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)
Spotlight Schools Search
Spotlight New York Schools Related to This Career
- Locations: New York
- Programs: 12 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor, Master
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Study from Anywhere at Online Schools Related to This Career
- Programs: 2 relevant programs; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Associate, Bachelor
- Programs: One relevant program; click the school name for details.
- Degrees: Coursework, Diploma
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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Buffalo State College • Buffalo, NY
Studying Fashion Design (completion in 2012)
• 8/13/2011
"I've learned a lot here thanks to the small classroom size, even though we had limited supplies. I feel like Buffalo offered a nice calm environment, opposite of the fashion world."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | I would recommend my school to those more interested in fashion merchandising than fashion design. Those interested in design need more hands-on experience, which is better offered in a bigger city. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | My school is not the best for what we do, but we're definitely recognizable. It is a school known more for Education careers, but not many schools offer Fashion Design as a major, so people definitely know it. It is also one of the least expensive schools that offer majors in fashion. |
| Program Quality | 8 | The program I am enrolled in is very good, but there should be more hands on experience. There aren't many fashion professors at this school from which to gain different perspectives. |
| Instruction | 6 | Most of the instructors are foreign, so they're hard to understand. Some are also very mean and impatient. Talking to these professors is very difficult when you need help learning something. They are skilled but often hate to slow down for those who need more time to learn. |
| How Difficult | 9 | What makes this major more challenging than others is that our projects involve making clothing. We have to sit up all night designing garments, whereas it would be much more easier to simply type up a paper overnight. Everything we do has to be hands on (created, not typed up), and presented. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Hands on experience in this field is such a must because it is the basis behind fashion design. We did spend time learning about the business of fashion in textbooks. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 4 | There are some classes offered online and some during the summer, but once you've passed the core courses, everything else has to be taken during the regular semesters. Fashion classes are very small and fill up quickly. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | Well, the year I entered Buffalo State College, the fashion department just started expanding. We share our building with other design and art majors, which are also expanding. In 2013, the technology building will be completed and we'll have our own department for fashion majors. |
| Social Life | 9 | My school campus is particularly small so word spreads pretty fast. Everyone always goes to the same parties and social events, but the school spirit is no good since our football team is pretty bad. |
| Placement Services | 7 | The fashion department is small so the job search is very competitive. In Buffalo, however, it is so much easier to land an internship or a job than it is in New York City. Whenever there is an opening, the fashion department contacts us through email. |
| Alumni Network | 4 | Most of the alumni eventually move to a major city to kick off their fashion careers. The few that have come in tell us the hardships rather than what good has come from a career in fashion design. |
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. |
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