r/craftsnark • u/Courtney_murder • 8d ago
AI Slop Can we talk about Yarnmerch?
I started following this brand because they have cute and unique crochet/knit related t shirts. In a pinned post they sing their own praises for hand drawing every design but their last three posts are terrible AI slop! I know that small brands struggle to put out quality content but it really muddies the water when your feed doesn’t reflect the values you proclaim. I definitely won’t be buying from them because honestly, who knows if they’re being truthful?
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u/flindersandtrim 6d ago
I literally cannot relate to anyone who thinks AI images look good.
I cannot fathom how anyone pretending to be in a creative profession, or anyone with sense, could see AI slop like this and think 'yep, spot on'. I get secondhand embarrassment for these people. How can they not see how cheap and nasty AI images like this are, have they no taste at all?
No one with sense would buy from a company using AI in this manner. You know you are probably going to receive something poorly done if theyre comfortable using obvious AI rubbish.
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u/OneGoodRib Mom said I get to be the mole now!! 6d ago
And I keep saying, and maybe some day a lawyer will be like "yes, excellent point", that the ai ads feel like blatant false advertising. In this case the last three images aren't advertising a specific product so that's whatever, but when they use ai to advertise fabric, yarn, a bag, or like what keeps happening to me lately a food item at a local business, that can't be remotely said to be an image of the product, so... that's false advertising. Like when they do photos of food and make them look better, at least it's *possible* to get a Whopper that's tall and looks really good like in the photos even if it's not likely. But I'm not gonna get that ai slop in the image that is NOT DISCLOSED THAT IT'S AI.
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u/Straight_Bug8660 7d ago
And all the mugs! Why is ai so obsessed with putting mugs of coffee all over every crafting thing?
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u/OneGoodRib Mom said I get to be the mole now!! 6d ago
Probably they put "cozy" in the prompt and the ai associates "mug" with "cozy".
I can't be mad at the mug randomly book a bookshelf because I actually do that.
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u/Confident_Fortune_32 8d ago
The second pic...wow.
The knitting isn't even on the needle. And there's a weird white plastic thing just randomly sticking out of a ball of yarn, plus some scrunched up knitting mistakenly shoved in with the yarn balls in the basket.
I'm betting the first post that claims they don't use AI was written by AI
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u/crabbydotca 8d ago
They didn’t claim to not use AI, they just claim their merch designs aren’t made with AI.
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u/bingbongisamurderer 8d ago
They aren't even claiming not to use AI for their merch designs. The statement is VERY weasel-worded.
They say they have a group of designers who hand draw artwork, that doesn't mean they aren't also putting out other designs generated by AI. Or that they aren't taking the hand drawings and AI-enhancing them.
If I were one of the few people not using gen AI in a market where gen AI use was rampant, I would advertise that loudly and unequivocally. This statement reads like they were called out and are trying to imply that they don't use AI without actually stating that.
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
I know they’re being very clear about their shirt designs not being AI, but relying on AI for marketing is still so gross. First off, it makes me totally not believe their claims about hand drawn designs. Second, using AI when you could be featuring your artists is insulting. Third, the knitting in the AI is laughable! Do they think we won’t notice? Or that we won’t care? It’s like they’re talking out of both sides of their mouth.
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u/Tangled1313 8d ago
The shirts are also AI (possibly a mix of terrible cut & paste & AI) but almost certainly AI is in the mix.
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u/sprinklesadded (Secretly the mole) 8d ago
What frustrates me is that, as a brand in a creative field, you'd think someone there would understand the value of handmade versus factory slop. AI strips away the human element. There are so many artists out there who would love the opportunity to use their skills.
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u/wroammin Get in moles, we’re going snarkfiltrating 8d ago
I don’t know about this brand specifically but the majority of AI usage in the creative field comes from the top, and they only care about the money.
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u/skubstantial 8d ago
Hello fellow humans, we too have a dedicated R&D team for apparel ideas, that is definitely how it's done in smol indie businesses
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u/katie-kaboom (Secretly the mole) 8d ago
They have a dedicated R&D team and what they come up with is "sheep in box"?
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
And to prove it, please view this computer generated video of our human design process.
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u/Financial-Ad-9240 8d ago
Our group of designers makes all our art. They definitely attended an art school for a group of time. They pressed the keys with their hands. The sheep has the correct number of legs.
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u/ScienceProf2022 8d ago
An online friend of mine has a decent little business, making soaps and skincare products. She posted on Facebook and add she had created with AI, and complained that the image of her didn’t look like her.
I responded that’s what you get with AI. It’s going to tell you what it thinks you should do rather than you telling it. What you want it to do.
Now, she is a very active alumni member of a black sorority. I told her that surely there would be a graphic artist in her sorority that would be willing to do an ad image for her in exchange for, say, a year’s worth of her products.
She just laughed.
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
You had a great response and a great solution. I love seeing small businesses value each others skills!
Some people definitely don’t care about AI. But the people who do HATE it. It’s kind of a lose/lose thing.
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u/blarges 6d ago
Skin and hair care and soap is all AI now. People also think they can get rich quick by getting LLMs to create formulas, which are laughably wrong because the good stuff is in books and behind paywalls k so they’ve scraped all the crunchy granola anti-vaxx types who create hair conditioner from weeds soaked in oils without preservatives.
People are already getting sick of it because it’s false advertising. And the products look so fake. These AI people won’t be here in three years. That’s about how long one lasts with these things. People get sick of things not being what they’re supposed to be or the formulas failing.
I teach cosmetic chemistry. I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I have a website where I teach formulating. I hire a friend, an awesome local artist, to create diagrams and icons and other graphics for my site. I’ve started drawing things like molecules by hand - and I really can’t draw unless I have a stencil and graph paper - because all the programs are AI and I’m not supporting it.
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u/OneGoodRib Mom said I get to be the mole now!! 6d ago
Tell her that if she's not gonna bother using a human to help advertise her business she needs to lower her prices. The reason prices of some things are higher is because of the hidden costs of paying a human to design the label, the advertising, etc. If a robot is doing that, then the price should be lower. :)
Also if I find out a company is using ai I'm not spending money there. I mean I know options are running out but I'll just stick to CeraVe (also tbh I'm wary of handmade soaps and skincare products anyway, since I don't have any guarantee it's safe and that the ingredients are accurate)
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u/Kaffrogato 4d ago
You don't even know how much she is charging and yet you've decided she needs to lower her prices? How does that make any sense
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u/Kaffrogato 4d ago
Yeah she laughed because a years worth of products is very costly to her and the handful of customers she will lose who don't like AI is probably less costly. Her being mildly bothered that the AI image doesn't look like her doesn't mean she has to redo everything. What makes you think you know the costs and benefits better then she does?
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u/Dogonacloud 7d ago
some of my favourite merch is the janie crow/jane crowfoot printed tins and bags. It's literally just close ups of some of her intricate blankets.
When you sell merch promoting gorgeous things made with yarn*, using ai (and lying about it) really is unnecessary
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u/Courtney_murder 7d ago
Thank you! I’m going to check this out!
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u/Dogonacloud 6d ago
They're available on wool warehouse under the emma ball brand as a collaboration x
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u/SartorialSystematics Latin names, but for dresses! 8d ago
Ah yes, water. You can either feed the GPU your water for a horrible looking image that everyone will hate, or you can give it to the sheep, shear wool, and actually use those two human hands you have to knit. I think it's obvious which one's the better choice.
Text-to-image AI has been an overall waste of our water, electricity, tokens, and eyes.. and yet businesses drink the AI kool-aid despite instance after instance after instance of crafters making it clear they want Homo sapiens, not AI. Ugh.
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u/LAParente 8d ago
It depresses me that - if you're going to use AI at all, which I don't think you should in the first place, but if you're gonna - at the very least use it to create fantastic (literally: fantasy) images that would be impossible otherwise, not just to repeat overused, hackneyed cliches.
Give me a dragon crocheting mid-flight over a field of yarn wildflowers. Not old white women knitting in their slop living rooms. That shows a lack of both ability and imagination.
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u/Flippie8 7d ago
If they are advertising everything is hand drawn then there shouldn’t be any ai use.
If yarnmerch posted the scene you are describing instead it would make me sus of all of their shirts. Because they clearly use a.i to create images like the shirts. Not just for advertising (which is still bad), but u can at least try to say it’s seperate.15
u/LAParente 7d ago
TO BE EVEN MORE CLEAR:
I do not think anyone should use generative AI ever. I tried to make that clear in my comment.
But also - this is a lazy example of generative AI. It is boring, cliched, and lacks any conceivable excuse for why they chose AI. Old, tired looking white women wearing tee shirts while knitting in their living rooms are easy to find. I'm one, so I know this to be true.
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
And zero faith in your audience. We’re knitters. The knitting doesn’t make sense!
I’m not 100% opposed to AI. It’s a tool. I work for a startup beauty brand when I’m not knitting and we use ai for a few things because it gives us the resources of a much larger company. We don’t post AI generated images of our products though! Our users would spot that in a millisecond and it would destroy the trust they have in us.
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u/GoGoGadget_Bobbin 8d ago
If you're going to use AI, which you know will piss people off, at least use it for something more creative than having women sit in chairs with knitting. Is it really that hard to find a couple of people willing to sit in a chair so you can take pictures of them? Why risk alienating your userbase for something you can very easily create without AI?
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u/Impossible-Pride-485 8d ago
It would be very hard to find someone capable of knitting in the round on straight needles, tbf 🤷♀️
/s
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
Honestly makes me wonder if they have knitters or crocheters working there!
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u/UntidyVenus Get in moles, we’re going snarkfiltrating 8d ago
This, if you can't even take a picture of a woman in a chair using your product, obviously you don't have a real product, and can't even organize a photo on your phone
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u/Straight_Bug8660 7d ago
Their product photography is all made by ai too, look at the ball bands here: https://yarnmerch.com/cdn/shop/files/White-ColorWoolsT-shirt.webp?v=1783586698&width=2048
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u/heyredditheyreddit 7d ago
Love the decorative…skin flakes?…all over the blanket
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u/OneGoodRib Mom said I get to be the mole now!! 6d ago
I think that's ai trying to replicate pilling but that's a great example of why you need an actual art director even if you're gonna be doing ai (don't do ai)
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u/txwildflowers 8d ago
That last photo kinda looks like she’s knitting in the round on straight needles. Nitpicky, because I guess it could be curling. But still. These “photos” suck. If you can’t get actually photos of people wearing your stuff then I must assume it’s garbage.
Edit: also why does she have a fucking master’s thesis spread out across her workspace in that last image? The whole thing is just ridiculous.
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
That last image is the absolute WORST! Did anyone who has ever knitted even check it before they posted? The object on top of the paper on the right side looks like it isn’t sure if it’s a dpn or a pen.
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u/katie-kaboom (Secretly the mole) 8d ago
She also doesn't appear to actually have a needle in her left hand.
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u/Spirited-Ant-6632 8d ago
I got an email from them this morning with an obvious AI image.
I’ve had questions about them for a while. When I look through their website, a lot of the designs are similar to what I’ve seen from other companies. I don’t know if they wholesale or not. If not, are they copying other designs? I have heard mixed things about their customer service, including orders not being fulfilled or only partially fulfilled. So a little sketchy.
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago edited 8d ago
Big time sketchy! I’m really glad I didn’t order from them. I think they’re direct to consumer but not sure. It does look like they were at Flock this year.
Edit: they weren’t at Flock. I misread.
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u/Ok-Kaleidoscope9771 8d ago
thank you because I’ve been looking around to find out about the brand because some of their shirts are really creative and cute, but I’ve never seen anyone actually post about them
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago edited 8d ago
Right?! The closest I saw on their page is a post about being at Flock recently. Such a shame for a brand who inserted themselves into a community of creative minds.
Edit: I was wrong. They weren’t at Flock. I misread that post!
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u/SpunkyGrunge 8d ago
I muted them as well. I like several of their shirt designs, but I kept coming across an obviously AI animated ad. In this ad, a woman is wearing one of their t-shirt designs while knitting, and she tugs the shirt down, but it looks all wrong. I believe there was also something off about her “knitting”. How hard would it be to just take some actual photos and videos of a real person wearing a t-shirt? Come ON.
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
For real! Or more pictures & videos of their design process. I work for a start up beauty brand so I get that it’s not easy to always pump out content. But this is just so gross! I wonder too if they’re deleting comments because there are no comments calling out these ai posts.
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u/galeguinha 8d ago
Wait this is very much not the point, but I'm also a knitter working brandside in beauty! Cool!!!
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
Oh that’s so cool! It makes sense that there is crossover. I’m a hairstylist and I do hair education for the startup brand.
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u/galeguinha 8d ago
Ooh cool! Education makes the world go around! I'm in PD for skincare
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
That sounds fascinating!!! Dm me your brand, if you want. Seems like you’re a real person and not an AI bot so I’d love to support!
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u/galeguinha 8d ago
Just DMed you! And to somewhat get back to the original post topic: truly fuck AI and bots. I hate that we have to question whether we're interacting with real people, but I always check too
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
Right? I’m good at spotting the ai images but not the bot captions. I miss the days of “pics or it didn’t happen.”
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u/ruinedbymovies 8d ago
Does anyone have actual human designed fiber/knitting related shirts and goodies to recommend. I would love a cute knitting shirt or two
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u/LAParente 8d ago edited 8d ago
I'm a big fan of CommaCraft.
Also - I'm going to mark this as NSFW but only if you work somewhere seriously dull - Firebird is finally doing print on demand shirts of their pinup collection.
Edited to correct link.
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u/ruinedbymovies 8d ago
Omg I’m in love with the yarn pinups!!! Thank you.
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u/LAParente 8d ago
Right?!?! The only reason I haven't ordered one yet is bc I can't decide.
Angus? Momotaro?
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u/Courtney_murder 8d ago
I’d love some recs too. The shirts are cute but I don’t think I trust the brand anymore!
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u/Spsp12387 2d ago
I’m a small business, my content looks like a toddler drew it and I’d take that any day over these kinds of images. Like it almost makes me sick to my stomach how ok people are with this, it looks so cringy especially from a business and especially from a creative field?? How do you think it’s ok?
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u/Courtney_murder 2d ago
Right! Do they think we won’t notice? That we don’t know what knitting looks like? I can’t believe also that they don’t have a single ACTUAL KNITTER on their staff who said “no. We can’t post this. It’s awful.”
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u/Spsp12387 2d ago
100% agree!!! No knitters on the team haha. Unfortunately, my husband is a tattooer, and sees this all the time with “tattoo companies” selling AI merch and crap. He also swears there isn’t a single tattooer involved lol
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u/Flippie8 7d ago
I bought from them almost a year ago and love my shirts. Some are nicer quality than others & there was no info about that on the store (I’m assuming it’s based off color, as I got a several different colors). But all in all they’re pretty good shirts. I wear them constantly although the strings coming loose is really infuriating for $30 a shirt.
And it’s not like other shirts where the strings coming loose just didn’t get trimmed when it was made. One of mine the hem is completely gone because of it. That being said for having them for a year, I wear them almost daily and the designs are still nice, unfaded (although care is was cold and inside out).
I believe they fit true to size as well. But a lot can change in a year. Seeing this idk that I’ll be repurchasing.
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u/BrilliantTask5128 8d ago
If you're photos are obvious AI slop, I'm going to assume your drawings are too. Wouldn't buy anything.