Manchester Fashion Institute

The BA (Hons) Fashion programme has an excellent reputation for producing fashion graduates who are employed for their creativity, originality, versatility, and professional skills. The programme focuses on contemporary fashion design and encourages students to be creative and experimental while challenging the conventions of fashion and textile design practices.

Its students follow an arts-based studio practice model through which they develop concepts and ideas using in-depth research processes and experimentations, learning how to design and make original fashion outcomes with a focus on contemporary craftsmanship.

Graduates of this course will have the essential skills for designing and making and will have had the opportunity to develop a textile specialism such as knit, print or embroidery. They will also have been encouraged to develop a personal design philosophy, leading to a final collection and design portfolio in their final year.

This course has a fantastic reputation for producing menswear, womenswear and sportswear graduates who combine design innovation with an in-depth knowledge of the technical aspects of fashion design and manufacturing. It encourages students to design and develop innovative fashion products and ranges using both manual and digital technologies.

Students have the option to graduate with a Menswear, Womenswear or Sportswear award, by selecting specialist units in year two and three, or they can work across multiple specialisms. Students are also encouraged to direct their learning towards specialised target markets such as luxury, outerwear, denim, tailoring, performance or lifestyle sportswear.

On completion of this course, graduates have an exit portfolio that showcases their creative and technical skills appropriate to their chosen careers. Graduates have gone on to work in areas such as design, pattern cutting, fashion innovation and product development.

The BA (Hons) Fashion Art Direction course explores future trend and lifestyle analysis, and the generation and development of new creative visual fashion concepts and outputs. Students develop skills and experience in styling and art direction, editorial and self-publishing, fashion graphics and illustration. They study historical and socio-cultural aspects of design, enabling them to contextualise fashion and communication.

Practical design and visual communication skills are taught throughout the course, using traditional and state-of-the-art equipment. Students are encouraged to employ analogue and digital responses, to develop a range of visual skills.

Graduates of this course are highly creative fashion visionaries who can explore, question, visualise, illustrate and communicate fashion concepts, trends, products and ideas through publications, exhibitions, art direction and styling.

The BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion course offers an exploratory and dynamic approach to studying promotion in the fashion industry. It covers the visual and creative processes and skills relevant to fashion promotion, with an underpinning of business context, and cultural and contextual theory.

This course enables its students to explore and evaluate creative fashion communication tools such as photography and film, digital communication, styling, social media, website design, and journalism for promotional campaigns and brand management. Supported by the business elements of the course, students understand industry processes, engage with entrepreneurial practice and apply their knowledge and skills to live professional and industry briefs.

Graduates of the course complete their degree with a strong, industry-ready portfolio of work relevant to their career preferences and apply for jobs in a variety of positions in areas such as online marketing, public relations, brand management and events.

This programme gives its students a thorough understanding of buying practice, finance, sourcing, product development and a knowledge of how fashion businesses operate to maximise profit. 

Students gain a broad perspective of the challenges and rewards of building profitable ranges, whilst developing strong critical and contextual skills within their research. As the industry’s decision makers of the future, they critically evaluate the wider global issues of the supply chain, ethical trading and sustainability as well as exploring the contemporary issues of ethical sourcing decisions and automation in the manufacturing process.

Graduates of this course pursue careers in a wide variety of sectors across the industry, including buying, merchandising, product development, sourcing and supply chain management. 

This degree helps its students to develop and acquire business management and marketing skills across a broad spectrum of fashion sectors. From business fundamentals, strategic analysis and business analytics to digital marketing, students gain a complete understanding of the fashion industry from a business perspective.

This innovative course, accredited by the Chartered Management Institute, provides a fresh approach to developing future fashion business and marketing professionals.

By focusing on creative thinking and commercial insight, this degree produces graduates with the ability to become a fashion manager, capable of making clear and appropriate management decisions within an international context.

The BA (Hons) International Fashion top up degree gives students the opportunity to specialist in their chosen field, with final exit awards for successful graduates being: 

•                 BA (Hons) International Fashion – Business Practice
•                 BA (Hons) International Fashion – Design Practice

The mix of cultural and business awareness that this course provides enables successful graduates to locate their own practice and ambitions firmly within international industry and social contexts.

Successful graduates of the Business Practice pathway are equipped with a skillset that can transcend the complex functions of ever-changing fashion organisations. Graduates are able to take on a range of roles in the fashion industry in areas such as marketing and brand management, e-commerce strategy, retail management, merchandising, buying, project management as well as data and digital analytics.

Students who successfully complete the Design Practice pathway go on to work as skilled fashion professionals in roles such as designers, product developers, pattern cutters and garment technologists. Graduates have the confidence to adapt in the fast-changing environment of the fashion industry and have the literacy and understanding of contemporary and emerging technologies that set them apart from other fashion graduates.