VF's Belgium internship program: the six months that changed two careers

Every career has a turning point. For Cristina Broissin and Bianca Marossero, it arrived in Antwerp. The two graduates came from different countries and disciplines, drawn to a six-month internship at VF Corporation, home to a portfolio of iconic active lifestyle brands including The North Face, Vans and Timberland, and over the following months they grew into trusted members of the teams there. Their stories offer a candid look at what VF’s Belgium internship program asks of its interns, and what it gives back.

Why VF, and why Antwerp

The pull was personal before it was professional. Scrolling LinkedIn and her university's careers portal, Bianca realised that many of the brands she had grown up with belonged to one company. “That motivated me to apply,” she recalls. For Cristina, VF offered the scale and reach of a truly international business.

Both landed at VF's Antwerp hub, home to the group's Packs brands, Eastpak, Kipling and JanSport, and to a community of roughly 300 colleagues from some 30 nationalities. Cristina, 26 and from Spain, brought an MBA and a design background to the digital marketing team as a CRM and loyalty data intern for Kipling. Bianca, 23 and originally from Argentina, joined retail consumer experience for Kipling global, fresh out of design school.

The real work began at once. Cristina was soon deep in customer data, building email campaigns in Bluecore and seeing how design and targeted messaging drive engagement and revenue, and how the company's departments work in concert. Bianca's brief stretched across global retail execution: she designed modular store fixtures, coordinated supplier networks and shaped layouts around local bestsellers, picking up 3D rendering and AI tools as she went. “It gave me a holistic view of global retail execution,” she says.

Moments that stayed with them

Bianca's first turning point came early: a full-day strategy session with Kipling's vice president, senior managers and an external creative agency to define the brand's direction. She spoke up, shared her ideas and was praised for her contribution, and the confidence stayed with her. She later pitched a new way to merchandise ‘The Art’, one of Kipling's icon products, to the vice president, and watched a travel-collection display she co-designed move from sketch to finished prototype. When Kipling unveiled its Preview SS27, it was Bianca's magazine, printed in more than 200 copies, that guests took home, her work toasted on stage with champagne by the Global Packs president. “Seeing the first physical prototypes come to life was extremely rewarding.”

Cristina's defining memory is quieter. Through VF's buddy program she was paired with a colleague, Federico, who became a close friend, and the padel matches, dinners and weekend trips that followed turned fellow interns into close friends. “Moving to a new country can feel intimidating,” she recalls, “but at VF you quickly feel at home thanks to the people and the culture.”

From intern to junior role

The program makes no promise of a job, yet strong work gets noticed. As their internships ended, managers who had watched them deliver made the case for keeping them. Bianca's ownership of the SS27 magazine earned her a junior contract; Cristina, who had told her manager early how much she wanted to stay, moved across when a paid media role opened up. Today she is a junior digital marketing specialist across Eastpak, Kipling and JanSport, and Bianca a junior global marketing coordinator, still shaping Kipling's global retail concept.

Their advice to future applicants is heartfelt.”Go for it,” says Cristina, who had once questioned whether an internship was a step in the right direction and now counts it among her best decisions. Bianca puts the rest down to mindset: come ready to learn beyond your comfort zone, and the experience will leave its mark. She remembers it as enriching, enlightening and versatile; for Cristina, it was rewarding, inspiring and memorable.

Two graduates, two very different paths, one shared beginning: VF's Belgium internship program continues to open that same door in Antwerp, waiting for the next people ready to walk through it.