LEAPS: Global Fashion Industry

Potential Careers:

The fashion industry is massive and extensive. From haute couture houses to fast fashion´s ready to wear, the industry offers a steady number of career opportunities that liberal arts students will be uniquely suited for taking on. Some jobs we have already mentioned above: copy-writing, buyer in national and international markets, project management, marketing, retail coordination, or social media manager. This LEAPS will not focus on providing students with the highly technical and specialized skills of designing, patroning, or cutting and sewing. Instead, students will engage in the careers that make fashion possible. This may mean participating in the actual production of fashion for retail but also ancillary fields of fashion media (magazines, blogs, podcasts, community management of social media, writers and producers for TV shows) or conservation (working for museums as curators, event organizers, or social media managers) 

Graphic Design, Fashion Photography, Photo Editing, Advertisement, Fashion copywriting, Marketing, Sales management, Fashion/Style consultants, Video Editing for Social Media, Fashion Journalism, Visual Merchandiser, Make-up artist, Talent Agent, Stylist, Event Manager, Studio/ Commercial Photographer, Window Stylist, Area Brand Coordinator, Stage Management, Fashion Product Specialist, E-Commerce assistant stylist, Fashion merchandising, Fashion Production, Advertising, Fashion Promoting, Fashion show production, Fashion displaying, Sourcing, Apparel Quality Assessment, Retail Buying.

Completion Requirements:

5 credits plus an experiential learning component are required to complete this LEAPs; this will take between three and four semesters.

Experiential Component

Students in this LEAP will be expected to engage with a form of experiential learning that integrates knowledge and theory learned in the classroom with practical application and skills development in a professional setting. 

Experiential learning is a crucial component of this LEAP. Experiential learning encompasses a wide variety of enriching opportunities for students, including fashion-related service-learning, volunteering, student organization or other forms of campus involvement, faculty-led research and projects, experiential study abroad, student employment/work-study, and internships. Internships will give students the opportunity to gain valuable applied experience and make connections in professional fields they are considering for career paths. 

Students will be expected in consultation with the LEAP coordinator to fulfill the requirements necessary for taking on an internship. This may include holding F1, J1, or M1 visas, or holding a valid passport if the internship is abroad. 

This LEAP adheres to the Fair Labor Standards issued by the Department of Labor (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/71-flsa-internships) and it follows the following criteria: 

The experience must be an extension of the classroom: a learning experience that provides for applying the knowledge gained in the classroom. It must not be simply to advance the operations of the employer or be the work that a regular employee would routinely perform. 

The skills or knowledge learned must be transferable to other employment settings. The experience has a defined beginning and end, and a job description with desired qualifications. There are clearly defined learning objectives/goals related to the professional goals of the student’s academic coursework. 

• There is supervision by a professional with expertise and educational and/or professional background in the field of the experience. 
• There is routine feedback by the experienced supervisor. 
• There are resources, equipment, and facilities provided by the host employer that support learning objectives/goals.