What luxury brands are paying their interns
We made an up-to-date list of internship salaries, plus typical weekly hours and any perks, too!
Brands run on interns but rarely publicly disclose how much these internships pay. With this in mind, we reached out to the 1 Granary community to create an up-to-date list of what’s out there currently in terms of pay, perks and hours expected. While we have not spoken with the brands’ HR departments directly, a variety of designers, course leaders, students and former interns have verified the accuracy of these responses. Overall, the list is pretty comprehensive; however, if you have interned in the last year for a brand that you can't see mentioned here (*cough* Prada, Miu Miu, Gucci), please fill out our anonymous survey so we can include it!
It’s worth pointing out that many of our respondents interned for smaller, independent brands, and it will come as no surprise to learn that the majority of these (though not all) were unpaid. We haven’t included these in our list, not because this isn’t a problem, but because it just didn’t seem right to present emerging designers next to multi-billion-pound conglomerate-owned mega-houses as if they were part of the same problem. We also removed any mention of 50% travel discounts in Paris, as this is a legal obligation in France and thus does not qualify as a ‘benefit’ (though, based on the number of mentions in our survey, clearly it had been framed as one by a few HR teams).
So, with that aside, what can we learn from these answers?
Naturally, most of the internships take place in Paris, London, Milan, and New York. These are four of the most expensive cities in the world, where the cost of public transport, rent, and basic necessities far, far exceeds the average pre-tax pay we calculated across all answers. There are a few respondents from outside the big four, too – Antwerp, for example – however, the pay here seems just as inadequate. As for the work schedules, it seems as though many interns work beyond the normal 35-hour-week schedule defined by their contracts, most likely precluding them from any additional paid work to support themselves.
Internships are stepping stones and are always going to be amongst the lowest-paid positions in a company. Still, as we’ve already said, some of the brands we are talking about rake in billions in revenue a year. They are helmed by creative directors and CEOs who make an intern’s yearly salary in the first week of January.
Take a look below and read our anonymous interviews about salaries with in-house designers at luxury brands if you want to explore the topic further.
Acne Studios, Paris (2025)
Pay per month: €900 (went up from €600)
Hours per week: 45
Benefits: Lunch cards (half is taken from salary) and 20% off Acne Studios products
Acne Studios, Stockholm (2024)
Pay per month: €950
Hours per week: 40
Benefits: Insurance, access to sample sales, flight to and from home
Adidas, Herzogenaurach (2024)
Pay per month: €1700
Hours per week: 39
Benefits: Insurance, sport on campus, events and discounts
Alaïa, Paris (2025)
Pay per month: €1300
Hours per week: Contracted 35, more like 50
Benefits: Metro pass and lunch
Alexander McQueen, London (2025)
Pay per month: £2375 (graduate trainee)
Hours per week: Contracted 40, more like 50
Benefits: Basic Health Insurance and £90 lunch budget per month
Balenciaga, Paris (2024)
Pay per month: €1250
Hours per week: Contracted 35, more like 50
Benefits: €300 a month restaurant ticket