Beginning in Fall 2027, LIM College will offer a new inter-continental Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree program in Fashion Design and Business in conjunction with ESMOD Paris, the prestigious French fashion school founded in 1841 by master tailor and inventor Alexis Lavigne.
The goal of the new four-year degree program is to develop design-capable fashion professionals with meaningful global business and entrepreneurial competence. It is structured to give U.S.-based students a first year of study in fashion business at LIM in New York, where they will also complete the first of two required internships. Participants then move to Paris to study fashion design at ESMOD for two years. In their fourth year, students return to New York to take a final year of business courses, complete an internship, and present their own capsule collection. The BBA degree will be granted by LIM College.
“New York is recognized as the worldwide center of fashion commerce and business innovation. For centuries, Paris has reigned as the global seat of fashion design,” said LIM College President Ron Marshall. “Now, for the first time, students in the U.S. will no longer have to choose between a preeminent fashion design education or a top-notch fashion business education. With LIM X ESMOD, they will have the best of both in one degree program provided across the world’s top fashion capitals.”
Marshall continued, “The fashion industry increasingly demands professionals who can move fluidly between concept development, product creation, branding, marketing, finance, supply chain management, sustainability, and business strategy – whether they are founding their own brands, joining a start-up, or taking on a role within an established fashion or retail organization. The future of fashion belongs to people who understand both creativity and commerce. This program was built to develop those leaders.”
“We have long recognized the importance of integrating creative fashion design with robust business education,” said Yoshinori Yamashita, President and Chief Executive Officer of ESMOD and Director of the Japan Educational Foundation (JEF). “LIM X ESMOD bridges these domains and reflects a forward-thinking and highly relevant response to the ever-evolving needs of the industry. This is more than a degree program. It is a new way to educate future fashion leaders.”
LIM X ESMOD was made possible through the 2025 acquisition of LIM College by JEF, which operates a global portfolio of higher education institutions. ESMOD is also a JEF institution, and with the addition of LIM the groundwork was laid for the development of the new LIM X ESMOD BBA program in Fashion Design and Business.
At ESMOD, required courses will include Patternmaking, Fashion Design, Digital Tools, AI: Creative Development & Research Tools, Textiles and Eco-Sourcing. Among the courses at LIM are Design & Merchandising Management, Product Development, and Marketing & the Global Consumer. Students will take a French language course during their first year in New York and a course in French for business once they are in Paris. All students will also complete two required internships as well as the final capstone project in New York.
Graduates of LIM X ESMOD are expected to be prepared for a wide variety of career roles across the fashion industry, including entry-level fashion design positions, technical designer roles, CAD artist, and production manager. The program will also prepare graduates for their own entrepreneurial ventures. With the foundation of knowledge acquired in the BBA in Fashion Design and Business program, students will be well-positioned to advance later in their careers into roles such as creative director, design director, senior designer, as well as positions in fashion business leadership.
To be accepted into the BBA program in Fashion Design and Business, applicants will be required to meet the standard admissions requirements for all LIM bachelor’s degree programs, plus have a minimum 3.0 GPA and complete a creative concept exercise and in-person interview. Applications for Fall 2027 admission are now being accepted.
