Summer Academy Programs

Through this program, you will complete a week-long project involving aspects of textile design, fashion design and fashion merchandising. You will have the opportunity to design and explore in Thomas Jefferson University's 14,000-square-foot Fashion & Textile Futures Center, as well as Fashion Merchandising & Management’s brand-new studio space. Learn about one of the largest and most exciting industries in the world from current faculty and industry professionals.

This workshop invites you to engage with the many different facets of fashion, and introduces you to the collaborative and cross-disciplinary approach throughout fashion & textile industries. Members of the Thomas Jefferson University faculty will guide students through an immersive, career-focused curriculum that prepares students to contribute to aspects of the fashion value chain. Ranked among the top fashion schools by Business of Fashion and Fashionista, the program emphasizes active and hands on learning applications.

Our goal is to inspire high school students to pursue creative careers at Thomas Jefferson University.

Within this workshop, students will create their own fashion brand through exploration and development of their own personal design style. Students will learn to research their inspirations and create engaging and aspirational mood boards based on their inspirations.

During the fashion merchandising & management portion, students will assess the importance of developing brand and customer profiles. They will learn to identify white-spaces in the industry and offer products that are relevant and functional for the intended market.

From there, students will develop their concepts and inspirations through jacquards, knits and other unique fabrications. Inspired by these textiles, students will then explore fashion design. They will develop new and exciting silhouette ideas, and sketch a capsule collection incorporating the textiles developed in Textile Design. At the end of the week, students will present their projects to faculty and peers in a professional-style critique to gather feedback on their brands.

At the end of the Jefferson Fashion & Textile Summer Workshop, students will:

• Understand the different career paths fashion & textiles offer globally.
• Conceptualize creative ideas through research, mood boards and sketches to design for a brand.
• Examine techniques that allow designers to translate shape, color, pattern, form, fabrication and movement through sketching & fabric selections.
• Discover the value and importance of creating, marketing and merchandising a product in a consumer-driven digital environment.
• Develop professional critique skills, which allow textile and fashion teams to provide and receive valuable and professional feedback.

Jefferson’s Graphic & Web Design Summer Academy is an immersive three-day experience that guides high school students interested in graphic & web design through the design process, from concept development to production. Participants will collaborate with our experienced faculty and current students to tackle a real-world design prompt.

The Academy unfolds in our Visual Communication Design studios on the East Falls campus, providing students with access to industry-standard software, computers and cutting-edge prototyping equipment. Each day is structured to optimize learning, featuring project discussions, critiques, presentations by industry professionals and skills labs. The academy concludes with a reception open to family and friends, where the final projects will be showcased.