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Should Fashion Companies Pay Their Interns?
With support swelling for legislation that would require interns to be paid for their work, there’s a lot of debate surrounding the issue. And particularly in the design industry, the fashion world runs on unpaid internships.
Apparel companies often don’t pay their youngest workers because demand to get a foot in the door is so high, and opportunities are already limited. With thousands of aspiring designers willing to work for free in exchange for experience, why would a company choose to pay them?
Lauren Sherman for Fashionista.com writes:
Our industry, and most creative industries, rely on unpaid interns to make things happened. If we didn’t have unpaid assistants working on set, or in the office, magazines wouldn’t get published, film wouldn’t get developed, and fashion shows wouldn’t run so smoothly.
I know that, during my time in college, I did four internships, one of which I was paid a commission on sales that I closed. (It was at a boutique/art gallery.) However, the other three internships, which were in editorial, were unpaid. One landed me my first job out of college. Britt’s senior year internship also resulted in a job right out of school.
Any former (or current!) interns care to weigh in?
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At 25, I’m struggling to get my foot in the door after having studied human rights and development, and transitioning to ethical fashion and sustainable development. As a person that holds a BA and MA and is currently working on a PhD I cringe at the very mention of an internship. Been there, done that. However it’s difficult to know which is my next move. I may be the ethical fashion missionary, but that only buys me love on twitter @ibadona. So how do I get my hands on a sewing machine and get some practical experience? I can’t even find a decent job at a textile factory with an ethical fashion company. Paid or unpaid, it’s the experience that counts. I’d rather be unpaid getting excellent experience than to be paid making coffee runs. I don’t exist to observe although I am quite observant. I exist to do. I want to get my hands dirty. Seems as though it’s very easy to get away with unpaid internships in this industry and very easy to get 19 year-old students to pay $6,000 for a 2 week summer design course as well where they’re not even taught the basics of producing a collection. Interesting.
Comment by Ibada Wadud — April 13, 2010 @ 7:13 pm
[...] groundswell of support continues to grow for legislation that would outlaw unpaid internships in all industries, including fashion. And yesterday on NPR, listeners chimed in on [...]
Pingback by Ethical Style » The Ethics of Unpaid Internships on NPR — July 14, 2010 @ 3:26 pm