For those leaning toward an industry career, the textiles and fashion design program gives students the option to apply to spend their senior year at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City, the hub of the textile and fashion trade. The FIT experience provides students with industry specific skills which, when paired with the creative liberal arts background, makes our graduates highly desirable and often recruited by industry leaders. Students apply to FIT in their junior year. If accepted by FIT, they participate in a visiting student program in one area of focus: Fashion Design, Textile Surface Design, Footwear & Accessories Design, Communication Design Foundation, Advertising and Marketing Communications, Fashion Business Management, Textile Development and Marketing.

Upon graduation, students who attend FIT are awarded a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in textiles and fashion design with a named option in FIT. A named option is a formally documented sub-major within an academic major program. Named options appear on the transcript with degree conferral. FIT students also earn an associate of applied science (A.A.S) degree from FIT. Students attending FIT who are considered Wisconsin nonresidents continue to pay out-of-state tuition, even if they reside in the state of New York.

Core requirements for the named option are below. Students should follow the curriculum requirements in place at the time they entered the major. This requirement list should be used in combination with a DARS report.

Textiles and Fashion Design: FIT Named Option Requirements
Design Core18
Introduction to Textile Design
Design: Fundamentals I
Sewn Construction I
Visual Thinking - Pixels and Pencils
Textile Science
History of Fashion, 1400-Present
History of Textiles
Textiles and Fashion Design Focus Area21
Choose either the Fashion Sequence or the Textiles Sequence
Fashion Sequence (must be taken in this order)
Sewn Construction II
Patternmaking for Apparel Design
Fashion Illustration
Apparel Design I
Textiles Sequence (must be taken in this order)
Textile Design: Printing and Dyeing I
Textile Embellishment I
Textile Design: Weaving I
Textile Design: Manual/Computer Generated Imagery and Pattern
Choose 3 additional Textiles & Fashion Design courses for 21 total credits
Professional Development2
Design Leadership Symposium
SoHE Career & Leadership Development
Fashion Institute of Technology FIT
Visiting Student Program Courses30