Convolutional Neural Networks and Vision Transformers for Fashion MNIST Classification: A Literature Review

Our review explores the comparative analysis between Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Vision Transformers (ViTs) in the domain of image classification, with a particular focus on clothing classification within the e-commerce sector. Utilizing the Fashion MNIST dataset, we delve into the unique attributes of CNNs and ViTs. While CNNs have long been the cornerstone of image classification, ViTs introduce an innovative self-attention mechanism enabling nuanced weighting of different input data components. Historically, transformers have primarily been associated with Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks. Through a comprehensive examination of existing literature, our aim is to unveil the distinctions between ViTs and CNNs in the context of image classification. Our analysis meticulously scrutinizes state-of-the-art methodologies employing both architectures, striving to identify the factors influencing their performance. These factors encompass dataset characteristics, image dimensions, the number of target classes, hardware infrastructure, and the specific architectures along with their respective top results. Our key goal is to determine the most appropriate architecture between ViT and CNN for classifying images in the Fashion MNIST dataset within the e-commerce industry, while taking into account specific conditions and needs. We highlight the importance of combining these two architectures with different forms to enhance overall performance. By uniting these architectures, we can take advantage of their unique strengths, which may lead to more precise and reliable models for e-commerce applications. CNNs are skilled at recognizing local patterns, while ViTs are effective at grasping overall context, making their combination a promising strategy for boosting image classification performance.

Sonia Bbouzidi, Ghazala Hcini, Imen Jdey, Fadoua Drira · 2024