As part of its SHEIN X designer incubator program, SHEIN invests $480,000 in new scholarship fund and class where students will design merchandise to sell on the company’s platform
LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Today, SHEIN, the global e-retailer of fashion, beauty and lifestyle products, and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM), announced a new scholarship program and curriculum for FIDM students called SHEIN X Project Launchpad.
Through the partnership, 12 students were selected to each receive a $40,000 scholarship provided by SHEIN, and to participate in a new course where they will have the opportunity to create a 5-10-piece collection that will be sold on SHEIN’s platform as part of the company’s designer incubator program, SHEIN X.
“As its name suggests, SHEIN X Project Launchpad aims to launch these students into successful careers in the fashion industry,” said George Chiao, U.S. president of SHEIN. “By providing scholarships and access to SHEIN’s resources and customer network, we hope to remove some of the barriers aspiring designers typically face and provide these talented young people with the tools and support they need to help them achieve their dreams.”
The 20-week curriculum has two parts; the first half of the program is focused on market research and design development, and the second half will be focused on fit and production. Once complete, the students’ collections will be sold on the SHEIN platform and students will earn commissions and keep ownership of their creations.
“We are very grateful for the generous scholarship opportunities SHEIN has brought our students to further their education. Through this partnership, the students will enhance their design talent and creative vision, and more fully understand the business side of fashion and how a product is made end-to-end,” said Barbara Bundy, FIDM vice president of education.
Students were selected for the opportunity based on their academic performance, portfolio of work, resume, instructor recommendations and a short video submission detailing why they were applying for the program.
“This collaboration is exciting to me because it is an area that I have yet to focus on as a designer. Having just finished FIDM’s Advanced Fashion Design program, that focuses heavily on a more niche, designer market, I think it will be a valuable experience to design for a completely different sphere within the industry,” said FIDM student Keagan Roberson. “From this collaboration, I hope to take away valuable insights, such as the production and manufacturing process, that I can use across the industry regardless of which area in fashion I move to next.”
The announcement follows SHEIN’s first-ever SHEIN X Design Summit, which gathered hundreds of artists and designers, as well as industry leaders, at City Market Social House in Los Angeles last month. The event celebrated independent designers and encouraged them to leverage SHEIN X to take their businesses to the next level, as the company is looking to onboard 500 more to the program in 2023 in the U.S. alone.
From just seven designers when the program launched in January 2021, the SHEIN X incubator program has grown to almost 3,000 designers and artists globally, launching more than 25,000 original creations. SHEIN has invested more than $55 million into the program and guides participants through the end-to-end process, from product development, to manufacturing, to marketing and supply chain logistics. Importantly, SHEIN X designers maintain ownership rights to their SHEIN X designs.
Photos of the introductory SHEIN X Project Launchpad session can be found here.
