Industry partnership provides ATM students with experience, connection

In the ever-fluid fashion industry, hands-on experience is crucial to the successful launch of a career after college.

To this end, the Apparel, Textiles, and Merchandising (ATM) program at Central Washington University has built networking and internship opportunities right into the curriculum.

This year, thanks to a thoughtful collaboration between ATM Program Director Andrea Eklund and her contacts at the Washington Shoe Company, four students took part in the inaugural session of an internship program built alongside CWU from the ground up.

“We’ve had a great relationship with the Washington Shoe Company for some time, and in the spring, they reached out hoping to create an internship program with four students,” Eklund said. “We worked together to refine the concept to make sure students were meeting their learning objectives, and that they’d be able to contribute to the company’s success using the knowledge they’ve gained from the program.”

The CWU interns began their eight-week journey into the world of shoe manufacturing and distribution in June, and spent the summer immersed in a variety of tasks, some of which might not immediately come to mind when one thinks of fashion.

“I think that people so often just think of designers when they think of the fashion industry, but that’s really only one piece of the pie,” Eklund said. “We have students who are more interested in the business side of things, too, so we made sure there were positions available on both sides of the spectrum.”

Samuel Lombardi, a senior finishing up his ATM degree this fall, took up one such logistics-oriented role as part of his time with the internship program.

“I was on the numbers and logistics side of getting our products from our manufacturers to distribution and ultimately into the hands of our customers,” he said. “I was able to get involved in having some important responsibilities and worked mostly independently for the last month or so.”

Lombardi was able to translate the experience into a permanent position with Greensource Brand Apparel, another frequent partner of the ATM program.

“I don’t know if I would have gotten my current position if I hadn’t been in the internship over the summer,” he said. “Having this kind of collaboration in place creates a good relationship between the school and the companies, and allows students to get a jump start on their careers.”

Angel Frias-Solorio completed his degree when he finished his internship, which allowed him to take on a more marketing-specific position.

“I got to take over their social media presence as well as part of their e-commerce infrastructure,” he said. “It was very cool to be learning and then immediately applying what I had learned.”

In addition to strengthening his professional network, Frias-Solorio found that the experience brought him closer to his classmates.

“Just like how you network with professionals through these opportunities, you also strengthen your network with your friends,” he said. “If I reach out to those people during my job search, or if I ever have questions that need answering, I know I can count on them.”

The Washington Shoe Company has a history of hiring CWU graduates and helping them build successful careers. National Sales Manager Kristin Raber (’04) is one standout example, having risen through the ranks since her own internship with the company. Now, she uses her position in the company to help give the ATM professionals of the future that same opportunity.

“I remember walking into the company not really understanding how some of the things I had learned in what was then known as the fashion merchandising program were going to apply to real-world scenarios,” Raber said. “I feel like we really peeled back the onion and gave them some experience to take with them into their careers, and to help them decide where in the industry their future roles might be.”

According to Director of Production Operations Ezra Goldman, the CWU cohort was able to inject vigor and drive into one of the company’s busiest seasons.

“Summer is one of the busiest times of the year for us,” he said. “The interns came in with open minds and an eagerness to dive right into the work and really added value for us as a company during that peak season.”

Beyond the seven alumni currently on staff, the Washington Shoe Company is also chaired by Robert Moehring (’69), a CWU alumnus whose generous contributions to his alma mater have opened doors for students and earned him and his wife a place of honor as the namesake of the Rob and Valerie Moehring Event Center on the Ellensburg campus.

Eklund was pleased with the inaugural cohort’s experience, and she is excited to begin planning next year’s program.

“It’s not very common to have the opportunity to partner directly with an employer to make sure their internship program is aligned with students’ curriculum and learning needs,” she said. “The students all had projects they were working on, with attainable goals to reach and a presentation at the end to cap their experience. Nobody was just there to fetch coffee or make copies.”