Fashion Campus NYC, organized by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Parsons The New School for Design, provides next-generation fashion and retail management talent with exposure to opportunities on the business side of the industry. The event will feature a keynote address by the acclaimed fashion designer Rachel Roy.
"By exposing hundreds of students from around the world to the range of career options in the fashion industry, Fashion Campus NYC has already proven itself to be a great success," said New York City Economic Development Corporation President Seth W. Pinsky. "In this way, this program, along with our other fashion programs, will help cultivate the next generation of New York City-based fashion stars, ensuring that we remain the global leader in this important industry."
Fashion Campus NYC offers professional education and networking opportunities to some of the most promising and ambitious summer interns in New York City. Its aim is to educate these young professionals about the variety of business-focused career paths available to them and to introduce them to influential figures in the City's fashion industry. In so doing, the program seeks to inspire talented students to pursue post-college careers in New York's fashion industry, thereby maintaining and enhancing the City's position as a global fashion leader.
"Fashion Campus NYC has demonstrated the strong interest among young professionals for more opportunities to network and explore the business side of the fashion industry," said Parsons Executive Dean Joel Towers. "Through our work with the NYCEDC, Parsons is extending one of its core values-providing students with the means to pursue successful careers in design, and supporting those industries through a strong talent pipeline."
The first annual event in July 2011 was an overwhelming success, with nearly 200 students from more than 90 universities and 150 companies attending the event, as well as fashion industry representation from more than 25 New York-based companies, including Aeropostale, Gilt, Lord & Taylor, Calvin Klein and Macy's.
The 2012 Fashion Campus NYC includes "Backstage Pass," a panel discussion with young fashion business professionals working in finance, sales, product development, merchandising, marketing and buying; "Ready-to-Work," a networking breakfast that will provide students with unparalleled access to industry leaders and hiring managers; and "A Tailored Approach," breakout sessions by career path with career services and industry professionals . The weekend will conclude with a keynote address by Rachel Roy, a talented American designer who launched Rachel Roy New York in 2005 to create clothes for the modern woman. Her collections are carried in major retail outlets across the country, including Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Fashion Campus NYC is an initiative that resulted from Mayor Bloomberg's FashionNYC2020, a strategic study to examine the challenges facing the fashion industry and designed to help the City build on its competitive advantages to maintain its status as a global fashion capital. The industry chairs for FashionNYC2020 are Richard Darling, CEO of LF USA; Diane von Furstenberg, Chairman and Founder, Diane von Furstenberg Studio L.P., and President, Council of Fashion Designers of America; Terry Lundgren, Chairman, President and CEO of Macy's, Inc.; Andrew Rosen, CEO of Theory; and Kevin Ryan, CEO of Gilt.
New York City's fashion industry employs 173,000 people, accounting for 5.7 percent of the City's workforce, and generates nearly $2 billion in tax revenue annually. In addition, the City is home to one of the world's largest wholesale fashion markets, which attracts more than 500,000 visitors a year to its trade shows, showrooms and retail stores. Fashion Campus NYC is one of six initiatives resulting from FashionNYC2020. These initiatives address the industry's challenges in two ways: by further positioning the City as a hub of innovation for emerging designers as well as specialty and multi-channel retail, and by attracting the next generation of design, management and merchant talent. Following the successful launch of Fashion Campus NYC in 2011, Parsons and NYCEDC also launched Fashion Draft NYC in February of this year, bringing 25 top college seniors from universities across the country to network and interview for management-track positions with some of New York's leading fashion companies.
Students interested in attending this free program are encouraged to register online at Fashion Campus NYC website, starting on April 16th.