Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
An intern works in a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than merely employment, making the role similar to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students, though they can also be high school students or post-graduate adults seeking skills for a new career. A fashion internship gives students experience in the field, a network of contacts and a way to test whether a fashion career truly interests them.
Fashion Intern by Apparel Search - Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry
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Wikipedia defines an intern as one who works in a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than merely employment, making it similar to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students, but they can also be high school students or post graduate adults seeking skills for a new career. Student internships provide opportunities for students to gain experience in their field, determine if they have an interest in a particular career, create a network of contacts, or gain school credit. Internships provide the employers with cheap or free labor for (typically) low-level tasks (stereotypically including fetching coffee for the office), and also the prospect of interns returning to the company after completing their education and requiring little or no training.
An internship may be either paid, unpaid or partially paid (in the form of a stipend). Internships may be part-time or full-time; typically they are part-time during the university year and full-time in the summer, and they typically last 6-12 weeks, but can be shorter or longer. The act of job shadowing may also constitute as interning.
Those considering entering the fashion industry should intern at companies that offer positions that align with their career interests. For example, an aspiring fashion designer would gain a lot of on-the-job knowledge and networking contacts by obtaining an intern at a design house. An aspiring fashion editor should intern at a fashion publication.
By Regina Cooper
Learn more about fashion internships.
By the way, you should check out our employment section. From there you can find employment agencies and many other tools to assist you with starting your fashion career. Also, you can check the fashion job search website to search for intern opportunities for full or part time positions.
Do you have a passion for fashion? If yes, you should definitely attend a fashion school.
Day-to-day intern work is the industry's ground level: assisting at fittings and photo shoots, organizing samples, running garments between departments, researching, and helping at events. The tasks are entry-level by design — their value is proximity. An intern watches how a design house, magazine or showroom really operates, learns its vocabulary and deadlines, and leaves with contacts no classroom provides.
Employers benefit as well as students: internships are a long interview, and companies regularly hire former interns who already know the work and need little training. That is why the internships listings, employment agencies and fashion job resources elsewhere on Apparel Search sit close to this entry — for many people in the industry, the intern desk was the first rung of the ladder.
A student or newcomer who works temporarily at a fashion company for on-the-job training: gaining experience, testing an interest in a career, building a network of contacts or earning school credit.
Internships typically last 6–12 weeks — part-time during the university year and full-time in the summer — and may be paid, unpaid or partially paid in the form of a stipend.
By matching the company to the career interest: an aspiring fashion designer gains the most at a design house, and an aspiring fashion editor at a fashion publication.