Mission & Initiatives
Center for the Business of Fashion
At the Rutgers Center for Business of Fashion, our mission is to:
- Facilitate exchange of research ideas among fashion, beauty, luxury and related industry professionals and academia through seminars, symposia, workshops, and collaborative and joint research projects.
- Support faculty and Ph.D. students in their research and teaching involving pivotal areas facing the industry.
- Provide interdisciplinary business research knowledge to the industry in an unprecedented way.
- Provide undergraduate and graduate programs to help develop the next generation of business leaders in the fashion and related industries.
- Become a resource for the various business industry professionals, including entrepreneurial designers and fashion-related creative professionals wishing to establish or grow their businesses.
- As an innovative research center in the world, we will establish ourselves as pioneers in this field globally. Our first-mover advantage creates an unprecedented opportunity for Rutgers Business School to increase its global visibility and attain recognition from the industry. Our strategically advantageous niche program is especially valuable given the trends in the global industry embracing newer business models. Our proximity to New York City provides the fertile ground necessary to become a world leader.
- Work with industry to create new programs of study and training for a new breed of industry leaders who appreciate both the business aspects and creative endeavors at play in this dynamic industry.
- Provide opportunities for professionals to serve as mentors to our students and graduates
- Provide a pool of qualified new leaders as a service to the industry.
- Provide students who would be well positioned for internships and/or full-time employment opportunities in the industry
Activities and Initiatives
Undergraduate
- Undergraduate Business of Fashion program, including a concentration program for Rutgers Business School-Newark students, as well as a minor for non-business students.
- Internship and job placement program
- Establishment of undergraduate student organization, Fashion and Business (FAB), to serve all Business of Fashion students, inside or outside Rutgers Business School. The club’s mission is to develop a new brand of fashion industry professional, with knowledge of both the creative and business sectors. The club is overseen by the CBF Director Tavy Ronen and undergraduate Dean Robert Kurland.
Graduate
- The Master of Science in Business of Fashion graduate program launched in September 2016. A graduate-student-run organization with reach to our industry alumni base will be created in Spring 2017.
News and Programs
- Center for Business of Fashion: Annual Research Conference September 2020
- Empowering Lives Through Knowledge and Imagination: October 2019
- Center for Business of Fashion Newsletter: January 2018 Issue
- Center for Business of Fashion Newsletter: December 2017 Issue
- Center for Business of Fashion Newsletter: October 2017 Issue
CBF Lecture Series
David Belasco
Executive VP of Apparel Capelli Sport
"Fashion Direction in a Post-Covid World"
April 4, 2023
Carla Varino
VP of Sales & Planning, Kasper Group
"The Finance of Buying"
March 28, 2023
Carla Varino
VP of Sales & Planning, Kasper Group
"The Finance of Buying"
February 25, 2022
William Gunn
VP & Chief Procurement Officer, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health
“The Power of Partnerships”
May 13, 2021
David Belasco
SVP, The Levy Group
"Finance in Fashion"
January 28, 2021
Carla Varino
VP of Sales & Planning, Kasper Group
"The Art of Selling & the Wholesale Process"
February 28, 2020