AMFI works with industry and academic partners to educate fashion professionals who can contribute to a more sustainable, digital and socially aware fashion industry. Our collaborations connect education, research and professional practice, and help keep our curriculum closely aligned with developments in the field.
Below you can explore the main ways to collaborate with AMFI, and how research and international exchange support our education.
AMFI values collaboration with established companies, emerging brands, cultural organisations and other partners across the fashion ecosystem. There are several ways to contribute.
Share professional knowledge, expertise or perspective with students in Fashion & Management, Fashion & Branding or Fashion & Design.
The professional field helps inform assignments throughout the programme. From the third year onwards, collaboration becomes more intensive, particularly in semester 5 and in selected minors, where students work on current questions from practice, individually or in interdisciplinary teams. For example, the Brand Development Challenge in Fashion & Branding semester 5 invites students to work with established brands on foresight presentations and innovation proposals. In the Hypercraft minor, students from all three graduation specialisations explore fashion, technology and futures thinking through research, speculative design and digital experimentation.
During graduation assessments, industry professionals may be involved as committee members, offering a professional perspective on the relevance and value of student work. AMFI students can also choose to carry out graduation work in a professional context, although this is currently still selective rather than standard practice.
AMFI stays in regular contact with professionals from different parts of the fashion industry to keep the curriculum responsive to new developments, skills and challenges in the field.
If you are interested in collaborating with AMFI, please contact our Project Office AMFI Connect: amfi-connect@hva.nl.
At AMFI, internships are part of the graduation phase. Students complete an 18-week internship in semester 6 or 7, in the Netherlands or abroad. During the internship, students conduct independent research into the company and actively participate in daily activities.. We see internship organisations not simply as host companies, but as valued partners in educating the next generation of fashion professionals.
Students are responsible for securing their own internship and completing the application process independently. After a successful application, the internship must be submitted for formal approval. The placement can only begin once approval has been granted and the AMFI internship agreement has been signed. At the start of the internship, the student drafts an internship plan outlining learning goals aligned with their graduation specialisation. If these goals evolve during the internship, we expect the organisation to support the student in refining and achieving them.
During the internship, students are supported by an AMFI internship lecturer as well as a qualified professional within the host organisation. A mid-term evaluation takes place halfway through the internship and includes a company visit by the AMFI lecturer. At both mid-term and at the end of the internship, the organisation provides a written evaluation based on AMFI’s assessment criteria.
To ensure a meaningful and safe learning experience, we apply a clear quality framework.
We ask that internship organisations:
operate actively within the fashion industry and/or fashion value chain, with fashion forming a structural part of their core activities;
Every placement is reviewed in advance by AMFI. We may request additional information and reserve the right to decline a placement if it does not sufficiently support the intended learning outcomes or provide a safe and responsible learning environment.
Internship vacancies can be published via the official online internship platform of the Faculty of Digital Media and Creative Industries (FDMCI), of which AMFI is part.
For questions, please contact AMFI’s Internship Office at internships-amfi@hva.nl.
Research is a core part of AMFI. Students learn to investigate current questions in fashion through applied, methodical and design-led research, with different emphases across Fashion & Management, Fashion & Branding and Fashion & Design.
AMFI is closely connected to the research groups Fashion Research & Technology and Fashion Design & Identity. These research groups work closely with AMFI lecturers and students and help keep education current and connected to developments in the fashion field. For more information about the research groups, please visit the relevant HvA research pages.
AMFI also works with an international academic network that supports student exchange and knowledge sharing across the global fashion field. AMFI is a prominent member and co-founder of the global IFFTI network, which connects fashion institutes worldwide through research, curriculum development and intercultural exchange. Key partners include the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, London College of Fashion (LCF) in London, University of Borås in Borås (Sweden) and RMIT in Melbourne.
