How The Fashion Institute Of Technology Is Making Creative Careers Accessible To People ‘Of All Stripes’

When I recently sat down with Dr. Joyce Brown to discuss her work at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, she told me the institution has evolved into something more than clothing. The school started as a place wherein European immigrants could come and ply their trade as embroiderers, sewers, and tailors with the hopes of “[building] the needle trades and and ultimately [professionalizing] the industry.” The Institute, colloquially known as FIT, rode the coattails of what Dr. Brown described as a “wonderful reputation” of fueling an entire industry, but noted FIT was “sitting on a goldmine of talent and resources” and needed to evolve further with the oncoming of technology and the new frontiers it would afford. Technology, she said, helped transform the fashion space into a broader lifestyle space. Dr. Brown said FIT today features a “great cross-section of talent” across myriad industries and fields that, particularly nowadays, naturally intersect with technology.

Dr. Brown said FIT indeed isn’t solely about fashion; the school is focused on “marrying design and technology and design writ large.” This not only includes how technology has influenced fabric design, textile development, and more, it also encompasses advertising and marketing as well. Everything FIT teaches is design- and creative-centric, so Dr. Brown said it’s natural they needed to be “infused” with new ways of doing things. She thought it important the school reach both industries, lifestyle and technology, and “cultivate the talents of new designers.” Especially considering FIT’s student body comprises a bunch of twentysomethings, Dr. Brown told me it’s important to recognize they’ve grown up with technology their entire lives. They’re “digital natives,” as the industry wonks like to say. They want to be around tech and use it.

“They’re fearless. They want to try new things. They want to do things differently. They want to have an impact on how business is done and how products are developed,” Dr. Brown said. “We needed to catch up as an institution and reach out and have partnerships with the industry [and] with technology and software developers and figure out how we could integrate that with the design world and design education.”

Digital nativism is consequential in other ways as well. From a disability perspective, modern technology is not merely ubiquitous but so advanced—coupled with the incessant societal clamor for inclusiveness—that it can make learning and productivity and socialization more accessible. How that applies to FIT is simple to surmise: There surely are disabled people out in the world who wish for careers in the fashion or lifestyle industries. That technology is so domineering and pervasive in everyday life is one thing; that technology companies have worked so hard to make it usable vis-a-vis accessibility is quite another. Thus, it’s not far-fetched nor trivial to presume a disabled person interested in FIT’s teachings conceivably could thrive given Dr. Brown’s assurances the school embraces tech as it widened its aperture and modernized.

Marginalized and underserved communities comprise a significant portion of FIT’s student population, with Dr. Brown telling me the school has made a concerted effort to bring in more people from those groups. It isn’t easy for these “youngsters,” as she described them, to pursue their passions in their neighborhoods if there isn’t an arts education program replete with field trips to museums and the like. Dr. Brown noted there has been “a lot of conversation recently” about the lack of diversity in creative industries due to the fact there hasn’t been access to avenues which promote it. Moreover, she said many industries haven’t “gone out of their way to diversify their ranks” such that products could find appeal with a wider audiences. By contrast, FIT is one example of people going out of their way: Dr. Brown said they have committed to developing programs to bring in “more talented individuals who otherwise might not have the opportunity to have an impact and contribution to the diversification of the industry.” Of course, tech plays an integral role in this work; Dr. Brown told me FIT’s intent was to “create avenues within our curriculum that included the technology so emerging designers of every stripe would be educated in a way they could contribute to the new frontier and landscape of the industries that were going to be utilizing all the technology.”

“It’s really twofold,” she said of FIT’s goals for serving its students. “One was to make sure we were cutting-edge… incorporating the technology into what we taught so that industry would recognize the next leadership was coming from FIT. At the same time, we were creating programs to incorporate opportunities for young people in underserved communities to have the exposure and opportunity to study here as well.”

Dr. Brown said FIT stands alone in its uniqueness because she often says FIT “has no competition” because “no one else does what we do.” FIT has 50 different types of majors taught by subject matter experts from within the creative industries; this means, Dr. Brown said, students have “an incredible opportunity to be immersed in the current ways of doing business.” 80% of FIT students secure job placement upon graduation, as Dr. Brown told me the market is “very competitive” and the school does a “great job” preparing people for such an environment. Likewise, FIT has what Dr. Brown called a “robust” internship program wherein students get immersed and indoctrinated into a company’s-and an industry’s—culture while gaining invaluable hands-on experience.

“I also think there’s the excitement of being in a community of like-minded, creative, dynamic young people. We try and create the opportunity for them to be able to experiment, learn the new ways of incorporating technology into their design work and talent and creativity,” Dr. Brown said. “Then they go out and get a job—which makes us [at FIT] and them and their parents happy. We have graduates, successful graduates, who are breaking barriers out there in all sorts of walks of life. That’s why they want to come. None of them come here trying to find themselves. This is a destination for creative people.”

A major differentiator for FIT is its so-called D Tech Lab. On its website, the Lab boasts it “[solves] real-world problems with design and technology” that “inspires interdisciplinary research.” It further says the Lab “unites design thinking with emerging technologies” with its work sitting at the “intersection of industry and academia.” Dr. Brown said the D Tech Lab was built with the notion of “marrying the design elements [and] emerging designers with the technology and real-world problems that industries said they needed solutions for.” She added FIT wanted a place in which to foster “creative solutions” and proudly noted the Lab has been tremendously successful. Dr. Brown shared an anecdote about the Girl Scouts of America approaching FIT with a desire to “create a more current, appealing uniform for young women of today” that was fresher and more modern that the “old Brownie look.” Dr. Brown said the Girl Scouts did their research and wanted to preserve their heritage and authenticity, but embellish it for the 21st century. It’s a sentiment, Dr. Brown said, that’s become a recurring theme with FIT’s partnerships with not only the Girl Scouts, but others like IBM and Tommy Hilfiger. There was work done with a pharmaceutical company to design adaptive clothing for neuropathy patients whose pain interfered with their ability to wear regular clothes. The D Tech Lab has enabled all of this work, as Dr. Brown said the technology is available to “preserve whatever those iconic and authentic brand identity elements are and become more current [and] along the lines of the youthful, emerging designer.”

My conversation with Dr. Brown happened to coincide with the news she will be stepping down from the position she’s held since 1998. A trailblazer of her own accord, having the distinction of being FIT’s first female and first African-American president, it was announced earlier this month via press release that she will be leaving the school at the conclusion of the 2024–25 school year. FIT lauded Dr. Brown for her nearly 26 years of “transformative” service. For her part, Dr. Brown said in a statement in part serving FIT has been “my honor and privilege” and pledged to spend her final months as the school’s president “[moving] the institution forward while working to find FIT’s next leader who will build on our strengths and take the college to even greater heights.”

When asked about feedback and whether students are happy at FIT, Dr. Brown responded somewhat glibly by characterizing it as a rather “transient” feeling. She called FIT’s students “highly motivated” and said the school is focused on continually adapting to retail’s changes, especially around shopping. As in accessibility for disabled people, Dr. Brown said technology has touched nearly every element of society and added environmental sensibilities are increasingly (and rightfully) popular. To quote Bob Dylan, the times are a-changin’ faster than ever.

“I think there’s a lot of dynamism and interest and excitement for the whole way of doing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary products, then incorporating all of that with the marketing and advertising and design of the industry,” Dr. Brown said of FIT’s future. “That’s what I think [for] the future, at least part of it. It changes all the time. Needless to say, things are moving very, very fast. But those are the pathways that are being followed in where the interest lies for young people today.”