Why We Don’t Use AI (and Never Will)

Let’s start with the obvious: we’re aware of the irony. You’re reading this on a screen. Possibly generated or touched by algorithms. But we need to say it loud and clear: Sleepy Peach doesn’t use AI to make our designs. Not now. Not ever.

We’re not Luddites. We use the internet. We ship through Shopify. We post on Instagram and TikTok like everyone else. But when it comes to the creative work that defines our brand: the weird little creatures, the delicate florals, the midcentury-meets-streetwear vibes that make up our clothing...it’s all human. Made by hand. Made with care. Made with intention.

This is why we think that matters.

AI Is Not Art

Let’s get philosophical for a second.

Art is about choices. It’s about failure. It’s about process. It’s the coffee stain on the sketchbook, the crumpled drafts, the moment at 2am when you decide to scrap everything and start over. It’s years of learning to see. It’s taste, instinct, trial and error.

AI has none of that. AI art is a parlor trick. It mimics style, but it doesn’t have a point of view. It regurgitates. It approximates. It can make a clown, but it can’t make a clown mean something.

When you use AI to design clothing, you’re outsourcing the hard part. We're not talking about the labor. We're talking about the soul. And we think that shows.

It's Built on Theft

Every AI model is trained on something. And usually, that something is other people’s work. Artists who didn’t consent. Creators who weren’t credited. Designers whose work was fed into a system and stripped for parts.

We can’t build a brand on that. Not ethically. Not creatively. Not with any pride.

We’ve had our own designs stolen before. It sucks. Watching something you poured hours (and heart) into get ripped off, Frankensteined, and resold by someone who never put in the work? It’s violating.

So we won’t do that to anyone else.

AI Dilutes Originality

One of the biggest lies about AI is that it “democratizes creativity.” What it really does is flatten it.

AI models are designed to predict the most likely next pixel. The most average combination of styles. They don’t innovate. They average.

So when brands start relying on AI to design, they’re all pulling from the same pool. The same aesthetics. The same visual language. Suddenly, everything starts looking the same. Every graphic has that uncanny smoothness. Every print feels like a remix of a remix of a Pinterest board.

And in that sea of sameness, true originality becomes harder to find.

Sleepy Peach is built on specificity. On texture. On weird ideas that shouldn’t work but somehow do. That doesn’t happen when you prompt an algorithm. That happens when you trust a human to take a risk.

You Can Tell

We get this a lot: “How do you make your stuff feel so... different?”

The answer is stupidly simple. We made it ourselves.

We drew it. We placed every flower, every bug, every architectural motif. We printed test swatches. We made changes. We obsessed. Even when we didn't create the pattern, we worried over the balance, the color story, the scale.

You can feel that difference when you wear it. You might not know why. You might not even be able to put it into words. But your brain knows the difference between something that was made with love and something that was spat out of a server farm.

There’s a reason people tell us our clothes feel personal. It’s because they are.

AI Hurts Independent Creators

AI doesn’t just copy. It competes. It floods marketplaces with cheap, instant designs. It drives down prices. It teaches consumers to expect more for less. It makes it harder for artists, illustrators, and designers to earn a living doing what they love.

And it creates a culture where creativity is devalued. Where “good enough” is good enough. Where people care more about novelty than integrity.

We don’t want to play that game. We want to help build a world where artists are paid, where ideas are protected, and where the weirdos still have a voice.

It’s About Trust

When you buy from Sleepy Peach, we want you to know what you’re getting. You’re getting a real design made by real people. You’re getting something that didn’t exist until we dreamed it up. You’re getting hours of sketching, debate, adjustment, and testing.

You’re getting a shirt that was meant to exist. It's not one that happened because someone typed “cute mushroom playing drums Bauhaus style” into a chatbot.

We want you to trust us. We want our work to feel personal, because it literally is personal. And you can’t fake that with AI.

Creativity Is a Human Right

We believe that creativity isn’t just something humans do. It’s something we need to do. To make sense of the world. To connect. To express. To heal. To celebrate.

We don’t think that should be automated.

Sure, you can use AI to make things faster. But faster isn’t better. Convenience isn’t the point. The process is the point. The weird, frustrating, beautiful process of making something from nothing.

When we stop valuing that process, we lose something important. We become consumers, not creators. We lose our imagination.

We don’t want to live in that world. And we definitely don’t want to dress like it.

Our Commitment

We don’t use AI in our art. We don’t use it in our design process. We don’t use it to write our product descriptions, our emails, or our blog posts (hi).

We believe in doing things the slow way. The strange way. The human way.

It’s not the fastest route to profit. But it’s the truest route to meaning.

So when you wear something from Sleepy Peach, you’re not just wearing a piece of clothing. You’re wearing a story. You’re wearing resistance. You’re wearing something real.

Thanks for caring about that.

Thanks for choosing us.