BSc Fashion Buying and Merchandising / Course details

Fashion buying requires a strong commercial and analytical foundation. The course is designed to provide students with an appreciation of the creative fashion drivers needed to be a successful fashion buyer, such as the ability to pick out and identify trends, as well as a solid understanding of the business acumen required for the products they buy to be a commercial success. The strong textile science underpinning the course offers students a unique understanding as to the technical performance and construction of the garments.

This course focusses on the role of the fashion buyer, as well as the numerical and data analysis skills which are essential to fashion buying. Fashion buyers have to work well in a multifunctional team, such as liaising with marketers and merchandisers to understand consumer demand in order to facilitate the flow of stock in the most profitable way, and so the course emphasises collaboration within business. The changing nature of the supply chain, including fast fashion and seasonal buying strategies, is also explored on this course.

Another important factor is that this course is accredited by both The Textile Institute and The Chartered Institute of Marketing .

In our new Home of Engineering and Materials , we're ripping up the rule book to offer a truly innovative teaching and learning experience. You'll have access to world-leading sustainable research facilities and some of the most unique, industry-leading equipment and instrumentation in the sector to meet today's requirements and those of the future. 

Students may apply to extend this degree to four years, and spend their third year either on industrial experience or studying abroad. 

For study abroad, exchange partners are offered through the Erasmus Exchange scheme in Europe and the Worldwide Exchange scheme. Find out more about the Study Abroad Programme . 

Students wanting to take the Industrial placement pathway are responsible for finding their own placement. They will work closely with the careers office and both the placement tutor and administrator to find a suitable placement.  They also have access to former placement providers who often take students each year.

If you choose to take the four-year pathway with industrial experience, your year in industry is assessed through a written report, appraisal by the host organisation and an oral presentation contributing 20% towards your final mark.

The Department of Materials is home to an extensive array of unique facilities and equipment, across both materials science and engineering, and fashion business and technology.

Our new Home of Engineering and Materials opened in 2022 and is a place like no other. This is where engineers, material scientists and fashion students collaborate, innovate and make their mark on the world. Unleash your potential in our creative, academic playground that signals the evolution of a proud history of innovation spanning almost 200 years.

In this very special place, we're ripping up the rule book, offering you a truly innovative teaching and learning experience. As well as our creative classrooms, you'll also have access to world-leading sustainable research facilities in our new buildings.

Our variety of spaces allows for greater collaboration for all our students, and it is the place to connect and tackle real-life challenges together. So, a chemical engineer could be sat alongside a materials scientist working on clean water, or bump into a fashion student developing their own sustainable brand, or an aerospace engineer sending a rocket into space. It is a place like no other for interactions and one of the biggest communities of engineers and materials scientists in any University in the world.

Dive into a world of possibilities, whether you are interested in aerospace, robotics, or sustainable fashion, there's a home for you here. Explore Our Home for Engineering and Material Science .

We are unique amongst UK Universities in that we have excellent facilities for manufacturing textiles, including Jacquard weaving, computerised flat-bed knitting, digital printing and nano-fibre manufacturing.

We also benefit from a dedicated CAD suite, a multi-media and digital printing centre, a fashion retail studio and our students have access to textile and clothing process laboratories which include knitting and weaving facilities.