<p>New member here. High school junior currently enrolled in a magnet school where I have around 3 hours of visual arts classes everyday. From that, I know I want to go to art school and that I want to major in fiber/textile arts.</p>
<p>My question though, is what schools are known for that? I think unless it's fashion (which I'm more interested in weaving, knitting, printing fabric, etc.) it gets shuffled under the bus. </p>
<p>I've looked into RISD, MICA, Tyler at Temple, and Uarts. From what I read in a job placement brochure, a lot of the fiber students at MICA go on to a bunch of really interesting things. Tyler's seems really into experiemental materials, which I'm also interested in. Which option is best for fiber, or what other schools are known for it?</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the other schools, but my D2 is a fiber major at MICA. She started out as a painting major and then switched to fiber sometime before sophomore year. She loves it there and will be graduating this spring.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what she’ll end up doing but she has many options. She’ll be graduating this spring and has had an interview already with Nike (apparently they recruit in Baltimore to compete with Under Armor). She could go into textile design, she loves to knit, she owns a loom - there are options. </p>
<p>I know there are people in the department at MICA who are working with the military on “smart textiles” and they have some kind of partnership with the science depts at JHU involving that too.</p>
<p>Good luck in your search! I would say visit each school and look around and talk to people as much as you can. MICA has a parents weekend coming up and it’s not an official visit time but I know people who have visited then and it’s great that every department will be on display.</p>
<p>Most large apparel firms and retailers have textile/fabric designers and product developers on their creative teams. Niche specialties range from performance fabric development to print and yarn dye fabric design to handknit sweaters. </p>
<p>There are lots of opportunities throughout the apparel, textile and fashion industry. The key is to find a program that offers support in finding summer internships and making industry contacts. </p>
<p>If you’re drawn to a specific brand, do some research on how their creative/design department is structured. Try to find out what schools their designers attended as design managers tend to favor their alma maters.</p>
<p>For textile design schools that are well placed in the industry (like RISD) I would also look at FIT and Parsons. These have the advantage of being in close proximity to the apparel/textile center.</p>
<p>For other large university options (like MICA), Cornell, University of Texas and North Carolina State have highly regarded textile programs.</p>
<p>I’m touring MICA this spring, and then we’re gonna spring up to Philly and NYC to tour Tyler, Uarts, and FIT. I’ll talk to all of them and see what their programs are like. </p>
<p>If you’re going to Philly you should look at Philadelphia University. It used to be Philadelphia college of Textile and science. It’s a good textile school.</p>