Fashion School Internship Programs

Many fashion degree programs treat an internship as part of the degree itself: the school helps place the student, a faculty advisor oversees the placement, and the student earns credit while learning how a design studio, retailer or brand actually runs. This page collects fashion school internship placement programs and explains how each one is structured, so students can compare a required, credit-bearing placement with the open internship market covered in Fashion Career Internships. If you are still choosing a role, start with the glossary entry for a Fashion Intern to see how the position itself is defined.

Baylor University

At Baylor University, fashion design students are required to complete an internship with a design establishment approved by a faculty advisor, during a summer of six to twelve weeks. Before enrolling in FCS 4394, students must have completed the prerequisites FCS 2373 Apparel Design I, FCS 3360 CAD Apparel Design/Retail and FCS 3373 Apparel Design II. An internship position should be secured before the end of the spring semester of the junior or senior year for students fulfilling the internship during the summer. On completion, the student gives the fashion design faculty and fellow students a summary of the experience, and PowerPoint presentations with photos of the work experience are required. Baylor fashion design majors have completed internships within the United States and internationally, in locations including New York, Paris, Italy, London, Los Angeles and Dallas, as well as numerous other places.

Buffalo State

The Buffalo State Fashion and Textile Technology Program publishes its careers and internships information on the program site, covering how its fashion and textile technology students connect with internship opportunities.

LSU — Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising

A growing number of students in the LSU School of Human Ecology's Textile, Apparel Design, and Merchandising (TAM) program have discovered that a degree in agriculture can help them launch a career in the fashion industry. Much of the success of the TAM program at LSU is due to a strong internship program that was nurtured by former LSU professor Kathleen Rees and now Marquette. Using a network of former LSU alumni who are currently employed in the fashion industry, the TAM faculty have helped place about 50 students each summer in paid or non-paid internships across the country, at companies such as Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren, Betsey Johnson, Cosmo Girl Magazine, Paul Frank Industries, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Dillard's and Anthropologie.

Marist School of Communication and the Arts

At the Marist School of Communication and the Arts, internships are an exceptionally important component of the fashion student's course of study. Through internships, students enhance classroom learning through access to the resources of the industry, add depth and relevance to more traditional classroom work, learn about the industry, acquire experience in the working world, improve job search and interview skills, network to gain contacts, and develop an impressive resume. Marist's strength in internship placement, and the unusual depth of its internship opportunities, derives from its close proximity to New York City: in the fashion capital of the world, students have access to a wide variety of work environments. Fashion students have completed internships at companies such as MTV, Betsey Johnson, DKNY, Chanel, Escada, Calvin Klein, Polo, Armani A/X and Nordstrom. Students are offered opportunities for professional internships during their junior and senior years, and each intern has an on-site supervisor as well as a faculty advisor.

Texas Christian University — Design, Merchandising and Textiles

The Department of Design, Merchandising and Textiles at Texas Christian University requires Fashion Merchandising and Fashion Promotion majors to complete a full-time supervised internship for 6 semester credit hours. The internship is typically taken in the fall semester of the senior year, after completion of 15 hours of block courses offered in the first 8 weeks of that fall semester. The student works between 320 and 400 hours during the ten-week internship, and the work experience should cover all areas of the cooperating company: the primary goal is to give the intern a broad overview of business operations related to the student's professional major. Participation lets the cooperating employer aid in the development of a student's professional career and observe a potential employee. The TCU Faculty Internship Coordinator makes one on-site visit to the cooperating company during the ten weeks to discuss the intern's progress and performance, and the internship serves as an interface between education and business during the student's college career.

Planning Around a School Placement

If you are comparing schools as well as placements, the Fashion Schools directory is the starting point, Fashion Schools by Location narrows the list by place — location matters, as Marist's New York City placements show — and Financial Aid for Fashion Schools covers paying for the degree itself. Fashion schools are not the only ones that do grading: when you are ready to find a career path, learn about finding an employment agency and read the guide to how to find jobs in the fashion industry.

Program details change from year to year, so check with the listed fashion schools for the most current information regarding their fashion career internship programs: the information on this page may not be the most current, and you will need to contact the schools directly for the exact details and requirements of their internship programs.