Tyler Haller gained fashion styling, product development, and public speaking skills in her internship with Sportiqe
How did you get your internship?
I got my internship through my dad. My dad is the creative director for Sportiqe, the clothing company I interned with, and he has worked for this company since they started. I even grew up knowing the CEO and co-founder. Last year, my dad asked me to go to a work party with him and when I went I told them about needing an internship. I knew I wanted to learn more about apparel industry business processes and they suggested I do it there!
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
I helped come up with styles and colors for the Spring 2025 collection. I also helped the person doing product development a lot. I measured samples from the factories to make sure they were following the correct size guide. I matched pantone colors to the fabric samples from the factories to make sure the colors were correct. I also emailed the factories with the notes on the measurements and colors. I took notes when fit models would come in, on what the creative director and product development person wanted to change or maintain about a certain style. I also tried on many different pieces of their clothing to give feedback on sizing and fit.
What is unique about your situation that influenced your internship experience?
My internship experience was unique because my dad was basically my boss and that I have known the CEO and co-founder since I was little. This definitely helped me feel more at home and at ease throughout this internship. You may think that since my dad was my boss that I wasn’t working as hard as I would with a supervisor that I didn’t know. However, I think it is the opposite. My dad is the hardest worker I know and if he saw I was not following in his footsteps he would be pretty disappointed. So if anything, I worked harder when working with him.
What skills did you practice and develop in this internship?
I learned how to tap into my creativity again throughout this internship. I was always creative when I was little, but I think going to school and having such a focus on grades and GPA dimmed my creative side down. It was cool to revisit my sense of creativity and know I still have it in me. I also worked on my public speaking skills. I have always been pretty good at communicating, but I had to be interviewed in front of the company members which felt like a lot more pressure.
I developed my active listening skills as well. When you are starting a new job or new role, there is so much new information that comes your way, it can be easy to only remember a few things. I got better at listening and retaining all the information I was learning and also worked on my communication skills by asking questions about things I may have missed. Usually I hate asking questions about something someone has already told me, but it is necessary to make sure you are completing the task correctly and showing that you’re not afraid to ask for clarification.
What was your favorite part of your internship?
My favorite part of the internship was actually feeling like I was contributing meaningful work to the brand. I loved helping make other people’s jobs easier and taking some tasks off their plates. It felt good to be appreciated for the work I was doing as an intern. My other favorite part was being offered a job with a salary there at the end of my internship!
What did you find challenging about your internship?
I found the most challenging part to be making friends with co-workers. Since my dad has a leadership position there it felt like some of my colleagues were more cautious around me or looked at me as the principal's daughter. I am not usually the type to try to make friends with coworkers; at times I would rather just do my job and leave but would make friends with them over time. This may be the case for this job too, we will see!
How has your internship experience influenced your plans for your future?
This internship influenced my plans because I was offered and accepted a full-time offer in product development! This is never something that was even in my mind when I started, but I am enjoying it. Before this internship, I thought I wanted to be a clothing buyer. However, now I have learned that is not something I want to do. Someone at the company used to be a buyer and I was asking her questions about the job and learned it is not what I thought it entailed after all.