GAP, FIT AND BROSIS OPEN NEW CREATIVE PATHWAYS FOR NEW YORK YOUTH

For young people with an instinct for making, imagining, and communicating through visual culture, discovering where that talent might lead can be as important as developing the talent itself. Gap Inc., the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and The Brotherhood Sister Sol (BroSis) have approached that question through Future Creators, a six-week summer programme designed to introduce New York City teenagers to creative practice and the professional possibilities surrounding it.

The inaugural programme brought together 50 students between the ages of 13 and 18, selected by BroSis, a community organisation working with Black and Latinx youth. Hosted through FIT’s Precollege Programs, the course gave participants the choice of three creative pathways: Form, centred on fashion design; Image, focused on fine arts; and Digital, dedicated to photography. Across each discipline, students were encouraged to consider a deceptively broad question: what does fashion mean today when it is viewed through their own voice, identity and cultural perspective?

The structure was deliberately practical. Students studied the history of their chosen medium, carried out research, developed concepts and learned professional techniques before translating their ideas into finished work. Rather than presenting fashion as a single career or discipline, Future Creators exposed participants to the many creative roles that exist around it, from designing garments and constructing visual narratives to producing photography and communicating ideas.

That distinction matters. Fashion education can often be perceived primarily through its most visible outcomes — the designer, the collection, the campaign — while the industry itself depends upon a far wider network of creative disciplines. By allowing students to move through research, experimentation, production and presentation, the programme offered a more expansive view of how creative work develops and where individual interests might eventually lead.

Gap’s creative leaders were brought into the learning process, sharing their experiences and engaging directly with student work. One of the programme’s most notable moments came at its conclusion, when Zac Posen, Gap Inc.’s Executive Vice President and Creative Director and Chief Creative Officer of Old Navy, reviewed the students’ work individually and discussed their interests and ambitions. FIT described the final session as an opportunity for students to receive direct feedback from an established fashion professional while still in high school.

The involvement of industry professionals gives the programme a dimension that extends beyond classroom instruction. For teenagers considering creative careers, understanding how an idea moves from research to execution is valuable, but so too is seeing the people and professions behind the finished product. Exposure to working creatives can make an unfamiliar industry feel more tangible, while constructive critique can help young people begin to understand how their ideas might evolve in a professional setting.

The partnership also reflects a broader relationship between Gap and FIT. In April 2026, Gap Inc. announced the Doris Fisher Creators Program with FIT, a separate mentorship initiative named for Gap co-founder Doris Fisher. That programme is designed to connect FIT students with Gap Inc. leaders and creatives, providing industry exposure and professional connections across areas including Fashion Design, Graphic Design and Fabric Styling. Its first cohort is scheduled to participate during the 2026–27 academic year.

Future Creators takes a different approach, reaching students considerably earlier in their educational journeys. Together, the initiatives illustrate a wider attempt to create connections between creative education and the working industry at different stages, from teenagers beginning to discover their interests to college students preparing to enter professional life.

For BroSis, the partnership brings those opportunities into the context of a community organisation already focused on supporting young people. The students selected for Future Creators were able to work alongside peers while developing individual projects, creating a balance between personal expression and collaborative learning. FIT noted that students were highly engaged throughout the course and became increasingly confident in presenting and discussing their ideas.

There is a natural alignment between that philosophy and Gap’s own history. Gap Inc. was founded by Doris and Don Fisher in San Francisco in 1969, opening its first store on Ocean Avenue after Don struggled to find a pair of jeans that fit. The original business combined denim and music, while the name “Gap” referred to the generation gap that the founders sought to bridge. The company later developed into a global fashion group, but its heritage remains closely associated with denim, American style and the idea of making fashion accessible to a broad audience.

The company’s connection to education and community initiatives also has a longer history. Doris Fisher, who died in May 2026 aged 94, was not only Gap’s co-founder but a longstanding advocate for arts and education. Her legacy has now been carried into the Doris Fisher Creators Program, while Gap’s wider purpose places emphasis on inclusion, opportunity and community.

FIT brings its own substantial educational heritage to the partnership. Founded in 1944 and part of the State University of New York, the college has built its reputation around education for the creative industries, with programmes spanning art and design, business and technology, liberal arts and graduate study. Its Foundation describes access and opportunity as central to its mission, supporting scholarships and initiatives intended to help talented students pursue professional careers in creative fields.

That shared emphasis on access gives Future Creators its clearest significance. The programme is not simply about teaching teenagers how to sketch a garment, take a photograph or construct a visual project. It is about allowing them to see creative work as a possible future before decisions about education and employment have already narrowed their options.

The timing is particularly relevant as the boundaries of creative work continue to shift. Digital tools, changing production methods and new forms of visual communication are altering how ideas are developed and distributed. Yet the fundamentals of creative education — observation, experimentation, research, collaboration and the confidence to articulate an idea — remain difficult to replace. Providing young people with opportunities to practise those skills can influence not only what they create, but how they imagine themselves within the creative economy.

Future Creators therefore sits at an interesting point between education and industry. Its first cohort has already moved from initial research to finished projects, with students learning to treat their own experiences and perspectives as legitimate sources of creative direction. For a teenager, that can be an important shift: from wondering whether there is a place for their voice to beginning to understand how that voice might become a body of work.

In that sense, the programme’s most meaningful outcome may not be a particular garment, photograph or artwork. It may be the discovery that creative ambition can have a pathway — and that, with the right access to education, mentorship and encouragement, the distance between an early idea and a future profession does not have to feel quite so vast.