Fashion Institute of Technology

One of New York City’s premier public institutions, FIT is an internationally recognized college for design, fashion, art, communications, and business. We’re known for our rigorous, unique, and adaptable academic programming, experiential learning opportunities, academic and industry partnerships, and commitment to research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

While our pedagogical mission is to prepare our students for professional excellence in design and business, our broader ethos is to foster creativity, inspire leadership, impart a global perspective, and educate students to embrace inclusiveness, commit to sustainability, and engage with community. We encourage students, scholars, teachers, and industry colleagues to cross traditional boundaries of both geography and disciplines. Together we strive to develop innovative design and strategic business solutions that will upend the status quo, create personal and professional opportunity, and have a lasting and sustainable global impact.

Our courses reflect what's happening every day in corporate offices, showrooms and studios around the world.Whether you're just beginning your college education or seeking an advanced degree, our academic programs prepare you for a career in more than 30 fields leading to Associates, Bachelor's, and Master's degrees.

Starting your very first day at FIT you will be learning about your chosen field. Each program combines the practical and the theoretical, giving you hands-on learning that will create a seamless transfer to the professional world. Our faculty members are not only nationally and internationally recognized for contributions in their fields, they're engaging teachers dedicated to their students.

Academic life at FIT also includes the liberal arts, study abroad opportunities, FIT in Italy, evening/weekend degree programs, and online courses. So no matter what your aspirations, dreams, and lifestyle, you will be able to tailor FIT to meet your needs.

You're passionate about your commitment to creativity and your big dreams of business success and we are, too. Our programs: professional and practical. Our faculty: industry insiders and experts. Our liberal arts: relevant and thought-provoking. Our connections: local and global.

Choosing a major is the most important decision you'll make when applying to FIT, since you'll begin studying what most interests you on day one. Find the program that best fits your talents and dreams. And when you're thinking about the best match for you, think big. Remember: being an FIT student opens doors to design studios, museums, digital media firms, marketing agencies, and headquarters of top brands. Whichever direction you choose, opportunities will surround you. Prepare to rock a dynamic, rewarding future. If you're committed to making your mark in the art and business of fashion, design, and related industries, were committed to helping you succeed.

FIT is a great place to learn, and a great place to live. Our campus provides students with an exciting and rewarding college experience in the heart of New York City. Whether you're living in a residence hall or commuting, you'll find everything you need. There's a whole world at your doorstep waiting to be discovered.

The FIT campus is home to a creative community with diverse interests, talents, and backgrounds. With four residence halls, two fitness centers, an intercollegiate athletics program, more than 60 clubs, and hundreds of on-campus activities, you'll find a wide range of resources for study, exploration, and fun. You'll gain new perspectives and opportunities you never imagined, and be immersed in a vibrant urban experience as rich as you want it to be.

FIT prepares students for professional excellence in design and business through rigorous and adaptable academic programs, experiential learning and innovative partnerships. A premier public institution in New York City, FIT fosters creativity, career focus, and a global perspective and educates its students to embrace inclusiveness, sustainability and a sense of community.

FIT will be globally celebrated as the institution where students, scholars, and teachers cross traditional disciplinary boundaries to stimulate innovation, partner with creative industries worldwide, and develop innovative design and business solutions. By focusing on the three major goals, FIT will become stronger by conscious design and be known as a strategic organization—one that applies available resources to greatest effect to achieve its vision.

A central component of FIT's mission, and woven throughout the college's strategic plan, is a commitment to sustainability, diversity, and civility. One of the key goals of the FIT Strategic Plan is to create a campus that is purposefully diverse—one which, through its students, faculty and staff—reflects the pluralistic city, nation, and world in which we live.

Through the establishment of various councils, task forces, and committees, President Joyce F. Brown has provided opportunities for members of the FIT community to celebrate and honor cultural diversity, to incorporate sustainability into both operational and curricular activities, and to foster discussion of respectful ways of living and learning in a higher education environment. The groups are charged with providing support for activities and encouraging dialogue throughout the institution.

We’re original. We’re globally celebrated. We’re a proud member of the SUNY family. Our college’s mission is in tune with the needs, talents, and desires of our students, faculty, and partners. And our long, storied history is the ballast to our bright, innovative future.

In the 1940s, fashion and apparel industry members were faced with a dwindling number of qualified people to help them run and carry on their businesses. The next generation wanted to be doctors and lawyers—not tailors. A group of industry members, led by Mortimer C. Ritter, an educator with an interest in programs for young working people, and Max Meyer, a retired menswear manufacturer, set about organizing a school to ensure the vitality of their businesses.

First, they created the Educational Foundation for the Apparel Industries to promote education for the industry. The Foundation then obtained a charter from the New York State Board of Regents to establish a “fashion institute of technology and design.” The institute opened in 1944 with 100 students, and was located on the top two floors of the High School of Needle Trades.

Today, the campus encompasses an entire city block and serves more than 10,000 students. The college offers degrees in diverse subjects, such as Menswear and Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing, which are unique to the college, and Fashion Business Management, Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design, and Toy Design, the first of their kind in the country.