November 7, 2022 – Madison Breemen ’23 is a fashion major at Marist who was recently honored with a prestigious scholarship from The Fashion Scholarship Fund in New York City, recognizing her exceptional work in fashion merchandising. Breemen will graduate in the spring with a fashion merchandising degree and a business concentration and minor.

The Fashion Scholarship Fund works with the country’s most talented young students from diverse backgrounds and provides financial awards each year in the form of scholarships to assist students in all sectors of the industry including design, merchandising, marketing analytics, and business strategy.

“The fashion industry is notoriously hard to break into, which had always been a concern of mine,” said Breemen. “However, knowing that I am being backed not only by Marist Fashion, but also the Fashion Scholarship Fund, has given me a sense of hope and confidence as I’m preparing to step into the industry and start my career.”

A native of Massachusetts, Breemen ’23 is an honors student who is also involved with MPorium, an entrepreneurial student-run retail boutique at Marist, and a member of the e-commerce team. Starting at a young age, she said she always had an opinion about what she was wearing and loved spending time shopping with her mother. Her love for clothes evolved into an appreciation for the industry as a whole.

She submitted her winning case study for the scholarship opportunity in her junior year, an intense process involving hours of hard work and meetings with Professor Rebecca Brown, Professional Lecturer of Fashion Merchandising. Breemen’s case study focused on fast fashion giant Zara, where she developed a solution for the brand to rethink its business model to operate more sustainably. All case studies were featured at the Fashion Scholarship Fund gala in New York City in April.

Madison Breemen ’23 stands next to a poster of her winning case study ‘Re-Zara’ at the Fashion Scholarship Fund Gala.

“I flew to New York City during my time studying abroad in Italy this past spring to attend the gala, where scholars get to network with industry professionals and celebrate their awards,” said Breemen ’23. “It was there that I happened to connect with the chief stores officer at Macy’s, which is how I ended up getting my foot in the door and ultimately working as a buying intern over the summer in Macy’s corporate merchandising program in New York City.”

“Madi is an extremely hardworking individual who is a pleasure to mentor and work with,” said Brown. “She has taken on a lead role in MPorium in our e-commerce division and is working on her honors thesis to introduce SMS messaging to our customers. Madi embraces all of the opportunities that both the Marist Fashion Program and FSF have presented to her and will have a successful future in the fashion industry.”

“Madi is a true ambassador of the Fashion Program,” said John Bartlett, Marist Fashion Program Director. “By winning a Fashion Fund Scholarship, she will have access to industry mentoring and other opportunities that will inform her career for years to come.”

Breemen says she’s confident she made the right decision in choosing Marist to pursue a career in fashion.

“I’d like to think that I’ve made my former self proud through everything I’ve been able to experience and accomplish during my time at Marist, and truly feel like this is only the beginning,” she said.

About Marist’s Fashion Merchandising Major
At Marist, Fashion Merchandising is a hands-on major, featuring an immersive learning experience. Marist Fashion Merchandising students achieve high levels of success because they enter the fashion industry with years of experience under their belts even before graduation.