For the past three years, I’ve done some freelancing here and there. I teamed up with a friend to start our own website and also did content writing for boutiques and restaurants. However, I had never been an intern before, and my college evaluation required a 45-day internship. I was both excited and nervous since it would be my first time working in a full-time job setting.
As a fashion design student with a background in IT engineering, I’m deeply passionate about fashion and plan to build my career in that field. For the first three days of my internship, I worked at a boutique. I thought it would be fun, but I quickly realized that it wasn’t for me. While I love fashion, I’ve always disliked stitching garments—a task I’ve avoided even in college by skipping construction classes. Although I enjoy pattern making and guiding seamstresses, sitting at a sewing machine, working with needles and fabrics, is not my thing. As a result, I quit that internship after just three days.
During those three days, I felt so miserable that even my mom encouraged me to quit if it was affecting me so badly. She called the boutique to explain how much I was struggling. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to stitch, but the techniques were beyond my experience. The seamstresses were highly skilled, knowing how to use different stitching methods, sew curves, iron fabrics without burning them, and cut fabrics without chalk markings. Meanwhile, I struggled to stitch without inserting ball pins into the fabric and often had to undo my work. While at the boutique, I sent my CV to several major fashion brands in Nepal.
One of my friends was interning at one of those brands, and she raved about the positive work environment. I had heard of the brand as well, as many of my friends are customers, and I admired their aesthetics on social media. They’re a streetwear brand with a cool online presence. I asked my friend if they were still accepting interns, and she said yes. I was called in for an interview, and after a few days of waiting, I received a message on Instagram inviting me to join their graphic design team. I was thrilled!
Since I have an IT background, I’m comfortable with computers and graphics. In fact, from a young age, I could use computers proficiently, which was uncommon for kids of my generation. Graphic design is something I genuinely enjoy—I’ve always loved taking pictures, editing them, and even Photoshopping myself into other images. I also do digital illustrations, so graphics is something I’m truly passionate about.
When I joined the company, I spent the first two weeks learning about their aesthetics. My colleague, the head graphic designer, was incredibly helpful. Even though he’s younger than me, he’s more experienced and talented, and he taught me a lot without hesitation. Within a few weeks, I was designing posters, creating graffiti, using motion blurs, color grading, removing backgrounds, adding shadows, and more. Plus, five of my classmates were also interning in the same office, making it easy for me to adapt to the environment.
At the end of the second week, the owner’s wife asked if I wanted to join the company as a graphic designer. Without hesitation, I said no because I didn’t want to be stuck doing graphics for the rest of my life. My passion lies in fashion, and that’s where I want to focus my career. I understand that fashion involves graphics—like printing on t-shirts and creating motifs—but I wasn’t interested in creating the type of prints this brand wanted for their products. I had a clear mindset from the beginning: I didn’t want to work under anyone unless it was for an international brand like Louis Vuitton, Burberry, or Calvin Klein. I explained that I couldn’t join because I was freelancing, although that wasn’t the real reason. Additionally, my college schedule is chaotic, so maintaining consistency in a regular job would be difficult.
One of my friends was in the room when I was asked about the job, and the next day, she loudly announced to everyone in the office that I had rejected a job offer from the brand. She also spread the word around our college. For me, it wasn’t a big deal at all—these things happen. I often get job offers that I decline because they don’t align with my interests. But my friend made such a big deal out of it that everyone started thinking it was a huge issue that I had turned down a job offer from a well-known brand. In reality, it wasn’t even an offer—they just asked if I was interested, without any formal discussion. So, I never took it seriously and didn’t think about it again until my friend brought it up.
In the third week, the owner’s wife approached me and said, “I heard that you rejected my job offer. The thing is, it wasn’t even a job offer—I was just asking. If I had actually offered you a job, we would have discussed the salary and schedule. There’s no place for liars here, so be careful with what you say.” I was stunned by her words. Before I could explain that I hadn’t said anything like that to anyone, she interrupted me and left the room. She didn’t even give me a chance to defend myself. As I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t a big deal to me, and I hadn’t given it a second thought. But after that conversation, my whole day was ruined, and so was my enthusiasm for the internship. I was angry at my friend for unnecessarily making a fuss and at the owner’s wife for not letting me explain. She was so convinced by what she heard that it frustrated me to the point where I lost all interest in working there.
For the remainder of the internship, I was indifferent about going to work. I’m a sensitive person, and I hate it when people change their tone with me, especially when I’ve done nothing wrong. I felt wrongly accused of something I didn’t say, and that incident changed my perspective of the brand, particularly the owners, who showed little respect for their employees. In fact, the owner’s wife spoke to everyone in that manner. Once, I overheard her on the phone saying, “Don’t you have a brain?” and “Are you a child who complains like this?” Running a business can be stressful, and you have to deal with all kinds of people, but those are not things you should say to anyone.
The brand’s actual owner is also a very rude person. He never appreciates the work done by his employees, and when I dug a little deeper, I discovered they aren’t paid well either. They aren’t given basic incentives like lunch or travel allowances, which I found unfair. He doesn’t have a clear vision for improving the brand’s reputation and instead focuses on bad-mouthing other streetwear brands. He wants the marketing, editing, photography, and videography to be done exactly like other brands, rather than trying something new. He insults employees behind their backs and acts as if he’s the only one working. In my 45 days there, it was surprising how rarely I saw him smile or speak kindly to employees. His expression was always grumpy, and every time he entered the office, it created a dark and fearful atmosphere.
In the past, I had heard various controversies surrounding the brand and thought they might be misunderstandings. However, after working there, I realized the issues were within the brand itself. Occasionally, celebrities would visit the office and act as if they owned the place, touching the computers, behaving unprofessionally, and being obnoxious in our workspace. The brand lacks professionalism and tries too hard to be edgy and youth-centric, but it’s failing to create that image.
I hope the internal conditions of the brand improve in the future so that the workers can enjoy their time there. I also hope the owners improve their behavior, as it’s not benefiting them in any way. Nevertheless, the employees who work there are genuinely good people, and I’m especially thankful to the head graphic designer who taught me so much.
