Fashion Management

University of Manchester

At The University of Manchester we offer four BSc courses in Fashion Business and Technology. On our courses you'll discover the exciting industry of fashion business, and the many creative, practical, technical, and business elements that contribute to the fashion industry. You'll explore how textiles and products are created, tested, sourced, manufactured, managed, marketed, promoted, and retailed.This Fashion Management BSc course provides students with an opportunity to focus on management theory as well as the textile science and technology context of the fashion industry. You will learn current management approaches and techniques used in the world of fashion, including brand management, design, production, and the supply chain as well as focussing on sustainability, social responsibility and stakeholder engagement. You’ll also engage with real managers in real settings, learning to combine academic theory with actual practice. This culminates in the opportunity to use your learning to make a difference by working with, or starting, a company to analyse practices and recommend areas for improvement and development.

The first year establishes the fundamentals in fashion business, textile science and technology through the core units in fashion buying, management, and marketing and the core textile science and garment technology units where students are introduced to fibres, materials, fabrics, and textile production processes.

The second year explores specific aspects of management and marketing in depth with subjects such as Product development, Operations Management, Fashion Business and Analysis and Garment Production technology. The specialist focus of the course in the second year considers various aspects of managing the fashion supply chain. There are optional subjects such as circular design for products, technical textile structures, digital branding, international business and sustainable approaches to fashion business and fashion promotions and the instore environment.

The final year provides an opportunity to consolidate and extend specialist knowledge in areas of management studied in previous years. You may choose from a range of fashion business options within leadership, sustainability, and fashion business in the digital age. The final year projects allow you to specialise in an area of your choice, for example focusing on developing a broader corporate strategy for a fashion business, the development of a business start-up company or a project that combines business skills and innovative materials and technologies for emerging fashion and textiles markets.

Students graduate with experience and understanding of the science and technology behind the fabrics and garments they work with, as well as gaining critical and analytical understanding of the processes, procedures and aspects that make up the fashion industry. We equip our students with the skills to interpret the creative and technical elements that contribute to product development, as well as manage and market commercially viable fabrics and garments worldwide. There’s no knowing where a degree in Fashion Business Technology from The University of Manchester could take you!For more information about this course, including the kinds of careers and companies our graduates go on to, please see our department website.