Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Fashion Designers
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at Nassau Community College, Fashion Institute, LIM College, and New York City College of Technology.
Fastest Response From Schools
- Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the Spotlight schools on this page.
Student Body
- Part-Time: For schools emphasizing part-time studies, consider New York City College of Technology, Fashion Institute, The New School, and LIM College.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider LIM College and Fashion Institute.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Bronx Community College, New York City College of Technology, The New School, and Fashion Institute.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of The New School, Pratt Institute-Main, LIM College, and Rochester Institute of Technology.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Cazenovia College, Marist, Rochester Institute of Technology, and LIM College.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Rochester Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute-Main, and Marist.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Marist, Fashion Institute, Pratt Institute-Main, and Buffalo State.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Rochester Institute of Technology, Cazenovia College, Buffalo State, and The New School.
Working as a Fashion Designer in New York
Fashion designers conceptualize and produce designs for clothing, shoes and accessories. They combine fabrics and materials to create apparel that appeals to people of various age groups, geographic regions, body types and interests. Read a detailed Fashion Designer job description and schools overview.
The State of New York does not regulate the practices of fashion designers. The Council of Fashion Designers of America is a professional association based in New York City. The American Apparel and Footwear Association is another national organization with resources for professional development.
Major Industries for Fashion Designers in New York
Most fashion designers in New York work for:
- Apparel/Piece Goods Merchant Wholesalers
- Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing
- Private and Public Companies
- Clothing Stores
- Specialized Design Services
- Other Wholesale Merchants
- Performing Arts Companies
Major Employers for Fashion Designers in New York
A few representative major employers of fashion designers in New York include:
- Liz Claiborne, Inc (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- The Warnaco Group Inc (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Coach, Inc (Accessories Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Jordache Enterprises Inc (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Garan, Incorporated (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- V F Sportswear Inc (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Texas Clothing Holding Corp (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Jeanjer-Ltd (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Anvil Knitwear, Inc (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Gold Toe And Moretz (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Fownes Brothers and Co Inc (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
- Capital-Mercury Apparel, Ltd (Apparel Manufacturing - Wholesale and Retail)
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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FIT • New York City, NY
Studying Costume Design And Fashion Styling (completion in 2012)
• 12/23/2011
"FIT is deserving of its reputation. I love everything about it."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | FIT has a proven track record of producing extraordinary, creative people. This, coupled with the low tuition, makes a strong case for my recommendation. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | Costume Design and Fashion Styling certificates are well known and reputable. They allow you to receive the training and expertise needed without enrolling for two or four years. |
| Program Quality | 10 | Fashion Institute of Technology is known worldwide and has graduated notable fashion icons. |
| Instruction | 10 | Fashion houses and companies hire from FIT as they usually have alumni employed and are familiar with the school. |
| How Difficult | 7 | I grew up in a fashion family so I feel I had a head start in my program. I was already aware of textiles and techniques before starting the program. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | FIT provides a great balance between hands on and book learning. They provide field trips and require projects so that you get a chance to see and make items. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | The certificate program is offered all year round. Some of the classes are offered several times a year allowing one to take classes at one's convenience. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | FIT offers plenty of resources to its students. They have a museum, collections of clothing from previous eras and archives of magazines that are out of print. |
| Social Life | I work full time and take classes in this evening so I haven't been able to totally experience campus life. | |
| Placement Services | I have not graduated as of yet. | |
| Alumni Network | 8 | Alumni often look for interns or graduates for employment after school. They also return to the school to teach seminars, workshops and panel discussion. |
Columbia University • New York, NY
Studying Business Management (completion in 2008)
• 1/12/2012
"I got to meet a lot of interesting people and was exposed to an array of personalities. I also felt like the location was optimal for the career I wanted to pursue."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I had great opportunities in the city and my teachers prepared me well for the cut-throat business world. I would highly recommend my university to others. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | My school has a great reputation for hard working students so that definitely worked to my advantage. The program/major that I chose was great too. |
| Program Quality | 7 | My school had a great business management program, considering that there was a graduate business school affiliated with my university. However, the people were strange. |
| Instruction | 6 | I was very prepared for my career because I was used to working long hours and working hard. I also felt they prepared me well because the quality of the curriculum was very up to date and pertinent to the real world. |
| How Difficult | 8 | It was very challenging because everyone was very competitive and intelligent. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I felt like I spent a lot of time in the library preparing for exams and writing long papers. I wish it had been more hands-on. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | I felt that with such a small body and with the small environment it wasn't very flexible. The summer offerings weren't that great either. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | The libraries and the media and computer resources were fantastic! I had a lot of opportunities to talk to professors and academic advisors. |
| Social Life | 5 | There was no school spirit at all. I never went to a single football game because being in the city everyone went off and did their own thing. Otherwise, the social life and the parties were a lot of fun. |
| Placement Services | 5 | I felt like I had to find my own job. It was very challenging in this tough job market. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | Everyone goes off and does their own thing at Columbia so I felt like as much as the university tried to rejoin the whole class it wasn't very successful. |
Parsons • New York City, NY
Studying Fashion Design (completion in 2011)
• 1/13/2012
"In retrospect, Parsons was satisfying, but for all the hype and the high costs of tuition, it was not worth it. I advise people to go to FIT."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | It's too expensive, you can get the same instructors at FIT. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | Parsons hosts many industry events, and has many famous alumni like Michael Kors, Donna Karan, Reed Krakoff, Vera Wang, Alexander Wang, Jenna Lyons, Derek Lam, Proenza Schouler, etc. The school has an incredible reputation. |
| Program Quality | 6 | Parsons has a great reputation in the industry, but I think it focuses more on creative concept than on technical design, which is something you really need at the beginning of your career. The teachers also teach at FIT and Pratt and so it seems like you might be able to get the same education or better at a school with a more inexpensive tuition. Really what you are paying for is the name, more than anything. |
| Instruction | 5 | Parsons gives you an entire class devoted to your personal portfolio, which I really liked. That said, most of the curriculum could be obtained at a more inexpensive college. There is also no uniform curriculum at Parsons. The instructors are left to their own devices which means that in a Construction 3 class some people are learning way more and other students in another section. This also means that there is a fight every semester to obtain the "good teachers." |
| How Difficult | 10 | Parsons has a treacherous workload. It takes a difficult physical, emotional and mental toll on the students. You get 3-4 hours of sleep per night during the semester. I don't think I got more than an hour or two of sleep each night during finals. In the end I think students could still learn the same amount with a lighter work load. If classes were longer with more time to work in class, I think that would be helpful because you could get immediate feedback for instructors and you would have more hands-on visual learning. For mediums like sewing and drawing, it is important that the instruction be visual and often you are expected to complete assignments at home with only the book or internet to help you out. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | As stated previously, it is a very hands-on concentration. Due to instructor time constraints, the curriculum is less hands on than it should be. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | There are some evening and summer options, no weekend options and a few online options. Since fashion design is very hands-on, it would be hard to make it available through online courses. And although there are summer options, the workload is too intense to take more than one course each summer. Course times are primarily determined by the teachers' schedule and each semester it seemed you had fewer and fewer options. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | The library was nothing special, it was okay. Computer labs are great, and the lab and class workspace is good, except it should really be open 24 hours for the amount of workload that is placed on the students. Professors accessibility is minimal. There are no tutors available. |
| Social Life | 6 | I had a good experience. It was pretty much a whirlwind as I and all of my fellow students were incredibly stressed out all the time. There is absolutely no free time for school spirit, athletics or parties etc. |
| Placement Services | 1 | The career center is only for people who are completely incompetent. They are only there to tell you things the average student should already know. They host an internship fair, but other than free work, they are not great on assistance for paid job placement. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | Parsons has a great reputation in the industry for turning out cutting edge talent. Whether this is true or not (I believe the university's ability to turn out great talent is on the decline) it does give you certain advantages. Having the Parsons name behind me has opened doors to internships I probably would not have otherwise gotten. You also get to meet with many great designers. The school does not have a great system of actual support in helping you get a job. They have an unhelpful career center, but it's the Parsons name that carries the benefits. |
Laboratory Institute Of Merchandising • New York, NY
Studying Fashion Merchandising (completion in 2014)
• 2/8/2012
"This school has perfected the courses and experiences needed for the fashion merchandiser's career. I don't think I'd have the same opportunities anywhere else."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | New York City will provide the most fashion merchandising jobs. The alumni often work nearby the school and are the best networking tool. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | The reputation is great because we are the only program dedicated to merchandising. Other universities only have fashion merchandising as a smaller concentration within a larger degree. |
| Program Quality | 8 | New York City provides the best palette of eclectic fashion tastes. Everyone at my school is interested in fashion, so my mind can always be focused on it. |
| Instruction | 8 | The class instructors allow hands-on experiences and field trips. They are all knowledgeable based on their past experiences. |
| How Difficult | 4 | It can be competitive among peers for the best internships. However, the classes themselves are manageable and not rocket science. It helps if you have intuition. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Almost everything is a hands-on experience in class because that is the best way to learn in this field. We even take class trips to stores in the city. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | It is a small school, so not too many times are offered for specific classes. But professors are very flexible with providing after-hours opportunities. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | Tutors and those type of resources aren't needed at this type of school. We aren't very big and don't need a library like students at a larger university would need. |
| Social Life | 6 | It is not a traditional college atmosphere. However, there is a fitness center in the student apartment and I feel close with my peers. There aren't NCAA athletics, though. |
| Placement Services | 10 | The goal of the school is to help place you into a job. The classes teach you exactly what you need to know for the specific job. |
| Alumni Network | 9 | The alumni speak at our school and provide internship opportunities. This is helpful for me because I don't have family members in this industry. |
State University Of New York College At Oneonta • Oneonta, NY
Studying Apparel And Textiles (completion in 2007)
• 2/9/2012
"I think I picked the best school to attend!"
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I loved learning about Fashion from my teachers at SUNY Oneonta. And I hope that everyone who goes to school to study fashion gets the same experience. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | It is one of the three top majors at my school. |
| Program Quality | 10 | I feel like the topics that I learned about in my college classes prepared me for what I would face once I made it into my actual career. I definitely learned a lot! |
| Instruction | 10 | I feel like the topics that I learned about in my college classes prepared me for what I would face once I made it into my actual career. I definitely learned a lot! |
| How Difficult | 7 | It was mostly group work and presentations. So as long as everyone worked together the course loads were not that difficult. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Depending on the class, it would be about half hands on training and half book learning. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | You were able to get classes that fit into the schedule you wanted. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | We had a state of the art building just for the fashion majors with sewing rooms and display rooms and cases as well as an annual fashion show! |
| Social Life | 10 | SUNY ONEONTA RULES! |
| Placement Services | Did not use their job placement offerings. | |
| Alumni Network | I don't really keep in contact. |
Fashion Institute Of Technology • New York, NY
Studying Fashion Design (completion in 2012)
• 3/25/2012
"The teachers were amazing and I was very inspired by some of them. The resources are endless. We have our own museum. It's a very well known school and just going to the school can give you amazing opportunities."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | It's the best, hands down. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | It's the best. The only real competitors would be Parson's and FIDM, but FIT is state funded. |
| Program Quality | 10 | The teachers are very passionate about what they do and you learn about all things fashion related, from the history of it all the way to pattern making and textile courses. |
| Instruction | 8 | You will be prepared if you go to classes and take the initiative to be involved outside of the classroom. |
| How Difficult | 9 | There are a lot of late nights staying up sketching, draping muslin - lots and lots of work! Many of us would be up very late working on projects. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There is textbook work, but a lot of the instruction is very hands on. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 6 | They offer night classes, certain online courses, and you get some choice on the way your schedule is arranged. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | They provide extensive resources in the library and on the web (such as a subscription to Women's Wear Daily and other top industry publications). They have various labs for testing things like fabric properties to seeing how certain knitting machines work. There is a lot of access to information. The teachers give you their emails, and there is a virtual classroom program in place. |
| Social Life | 6 | We have a dance team and basketball. I feel that it's not very sports oriented - it is a fashion school after all - but we do have school spirit when it comes to things regarding fashion. There are a lot of organized groups in our school, too. They hold little fairs by the cafeteria a lot. |
| Placement Services | 9 | If you work hard and put yourself out there, there is no way you will walk out of FIT without a job. They constantly hold job fairs and have top industry experts come in as guest speakers. A lot opportunities are presented to the students. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | They offer very good job hook-ups. The school is very well connected, not only in the fashion industry but also in the entertainment industry. Again, you have to take initiative. |
SUNY Oneonta • Oneonta, NY
Studying Fashion Design (completion in 2010)
• 4/11/2012
"Overall I had a great experience. Nothing could have helped me more to pursue my passion."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Anyone looking to enter the fashion world should consider Oneonta. Great social atmosphere and academic environment. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | Oneonta has an excellent fashion program. It is well regarded across the nation. |
| Program Quality | 8 | I loved college. It really provided me with the tools that I needed to excel in this career field. |
| Instruction | 8 | My instruction has proved very helpful. I wouldn't have been so successful without it. |
| How Difficult | 5 | It wasn't too bad. I found it easy because I was able to enjoy the work. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | More hands on then book learning. Definitely helped me to be prepared for the job market. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | The curriculum was strict. There was enough room to adjust classes though. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | Great facilities. Well equipped for fashion majors. |
| Social Life | 9 | Great! I made many life long friends at college. |
| Placement Services | 10 | Excellent! The career center helped me get my first internship which has lead me to my current job! |
| Alumni Network | I'm not involved with the alumni program. I don't know much about it. |
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