FIT Turns Its Campus Into New York’s Fashion Closet With 27th On Sale
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By PAGE Editor
Fashion has always been about access—who gets to enter, who gets to participate and, increasingly, how the industry can create opportunities beyond the transaction. This September, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is putting that idea into practice with 27th on Sale, a new experiential shopping event that turns its New York City campus into a fashion closet for a cause.
Taking place September 23 and 24, the inaugural event will bring more than 2,500 new and vintage pieces to FIT’s John E. Reeves Great Hall, with clothing, shoes and accessories from designers, brands, alumni and some of fashion and entertainment’s most recognizable names. Prices will reach as much as 70% off retail, while proceeds will fund scholarships and opportunities for FIT students.
The premise is familiar—fashion sale—but the setting and purpose give it a different weight. Named after FIT’s iconic address on 27th Street and Seventh Avenue, the event turns the college itself into a temporary retail environment, connecting the business of fashion with the institution responsible for educating many of its future designers, stylists, merchandisers and creative leaders.
Among the personal closets contributing to the sale are those of Tracee Ellis Ross, Amanda Seyfried, Jessica Chastain, Laura Dern, Lilly Singh, Athena Calderone, Patricia Field, Elizabeth Stewart, Karla Welch, Tina Leung, Olympia Gayot, Karen Pittman and Stacy London. Participating brands and industry partners include Michael Kors, Mulberry, Brandon Maxwell, Tory Burch, Hervé Léger, Theory, Citizens of Humanity, eBay, Fashionphile, SKIMS, Stuart Weitzman, Nike, Stetson, Robert Graham and Madewell.
The appeal, however, extends beyond the opportunity to find a designer piece at a reduced price. 27th on Sale creates a direct relationship between fashion’s abundance and fashion education. A garment that might otherwise remain in a closet, archive or inventory system is given another life, while its sale helps create access for students entering an industry that can often be difficult to navigate.
That idea is central to the event’s conception. FIT Foundation is producing 27th on Sale with support from FIT’s Merchandising Society, the college’s largest student club. Students have participated in the practical mechanics of the event, from floor planning and pricing to staffing and merchandising, turning the fundraiser into an extension of the classroom.
For Aziza Malik, a Fashion Business Management student and the event’s operations lead, the experience has offered a rare opportunity to apply academic lessons within a working retail environment. Her role has encompassed inventory management, visual presentation, operational planning, organization and team coordination—the less visible infrastructure behind the fashion experiences consumers ultimately see.
In that sense, 27th on Sale is more than a sample sale. It is an industry lesson staged in real time.
The concept also draws from fashion history. Its name and premise pay homage to 7th on Sale, the landmark fundraiser created by the CFDA and Vogue in 1990 to support HIV/AIDS organizations. More than three decades later, FIT is adapting the spirit of that model for a new generation, using fashion itself as a mechanism for community and access.
The experience will extend beyond shopping. A Style Lounge will offer complimentary styling advice and tailoring consultations, while WFIT student DJs provide the soundtrack. Book sales and signings will bring literary culture into the mix, including appearances from Mona May, costume designer of Clueless, and Fern Mallis, the creator of New York Fashion Week. On September 24, FIT alum Michelle Feinberg’s New York Embroidery Studio will offer complimentary embroidery and monogramming on newly purchased pieces.
For FIT President Jason Schupbach, the event represents an opportunity to bring the school’s industry relationships back onto campus. For FIT alum and event co-chair Joe Zee, the connection is more personal. Having attended the school himself, Zee sees the fundraiser as a way to return the relationships and experience he developed throughout his career to the institution that helped shape it.
There is an inherent circularity to the idea: fashion moves from closet to campus, from campus to consumer and, ultimately, back into the lives of a new generation. The clothing changes hands, but its value continues.
For those unable to make it to FIT, a selection of rare celebrity pieces will also be available online through Charitybuzz through October 8.
At a moment when fashion continues to reconsider what value means beyond novelty and consumption, 27th on Sale offers a particularly New York proposition: make the closet public, make the archive accessible and turn the act of buying something beautiful into an investment in the people who will shape what comes next.
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