ESPRIT looking for 2013 Alumni: 6-month Apprentice Program in Germany
Attention: School of Fashion Class of 2013 Alumni
ESPRIT is partnering with The School of Fashion towards a number of vocational opportunities for design placements located in Dusseldorf, Germany. As part of this, we’re pleased to invite you to apply to the ESPRIT Apprenticeship Program (EAP), designed by ESPRIT to identify and recruit the best international creative talent. EAP, consists of a sixth-month full-time work experience within the ESPRIT design department. At the conclusion, ESPRIT will be able to offer successful candidates a full-time Design position.
ESPRIT Apprenticeship Program to Start March 2014.
EAP consists of a six month period in which the designer will be working full-time at Esprit’s design department in the Düsseldorf headquarters.
Esprit will provide for:
- flight expenses (in and outbound tickets)
- accommodations
- breakfast and lunch at Esprit from Monday to Friday as well as pocket money.
- Esprit will provide informational support in applying for Visas.
EAP Application Process
Those interested in applying for EAP should contact email Sara Kozlowski, Director of External Project fashionexternalprojects@newschool.edu include “ESPRIT” in the subject line of the email, and submit resume, cover letter of interest and portfolio.
Application deadline: November 15 2013.
Candidates preselected will be subsequently be contacted and asked to develop a brief project submission reflecting understanding of the Esprit Brand DNA planned to be due December 6, 2013.
Communication to final selected candidates: mid December 2013.
Target start of apprenticeship at Esprit design department: March 2014 which can be flexible depending on the visa protocol.
We would like to thank our partner Esprit for this amazing opportunity to our Parsons alumni. Please spread the word and act immediately, November 15, 2013 deadline is fast approaching.
ESPRIT
Founded in 1968, Esprit is an international fashion brand that pays homage to its roots and expresses a
relaxed, sunny Californian attitude towards life. Esprit creates inspiring collections for women, men and kids
made from high-quality materials paying great attention to detail. All of Esprit’s products demonstrate the
Group’s commitment to quality design and execution.
HISTORY
The Esprit story began in Northern California in the sixties – with a beautiful love story. In the summer of 1963,
a pretty blonde girl in a burgundy Beetle picked up a smart East Coast preppie hitchhiking. His name was
Doug Tompkins, hers Susie Bell. The two were on the same wavelength, sharing a great passion for fashion
and nature. Only half a year later, they got married and five years later they started what was to become one
of the greatest fashion labels in the world: Esprit.
Their aspiration was to create a lifestyle brand that not only offered fashionable clothing, but a world of ideas,
meaning and values. Doug and Susie cared for their employees, social issues and the environment. Esprit’s
first headquarters in San Francisco were designed to meet the social needs of the employees. Long before
terms like sustainability, eco-awareness and social responsibility became talk-of-the-town/hot
topics/buzzwords, they bought the first lots of bio cotton to produce their organic Ecollection. Even their
advertising was never just about fashion, but about generating awareness for important social issues. Today,
Esprit is continually looking to support projects that help to make people’s lives a little better.
Emerging as one of the hottest brands of the era, the company grew into a transnational company operating
in over 60 countries. By 1978 partnerships had been formed in Germany and Hong Kong. At this time sales
were booming and Esprit gained a reputation as a good place to work. Doug Tompkins titled himself “image
director”, overseeing all aspects of the company’s innovative imagelanguage which translated from store
design to catalogue layout, while Susie was the design director for Esprit’s lifestyle products. The design
esthetic which Doug and Susie created for Esprit was featured in 1989 by Japanese art publisher Robundo in
the book “Esprit, the Comprehensive Design Principle”.
At Esprit, our spirit of social and environmental responsibility has never changed. It has been our true belief
all along that if you take from the world; you’ve got to give back. That’s why in 1990, we started a
sustainability group focusing on Esprit’s environmental and social affairs. At that time, a company-wide “ecoaudit”
programme took place to incorporate ecological considerations into daily business decisions and in the
same year, Esprit embraced a new mission statement: Be informed, be involved, make a difference., our spirit
of social and environmental responsibility has never changed. It has been our true belief all along that if you
take from the world; you’ve got to give back. That’s why in 1990, we started a sustainability group focusing on
Esprit’s environmental and social affairs. At that time, a company-wide “eco-audit” programme took place to
incorporate ecological considerations into daily business decisions and in the same year, Esprit embraced a
new mission statement: Be informed, be involved, make a difference
THE COMPANY TODAY
Esprit’s collections are available in over 40 countries worldwide, in more than 1,000 self-operated retail
stores and through over 9,000 wholesale points of sales including franchise partners, and sales space in
department stores. The Group markets its products under two brands, namely the Esprit brand and the edc
brand. Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1993, Esprit has headquarters in Germany and Hong
Kong. Additional information can be found at www.esprit.com