Reuters finds fashion brands seeking AI replica and training rights in model contracts

Reuters reporter Helen Reid interviewed 15 model-agency directors and reviewed more than a dozen confidential photo-shoot contracts, finding that several fashion and beauty brands have asked models to sign over rights related to AI.

• A Diesel casting sheet asked models to accept changes to their facial features and body proportions, face swaps between models, and placing a participant's face on another person's body. Parent company OTB said the release was drafted for a single campaign, is not typical, and that it does not systematically modify models with AI.
• A contract from Reale Actives, the skincare brand launched by Alix Earle, sought rights to create AI replicas of models and use them for a year without further pay. The brand said it uses real models, has not replicated any model with AI, and that the language came from a partner production company it did not name.
• A Calvin Klein draft asked models to accept, for no extra pay, use of "reasonably unrecognizable" images to train AI tools. A spokesperson said the brand is "testing and learning in this fast-moving space" and that its AI use follows regulation, industry standards and respect for models' rights.
• A L'Oréal photo-shoot contract sought "the right to use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies" for purposes including modifying product appearance and retouching. L'Oréal did not address that language, saying it uses standard AI tools in post-production that do not affect the model's image.

Moncler said it does not currently use AI-generated models on its website or in campaigns, having experimented with an AI campaign in 2023. Gucci, criticised for posting AI-generated images on Instagram this year, did not respond to requests for comment. Mango has reportedly rolled out AI-generated models at scale.

Melanie Howard, a partner at Loeb & Loeb, said broad contract language of this kind is "dangerous in its ambiguity." London model Adot Gak warned of fewer jobs, particularly in e-commerce work. Patrick Staal of Uniko Models in Barcelona described brands seeking face, body and age alterations and digital twins. Sara Ziff of the Model Alliance said AI accelerates misuse of model images, and John Horner of the British Fashion Model Agents Association said the lack of binding rules leaves models exposed.

On the economics, the report says AI-generated models can cut costs by 90% or more against traditional shoots. Zalando shut both of its Berlin photo studios last year and cut more than 340 jobs, though it said some staff moved to other roles. About You, which Zalando acquired in July last year, closed its studio and launched Scayle Studios; Scayle has 130 brand clients and produced 190,000 outfits last month, with a claimed production-cost reduction of over 90%. About You marketing VP Julian Jansen said the company is "saving so much money."

New York's Fashion Workers Act, in effect since June 2025, bars brands from creating or modifying a model's replica without explicit consent. The British Fashion Model Agents Association has an AI code of practice, but it is not binding.

Why it matters for digital humans: This is the clearest published look yet at how digital-replica rights are actually being acquired, not through a likeness marketplace or a consent registry but inside ordinary photo-shoot paperwork, often with no separate payment. Vendors selling avatar and synthetic-model pipelines inherit whatever consent their customers obtained, so the contract layer is where downstream licensing exposure is created or avoided. The cost figures here are company-reported and promotional, and the 90% saving compares against full production shoots rather than a like-for-like workflow. Two things are worth carrying forward: New York's Fashion Workers Act already requires replica consent to be separate, specific and compensated, which makes bundled grants of this kind legally fragile in that jurisdiction; and the brand responses, which variously describe the terms as campaign-specific, drafted by a partner, or standard post-production, suggest procurement rather than policy is writing them.