FIT Students Present for the 2016 Denim Project
Though jeans are America’s casualwear, putting together a denim collection is no easy feat. On May 12th, Fashion Institute of Technology students in the Textile Development and Marketing (TDM) Department presented collections they had put together for the Denim Project, a capstone course for the program.
The FIT Denim Project, which has now been running for 12 years, is a means of giving students industry exposure as they take a collection from concept through finished product.
Over the course of 13 weeks, teams of students complete tasks like developing consumer profiles and putting together packaging and social media strategies, as well as developing fabrics and commercially viable factory prototypes.
Andrew Olah, CEO of Olah Inc., said, “The major takeaways come from the opportunity to touch all facets of the industry from fiber, to movies, to marketing, to branding, through production. The course is all about giving students real life experiences.”
The students were advised by 32 industry professionals, including employees from Olah Inc., Lenzing Fibers, Rag and Bone, Google, Cone Denim, Nexgen, Supima, Invista, and Stoll, among others.
The program also helps industry professionals gain insight into the perspective held by the students. Buxton Midyette, VP of marketing and promotion at Supima, said, “Working with [the FIT] students provides tremendous insight to the questions and issues that the next generation of consumers will be asking.”
Jeffrey Silberman, professor and chairperson of the TDM Department, said that an important part of the program is dealing with the conflicts that arise in the course of production: late samples, poorly fitting products and disruptions from holidays.
He said, “They face many of the challenges that they will face in a matter of weeks or months when they enter the industry—the same problems that every company faces, and they have to resolve these problems, sometimes one at a time, sometimes many at a time.”
Tricia Carey, Lenzing director of global business development for denim, said, “It was incredible to see the denim presentations of the senior class of the TDM Denim program. Their knowledge and enthusiasm demonstrates their comprehensive understanding of the denim market. As an alum of FIT, this is a wonderful program and supports the next generation of the apparel industry.”