Internships
*Click on the pictures to view the official websites*
Michael Kors
Michael Kors is a world-renowned, award-winning designer of luxury accessories and ready to wear. His namesake company, established in 1981, currently produces a range of products through his Michael Kors and MICHAEL Michael Kors labels, including accessories, footwear, watches, jewelry, men’s and women’s ready to wear, and a full line of fragrance products. Michael Kors stores are operated, either directly or through licensing partners, in some of the most prestigious cities in the world, including New York, Beverly Hills, Chicago, London, Milan, Paris, Munich, Istanbul, Dubai, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
This summer, I will be interning at the Michael Kors Headquarters in the Women’s Fabrics Department in New York, New York. As an intern of this department, I will assist in sending out artwork, filing of solid and printed fabrics for knits and wovens, and maintaining labdip snip charts. I will also help organize and steam shipments and orders for MK meetings. This will be my second time interning in the production sector of the fashion industry. I look forward to working with a new team and meeting new people in the company.
Foresti Home Collection Group
When I studied abroad during the Fall 2013 semester at Temple University’s Rome campus, I was a Marketing Intern for Foresti Home Collection Group, one of the biggest Italian upholstery fabric distributors in Rome, Italy. The company distributes fabrics to retail shops, architect studios, hotels, and cruise ships. As an intern, I promoted the company’s upholstery fabric distribution services to the United States market through the use of social media outlets and direct communication. I maintained the company’s Facebook, 
LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts for clients to view pictures, measurements, and content of the company’s fabric selection. I also informed companies in need of upholstery about the company’s selection of high-quality fabrics made in Italy to generate clientele in the United States.
As a result, I attracted three clients from the United States to contact the company and gain more information on its products and services. I made 116 connections on LinkedIn, collected 22 followers on Facebook, and wrote a company profile that includes a company overview, company philosophy, a detailed description of the company’s activity and products, and a commercial profile that lists the companies Foresti Home Collection Group has collaborated with. After interning at Foresti Home Collection Group, my Italian speaking skills improved, I know how to effectively use social media for marketing purposes, and I experienced working for a company outside of the United States.
Click here to view the company profile: Amanda Alvarez Foresti Home Collection Company Profile (1)
I received credit for this internship through Temple University by taking the International Business Internship elective (IB 3585). Click here to view my final research paper that discusses how social media is used and is beneficial to the textile industry: Amanda Alvarez Foresti Home Collection Final Paper (3)
Also click here to view Foresti Home Collection Group’s Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Theory
During the summer of 2013, I worked as a Fabric Merchandising Intern at Theory’s Headquarters located in the Meatpacking District in New York, New York. Theory is a popular New York brand that sells contemporary casual and professional apparel to men and women. My duties as an intern involved me traveling to warehouses and design studios in Manhattan to pick up fabrics and other materials for the fabric merchandising team. I sat in on meeting with the fabric merchandising team to discuss bulk orders, design, and inspirations for future seasons. I used Microsoft Excel to organize style numbers on price tags for garments and update fitting reports for Theory, Theyskins Theory, the high-end branch of Theory, and Helmut Lang, a popular store affiliated with Theory that sells men’s and women’s apparel which emphasizes drape, drama, and sex appeal. Interning at Theory taught me how to navigate Manhattan using public transportation, how to properly inspect fabrics before they are used for production, and showed me how important the production department of the fashion industry is to effectively create and sell garments.
Tollegno 1900 U.S.A.
While I was interning at Theory during the summer of 2013, I also interned for Tollegno 1900 U.S.A. in Fabric Merchandising in New York, New York. Tollegno 1900 is the oldest and largest fabric mill in Italy. The mill is located in northern Italy in a small town called Biella in the Piedmont region. It has offices in New York, Hong Kong, Osaka, and in Biella. Tollegno 1900 weaves wool and cashmere fabrics for men’s and women’s suiting and sweaters and sends them to fashion conglomerates to be used for mass production. Some of the company’s biggest clients are J. Crew, Brooks Brothers, Men’s Wearhouse, Michael Kors, and Madewell. As an intern, I learned the technical aspects of yarn and fabric, such as the different styles, stretches, and production in the mill. I sat in on designer selection by traveling to design studios in Manhattan and recorded which fabrics the designers chose. I also followed the fabric distribution process from the initial stages of development to production that are currently in stores by communicating to workers in Biella, Italy through email or Skype. From this experience, I was able to see how the production cycle operates in the fashion industry behind the scenes. When I go shopping, I look at clothes differently because I read the labels to see what the fabric is made out of and decide whether or not the garment is good quality. I also had the pleasure of meeting many head designers from major clothing brands and discovered brands that I did not know existed. I will be interning for Tollegno 1900 U.S.A. again this summer and look forward to expanding my knowledge more on fabrics and the production sector of the fashion industry.
Campus Entertainment: Macy’s
During the Spring 2013 semester, I interned for Campus Entertainment, which is now known as Fluent Group, a student promotions company that is affiliated with Macy’s, Dove, L’oréal, and Microsoft. As a Student Promoter for Macy’s, I increased brand awareness by motivating college students and young adults at Temple University to shop at the Macy’s in Center City, Philadelphia. I promoted Macy’s by hosting events on Temple University’s Main Campus, interacted with the student body, and used savvy marketing techniques to arrange social networking connections. I also had to report weekly activity on Campus Entertainment’s reporting website weekly to show my boss my marketing efforts on campus. I truly enjoyed promoting Macy’s because the students were very enthusiastic about shopping at the store and receiving discounts through coupons I handed out and downloading the Macy’s app. This experience taught me to be more outgoing towards students on campus and introduced me to new effective marketing tactics.