A fashion brand wants to make you invisible to AI surveillance systems

Used by more than 70% of the world’s governments, facial recognition technologies are becoming increasingly common in urban environments of every kind. In 2025, the global market surpassed $7 billion and is expected to exceed $30 billion by 2035. Once confined to Orwellian dystopias—and later replicated in reality TV formats—Big Brother has officially arrived in our everyday lives, only a few decades behind schedule. For years, the dominant narrative has been security. Today, that narrative is evolving, shifting toward the broader and more ambiguous goal of “crime prevention.” The reality, however, is that facial recognition remains an imperfect technology, often affected by significant biases and developed by private companies whose profits continue to grow as economic inequality widens and fundamental rights face increasing pressure. At the same time, surveillance systems—particularly those based on biometric data—stand in direct tension with rights such as privacy, freedom of movement, and freedom of expression.

Yet as surveillance technologies advance, new forms of resistance are emerging as well. One example is Cap_able, an Italian fashion brand whose textiles are designed to “confuse” facial recognition systems, preventing the collection of biometric data and helping to protect the privacy of those who wear them. Technically known as “adversarial patterns,” these designs belong to what is often described as “resistance design”: a combination of fashion and technology intended not only to offer protection, but also to raise awareness about the growing presence of surveillance in daily life.

Rachele Didero, founder and designer of Cap_able

“The idea,” explains Cap_able founder and designer Rachele Didero, “emerged from observing how computer vision systems were becoming increasingly present—and increasingly invisible—in our everyday lives, without people being truly aware of them or having the tools to interact with them. That led to a question: what if design could make these systems visible while also allowing people to negotiate their own visibility?”

This is how Cap_able’s intricate patterns came to life: a colorful kind of invisibility cloak. Didero describes them as “Critical Design Tech Products—objects that are not only functional or aesthetic, but that embody an ethical position and make complex dynamics tangible.” Cap_able grew out of Didero’s research at the intersection of design, technology, and society, particularly during her PhD between the Politecnico di Milano and MIT. One of the most critical and complex issues surrounding facial recognition and surveillance technologies is consent. Facial recognition systems blend seamlessly into the urban environment, often becoming virtually invisible. As a result, it can be difficult even to know when personal data is being collected, let alone to provide—or refuse—consent. According to Didero, “the main risk is the normalization of surveillance. Facial recognition and automated tracking technologies can transform public space into a continuously monitored environment, often without explicit consent.”

Cap_able was created first and foremost to raise awareness of this issue. “The goal is not necessarily to ‘block’ technology,” Didero explains, “but to prevent it from being adopted in an uncritical and unregulated way.” Yet that appears to be exactly what is happening today. A lack of public understanding risks pushing the issue outside democratic debate and decision-making processes. “Countering this trend means creating awareness, introducing tools for agency, and opening up space for public discussion. Even imperfect forms of resistance can be important because they make visible what would otherwise remain invisible.”

This is where fashion enters the conversation. “Fashion has always had a political dimension,” says Didero, “but today it can also become an interface.” At first glance, the garments designed by Didero and her team are anything but neutral. Their loud patterns and vibrant colors place them firmly outside the realm of neutrality. Visually, they appear as a glitch in the system. “Our garments are not designed to be neutral,” she explains. “They are designed to communicate, to make a problem visible, and to provoke a reaction. We call our first collection ‘Manifesto’ because the garment becomes a medium—a space for expression and positioning.”

Rachele Didero

More specifically, Cap_able’s garments represent “a stance against the idea that human beings should be constantly readable, trackable, and analyzable by automated systems. Wearing these clothes means asserting the right to choose when to be visible and when not to be. It is a form of agency, but also an act of critical reflection.” Yet Cap_able’s approach to political design is far from nostalgic or purely oppositional. Rather than rejecting the technologies it critiques, the project actively incorporates them. The adversarial patterns themselves are developed with the help of artificial intelligence. “What we try to do is operate in an intermediate space,” Didero says. “Not completely oppositional, but not neutral either. We create real, usable products that can exist within the market while carrying a critical narrative. This allows us to enter the system while introducing friction, raising questions, and proposing alternative possibilities.”

Both fashion and technology, after all, are inherently political tools. What matters is how they are used. “We use knowledge of these technologies,” Didero emphasizes, “to build alternatives—not to reject them, but to rebalance the relationship between individuals and systems.” Accessibility, however, remains a key challenge. If Cap_able is intended to protect individuals as members of a broader community and offer a more active way of engaging with technology, then that alternative must also be available to everyone—especially to those most vulnerable to systemic inequalities. As Didero points out, surveillance does not affect everyone equally. “Several studies have highlighted significant biases in recognition systems, which tend to penalize people who already belong to marginalized groups.” Migrants, for example, as well as activists participating in public demonstrations, are among those most at risk of being disproportionately affected by surveillance technologies.

For Cap_able, this means overcoming an economic barrier as well. “Today, our garments reflect the costs of research, materials, and small-scale production.” In a system that rarely makes life easy for small businesses—particularly those operating in niche, research-driven fields. Nevertheless, Didero stresses that “this is not a choice of exclusion, but a consequence of the stage we are currently in. Our goal is to work on scalability and develop more accessible solutions over time, through collaborations, open research, and formats that go beyond the product itself.” If projects like Cap_able represent an alternative path, that path may ultimately need to be embraced collectively. Only through broader adoption can it become a viable option for everyone.