‘Sweat and tears’: Confessions of a serial fashion industry intern

This article is part of our Confessions series, in which we trade anonymity for candor to get an unvarnished look at the people, processes and problems inside the industry. More from the series →

Pop culture has given many glimpses of what it’s like to be a fashion intern: long hours, demanding bosses and little pay.

There’s usually no shortage of job listings to work for brands and fashion companies, but without experience, recent fashion graduates or students can struggle to get a foot in the door. While the debate over the ethics of unpaid internships surfaces every so often, most interns are willing to take unpaid positions in the hope it could lead to a paid job.

In this edition of Confessions, in which we grant anonymity in exchange for honesty, we talked to a serial fashion intern who has completed four internships at three major luxury fashion houses, and who has gone on to work in the industry. To read the rest of this story, visit Glossy.co.

More in Marketing

Marketers shift growing shares of search spending to GEO

Generative AI is pushing brands to shift SEO budgets toward visibility in AI-generated answers over clicks.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese pulls dollars from search – people aren’t Googling ‘cream cheese’

Philadelphia Cream Cheese has stopped paying for search ads, at least to prospective shoppers on Google. Over the past year, the Kraft Heinz-owned CPG brand has phased out its traditional search ad spend, opting to put those dollars instead into retail media and broader channels, according to Maddy Zingle, vp of marketing for Philadelphia Cream […]

TikTok courts CMOs with first-ever Collective, as it targets bigger budgets

In its first CMO-focused event in the U.K. TikTok showcased how easy it is for brands to create content. The event is only part of the platform’s sharper 2026 commercial strategy: targeting larger, long-term ad budgets, courting independent agencies, and positioning itself as a serious competitor to Meta in 2026.