The Division of Communications and External Relations is pleased to share FIT in the News, which reports highlights of major news stories about the college and/or that quote the college’s experts. These stories will be accessible for at least seven days by clicking on the links below.
UnionLeader.com (August 5) covered a two-week workshop with students from FIT and MIT during which they explored and developed clothing concepts using advanced functional materials that incorporate 3D printing or advanced knitting technologies. The initiative took place in collaboration with Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, with the students spending one week at MIT and one week at FIT. The participants also developed marketing strategies to accompany their product concepts.
Racked.com (July 13), CollegeCandy.com, TrendHunter.com (both July 17), Cheddar.com (July 27), DailyMail.com (August 6), NYPost.com (August 7), ComeTrend.com (August 8), and VMSD.com (August 9) reported that Goodwill opened a boutique called Curated on West 79th Street in Manhattan based on a Goodwill-sponsored contest for FIT students who were tasked with coming up with an “innovative project” for the thrift chain.
Retail-Merchandiser.com (August 9) and Retail Merchandiser (August issue) published photos of the new NFL merchandise created with the visual systems designed by the FIT student team that won the NFLxFIT Visual System Design Contest. The contest challenged students minoring in Creative Technology to reimagine unified visual representations of all 32 NFL teams’ identities.
A press release distributed via PR Newswire (August 10) announced Austrian-based, 3D-scanning specialist 3Dcopysystems’ entrance into the U.S. market, during which they presented innovative perspectives for personalized textile production at FIT. The full-body scanner named Big Alice was set up in the FIT/Infor Design and Tech Lab, as well as at FIT’s Annual Awards Gala. The release included photos taken at the gala. Additional coverage appeared in All3DP.com (August 17).
Patch.com (August 13) and MizHollywood.com (August 16) reported that FIT student Sam Riley, Accessories Design, has won a design contest held by Bowlero, parent company of Bowlmor, to redesign bowling shoes. Riley’s “illusion shoe” will be manufactured and used at Bowlero and Bowlmor locations across the country.
Coveteur.com (August 10) included some of the research findings of the 2018 graduating class in FIT’s Master of Professional Studies program in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management in an article about natural beauty products.
Jeffrey Silberman, chair, Textile Development and Marketing, contributed to the article “Why Are Our Clothes So Bad for the Environment?” on GreenBiz.com (August 9).
Daniel Benkendorf, associate professor, Social Science, spoke with LSNGlobal.com (May 15) for the article “Are We Too Selfish to Be Sustainable?” Benkendorf also commented to RevistaVanityFair.es (Spain, August 5) about the psychological pull of logos.
Marc-Evan Blackman, assistant professor, Menswear, was interviewed by O, The Oprah Magazine (September issue) about design challenges for dressing women of different sizes.
Forbes.com (August 18) spoke with Shelley E. Kohan, assistant professor, Fashion Business Management, for an article on denim brand NewCo, a spinoff of Wrangler and Lee.
Ann Cantrell, assistant professor, Fashion Business Management, spoke with FootwearNews.com (August 17) about the reasons why clothing companies destroy unsold merchandise. “To keep exclusivity for the brand, businesses are destroying excess stock rather than donating it. It’s been happening at many levels but much more prevalent with luxury brands,” said Cantrell. Pickups include Yahoo.com.
Valerie Steele, director and chief curator, The Museum at FIT (MFIT), penned an article on the color pink, the focus of the upcoming MFIT exhibition Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color, for AvenueMagazine.com (August 9). Steele also spoke with CNN.com (August 13) for an article on the most recent cover of Vogue, which was photographed by Tyler Mitchell, an African-American. The article was picked up by BlackNewsZone.com (August 11) and dozens of affiliate stations of CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox. WSJ.com (August 16) and The Wall Street Journal (front page, August 17) turned to Steele for historical context on the corset.
Fashion Unraveled, currently on display at MFIT, received coverage on TheVintageTraveller.com (August 11).
Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color, which opens at MFIT on September 7, received pre-opening coverage on VistaLaCalle.com, MakeMeFeed.com (both August 9), Blogger.LookOnline.com (August 14), WWD.com (August 16), Buro247.sg (Singapore, August 18), and in InStyle (September issue).