Jefferson Students Recognized by the Fashion Scholarship Fund

The prestigious Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF) has named 12 Jefferson students as Class of 2022 Scholars.

Of the 45 participating programs, only one other school had more recipients than Jefferson, says Carly Kusy, assistant professor of fashion design. The FSF received over 450 student submissions from across the country.

Eight Jefferson students were named FSF Scholars, each earning $7,500: fashion merchandising and management (FMM) sophomore Adriana Cameline and junior Sydney Amster; and fashion design juniors Lyla Duffy, Hailey Nicchi, Lauren Schuler and Carly Vlachos, and fashion design seniors Danielle Davis and Kinley Lingenfelter, who won for the fourth time.

An additional four students earned the $7,500 Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Scholarship from the FSF. Established by the fashion industry luminary who recently passed away, the scholarship supports the next generation of Black fashion industry leaders. The Jefferson winners include: FMM senior T’yanna Neely and fashion design juniors Jamesether Koigbli, Kierra Lee and Samuel Stern.

“This accomplishment speaks volumes about our incredible fashion programs, but more importantly, about our students’ talent, dedication and passion,” Kusy says. “The faculty were blown away by their submissions, and they all should be proud.”

For consideration, students completed a written case study in one of the following four areas:

• Merchandising: Create an online and in-store merchandising campaign that appeals to consumers in this changing retail environment while maintaining brand identity and authenticity.
• Design and Product Development: Create a collection that addresses the needs of post-COVID-19 consumers. 
• Marketing Analytics: Develop an innovative marketing strategy for a brand of their choice, analyzing its current marketing and communications, identifying areas for improvement and proposing new approaches.
• Supply Chain: Explore strategies to introduce greater flexibility in the distribution network and assortment planning process for a mono-brand.

“Students researched real problems that the fashion industry and consumers face today and stepped up to the challenge,” says Camille Avent, FMM visiting lecturer, noting case studies included sustainability and diversity for Free People, a new knitwear line featuring Asian artists for Heaven by Marc Jacobs, and an inclusive and diverse skincare line for Kate Spade. “All the projects exhibited resiliency, innovation and creativity.”

The students will be honored in February at a gala in New York City. Along with providing career advice, mentoring and internships to scholars, the FSF awards over $1 million each year to support students in all sectors of the fashion industry, including design, merchandising, analytics, marketing and supply chain.