ILC

This contract will be an internship at the slow fashion company ‘Celtic Fusion Design‘. During the internship, the student will take place in the day to day requirements of running a small business. This includes: preparing orders for shipment, styling shoots, manning vending tables, networking with festival managers, improving online marketing, etc. The internship will also include research centered around the ethics of fashion and how the business navigates material sourcing, labor practices, and sustainable designs. The research will also include an investigation of the farming practices involved in materials the company uses and an analysis of their environmental impact which will be used in marketing techniques for the company. This will draw upon the student’s previous experience in agriculture. A background in Irish history will also be used through observing and documenting how the company uses Celtic Twilight/traditionalist ideas of spirituality from nature to help market the company’s history-inspired and eco-friendly designs.

Learning Objective	Activities	What Sponsor Will Evaluate
To observe and learn about the day to day operations of a small business.	Preparing items for shipment, online marketing, networking with festival managers, styling shoots, vending, etc.	A log of each work days’ activities.
To both understand how and help the company use the history of Ireland to market the alternative-looking designs and ‘slow fashion’ aspect of the products.	I will apply my past experience studying Celtic-twilight romanticization of Irish folklore and the Celtic centered neo-pagan movement’s ‘connection to the earth’ to my work marketing sustainability in clothing.	A portfolio (in the form of a wordpress) of any work I do for the company (photography, styling, web pages, blogging, etc.). This will be accompanied by a description of how I was able to incorporate themes from Irish history and an analysis of how customers reacted to these themes.
To become familiar with the various different materials used in slow fashion as well as the farming practices that are associated with them.	I will familiarize myself with the materials used in the clothing designs that I work with and do research into the sourcing/farming and labor methods associated with them. This will be used to help the company both educate and market to potential customers.	Textile profiles of the materials I encounter – each will have in depth descriptions of the farming methods used to create them as well has an analysis of the environmental impact and labor practices associated with it.

To learn more about the ethics of outsourcing labor and how it applies to the slow fashion movement.

I will interview the owner of Celtic Fusion Design on the subject of her code of ethics with outsourcing her labor as well as research other slow fashion companies’ codes of ethics.

I will compile my findings into my portfolio along with my own conclusion on what I believe sustainable fashion should encompass and how it should be improved.