Zalando Premium/Designer: model views need real models, not AI
Zalando's Premium/Designer image guide says model views need real models, not AI-generated. What that leaves for Sume: packshots, retouching and checks.
Zalando's Premium/Designer image guide, as read on 2026-10-02, lists real models as required for model views, not AI-generated ones. So for designer brands, do not generate the model view with Sume. Keep photographed model views and use image generation only where the guide does not bar it, then check each output against the page.
What the page says
From Zalando's Premium/Designer image guide (read 2026-10-02). It is a separate page from the general image guidelines (read 2026-10-02), which carry a last-updated date of October 1, 2026 and cover standard brands.
| Topic | What the page says |
|---|---|
| Model views | Real models required (not AI-generated) |
| Article | Must be fully recognizable |
| Sharpness | High resolution at all sizes; blurred images not accepted |
| Packshot background | White, R255 G255 B255 / #FFFFFF |
| Model-view background | Grey/beige; best practice R241 G241 B241 / #F1F1F1 |
Where that leaves Sume
The page names model views. It does not, in the text read, speak to AI-assisted retouching of packshots, so do not assume permission either way. Ask your Zalando contact if a workflow depends on it.
What Sume does well here is the work around the shoot: cleaning a packshot onto white, generating the 1:1.44 canvas, and drafting alt text. Read the AI distortion checklist before you run anything on a designer article, because a changed hem or colour fails the recognizability line.
A safe split of work
Sume's Image API returns Sume-hosted media URLs per job (Image API), so each file is traceable to a job.
- Model views: photographed with real models, uploaded as shot.
- Packshots: photographed, with any background clean-up reviewed against the real garment.
- Batch checks: one job per image to flag blur or a stray label, using your own review rules.
- Anything generated: keep the original and the job id so you can show what changed.
Why the line matters for a pipeline
A catalogue pipeline that treats every image the same will eventually push a generated model view into a designer feed. Add a field per image, source: photographed or generated, and make the upload step refuse generated model views for designer brands. That is a rule in your code, and it protects you better than a reminder in a checklist.
What this does not cover
For Zalando's rules on labelling AI images, see the labelling post. This post only covers the model-view line on the designer page.
Sources
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Written by Sume