Summer Internship Experience : 3

Many of our undergraduate and graduate students held internships this summer near and far. Here is a peek at how a few of our students spent their summers:

Meet Erin Stevens!

Where did you intern this summer and what was your main role?

I worked at Eileen Fisher this summer as a design studio intern in New York City. I assisted all creative teams: Sweaters, Fabric, Cut & Sew, Wovens, and Line Operations. It was really a mind-blowing learning experience, as I got to see the company from so many angles.

What surprised you the most during your internship experience?

I was pretty surprised the first time the company masseuse came to my desk and asked me if I wanted a ten-minute massage. Aside from how fantastic the company is to its employees, I was surprised to see a designer's process from intangible concept to a product in stores. They make it look easy. I was also fascinated by the amount of team work and collaboration between teams that I witnessed during design meetings.

How did you feel your experience at Philadelphia University prepared you to take on and understand the tasks you were given this summer?

Eileen Fisher makes products that are entirely designed around the fabric or materials. I felt fully equipped with the textile vocabulary, understanding, and language obtained at Philadelphia University to be able to communicate and participate in decision making while at EF. I also felt that my CAD skills were at the right skill level so that I could keep up with any design assignments on the computer.

What new skills did you learn throughout your internship that you might not have learned in the classroom?

On the job, I learned so much about how all the pieces fit together because in the classroom any discussion of industry is mostly theoretical. At Eileen Fisher, I gained a solid understanding of what it means to be a ethical and sustainable company without sacrificing the quality of the product. I mastered little things that are specific to the industry such as specification sheets, which tell the production team exactly how to reproduce a product.

Spending a summer in New York taught me the invaluable skill of how to live on a very tight budget :)

What was your favorite part of the job or working at the company?

I loved working for a company who's design aesthetic and company ethics I so passionately agree with. I also loved how much the designers cared about my learning experience. They always took the time to explain new things to me and I was able to shadow design meetings or accompany them to fabric shows and vendor appointments. All in all, the experience sufficiently exceeded all of my wildest dreams!