used to do regular photo shoots. Due to the increasing costs after the pandemic, we were unable to do modeled photo shoots for Bonjouk Studio for a while; we could not sell the products that we did not display on the model.
That was exactly the period when generative AI was just starting to enter our lives, so we wanted to look for an AI tool and solve this problem with artificial intelligence.
We searched for a long time, could not find it, and were very disappointed because all AI tools that produce product photos for e-commerce did the same thing, delete the background of the photo and put the product on a background produced with AI. There was no working application where you could see such products on a person.
When we saw that there was no such product, we decided to make it because we knew how big the need was, and the idea of hippist AI was born. Since we know e-commerce and needs firsthand, we developed hippist directly according to these needs.
Let me briefly explain the magnitude of the problem I am talking about; over 26.5 million clothing and accessories brands struggle with product photography — especially showing items on models, which is vital in driving purchase decisions. Traditional photoshoots require significant budgets, time, and coordination. Existing generative AI tools mostly remove backgrounds or place products against AI-generated backdrops, but none effectively show products on a person. This gap leaves brands unable to offer the on-model experience customers expect, without incurring steep photoshoot costs. We faced the same challenge — unable to shoot certain products without a budget — and realized the industry needed a solution that could truly replace or supplement standard photoshoots.
In today’s tough economic environment, small brands often lack the budget and resources to produce professional, on-model photos — yet they can’t compete without them. hippist AI was born out of that need: to democratize the product photography process by providing a cost-effective, AI-driven solution that empowers independent makers, designers, and small brands. While there are many generative AI tools focusing on background removal, text-to-image designs, or digital fashion concepts, our tool uniquely delivers on-model product photos with fully customizable AI models — from changing the model’s physical appearance to altering styling and setup. It’s this ability to help brands showcase their products in the most compelling, brand-aligned way — without hefty costs or complex logistics — that drives me and our team forward every day. We aimed to create a tool that will make e-commerce product photography more accessible, democratic, and sustainable.
So how are we solving this problem?
With hippist AI, you can basically transform selfies and product photos into stunning AI-driven model shoots. Our generative AI eliminates costly, time-intensive photoshoots, letting brands showcase products on realistic, on-model images instantly. Snap a photo — hippist AI does the rest!
With hippist AI, brands can:
* Display products on AI-generated models in various styles, enabling customers to visualize items as if they’re worn by real people.
* Eliminate costly, time-intensive photoshoots by transforming simple product photos into polished, on-model images.
* Create photography for different seasons, geographies, and campaigns without re-shooting — making e-commerce photography more accessible and affordable for businesses of all sizes.
Since then, we have done a lot of work in the past year; I wanted to share them with you here.
What did we do in hippist AI in 2024?
1 — Live Product & User Testing:
Our fully operational web platform has undergone extensive testing through proofs of concept (POCs) and real-world user feedback. We’ve redesigned our onboarding and UI/UX multiple times based on this feedback, ensuring a smoother experience for newcomers.
2 — Beta Mobile Application.
We launched our Mobile applications’ beta version.
3 — Dynamic Prompts System:
Allows users to describe their desired changes (e.g., “replace the background with a sunny park”) while maintaining control over specific aspects of the image, like product integrity.
4 — Post-Edit Capabilities:
Includes advanced after-edit features like changing clothes, adjusting body poses, and refining outputs to meet brand-specific needs.
5 — Magic Expand Feature:
There is a very important need that we see. People’s close-up photos that are missing faces, arms, bodies, etc. need to be completed. We have developed this function: hippist AI Magic Expand. Proprietary logic and algorithms enable users to expand photos seamlessly — adding missing body parts, adjusting settings, or creating entirely new compositions without compromising realism.
6 — Custom Training Layers:
Thousands of hours of additional training have been applied to fine-tune these models for task-specific needs, such as generating realistic on-model visuals and modifying features like faces, outfits, and poses.
7 — We started to work with our beloved customers.
It has been 2 months since we launched our website. Since we have a very good command of the jewelry subject and needs from our first-hand experiences, we started with jewelry and at the end of these 2 months, we had customers from very different sectors.
Here are some of the industries already benefiting from hippist AI’s capabilities:
- Jewelry Designers: We have served many jewelry brands in a short time. We have customers from Türkiye, America, England and India.
- Fashion & Apparel Brands: We are getting very good results in upper clothing. Our work for full-length shots continues. We made all the visuals for the capsule clothing collection released by the Arya group and they presented the products for sale with our visuals.
- Eyewear Brands: We started working with eyewear brands. We worked on very impressive visuals for their product pages, social media, and catalogs.
- Kids Brands: Children’s brands have a huge model problem. It’s not easy to work with child models. Most designers don’t want to use their own children in visuals. You can change the faces of children with a hipster and get brand new photo shoots.
- Towel Brands: We worked with a towel brand and got great results. It is not easy to take photos for towels. The clothes, the model’s body, the environment, it is very difficult to handle on your own. We turned simple shots that you can take in your garden or a room into professional photo shoots.
- Pet Products Brands: Quite by chance, after a customer was curious about the demo, we saw that we could change the dogs and their breeds in the photos and we realized that we could get very good results for pet brands as well.
- Content Creators: Turkey’s most famous actor and comedian Cem Yilmaz shared a photo of himself that was changed to a hipster on his Instagram. New start-ups like us understand what this means very well. That’s why I couldn’t skip this while talking about our first year. 🙂
8 — Customer Meetings & Relationships:
In addition to our paying customers, we’re actively holding demos, workshops, and one-on-one meetings with potential clients. Through these relationships, we gather real-time feedback and feature requests, refining hippist AI to better meet the evolving needs of our target industries.
9 — Tutorials
We opened our YouTube channel. We uploaded many tutorial videos explaining how to use hippist more easily and tips for users.
10 — Trainings
We provided training to Local Makers’ designers who sell very special products of designers.
We provided training to brands within Envoyo that supported the sales of different brands in marketplaces in different countries.
11 — Partnering with agencies
We started to work with agencies. hippist AI is a tool that will make the job of agencies much easier. For example, if the customer has money to do a shoot but does not have the budget for different styling or ethnic images, they can multiply a single shoot by a hundred with hippist AI. This offers a huge saving opportunity for both the agency and the customer.
Or situations like this happen; a small client starts working with an agency. They want to increase their sales in this way, but they don’t have any visuals. Advertisements will be given here, and content will be prepared, but the budget is limited. At this point, they need photos to be able to do all of this. But there is no budget. hippist AI is the perfect address for these clients and agencies to solve their problems.
12 — Connecting with our customers in every possible way.♥️
We share all of these updates on our Linkedin, Instagram, and Twitter pages.
Our Vision for 2025
As we step into 2025, our vision is simple: to create a world where brands of all sizes can thrive, connect, and grow with ease. Here’s what we dream of achieving:
- Democratize High-Quality Photography:
We aim to provide access to professional-quality visuals for more brands, enabling small and medium-sized businesses to compete with big brands on a level playing field. - Reduce Fashion’s Carbon Footprint:
By replacing traditional photoshoots with AI-powered solutions, we’ll help reduce the environmental impact of fashion and photography as we scale with more brands. - Enhance Brand Processes with AI:
Our goal is to streamline brand workflows, using AI to dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of generating high-quality outputs. - Expand Accessibility & Integrations:
We’ll broaden our reach with new applications and integrations into e-commerce platforms, amplifying our impact and making hippist AI more accessible than ever. - Foster a Collaborative Community:
Build a community of creators, brands, and makers who share tips, ideas, and inspiration, making hippist AI more than a tool — a platform for innovation. - Empower Sustainable Creativity:
By encouraging innovative use of AI, we’ll inspire brands to create more diverse and sustainable campaigns without relying on expensive resources. - Support Seasonal Campaigns Globally:
We’ll help brands tailor their visuals for different regions, seasons, and trends, ensuring they stay relevant and competitive in diverse markets. - Set the Standard in AI for E-Commerce:
hippist AI will solidify its position as a go-to solution, becoming synonymous with AI-driven photography in the e-commerce and creative sectors. - Advance AI Technology:
Continue to innovate, introducing new features to push the boundaries of AI capabilities and make it as easy for our users to use and for everyone to have easy access to beautiful photo shoots.
We wish ourselves, all entrepreneurs, start-ups, survivors, and the whole world a year full of happiness, motivation, hope, and goodness in 2025.
Deniz Kahraman
Founder and CEO
hippist AI
