Fashion Design and Marketing

Fashion design and marketing is a degree for those who want to understand both how fashion is made and how it reaches its audience. Design and marketing are not separate activities in the fashion industry: the most successful labels are those that create products and communicate them in ways that are coherent, consistent, and compelling. A degree that develops both dimensions gives you a significantly more rounded understanding of the industry than one that focuses on either alone.

This four-year full-time programme at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle develops your skills in garment design, pattern cutting, textile understanding, and visual presentation alongside the marketing, branding, and commercial knowledge needed to understand how fashion businesses operate in competitive markets. The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study at an international partner institution and to engage with fashion in a different national context. Fashion is a global industry, and understanding how it functions in other markets, how different cultures relate to dress and style, and how international brands adapt their communications across contexts, is a genuinely valuable part of your education.

With a typical tariff of 120 points, the programme welcomes students with creative talent and commercial curiosity.

Northumbria has a strong fashion department with industry connections, and Newcastle's creative scene provides a stimulating environment for fashion students. You will develop a portfolio of design work alongside a commercial understanding of market positioning, consumer behaviour, and brand strategy that sets you apart from graduates who have trained purely as designers or purely as marketers.

Graduates move into careers in fashion design, buying, merchandising, brand management, fashion marketing, PR, styling, and retail management. The dual skill set is particularly valued by fashion businesses looking for people who can move between creative and commercial roles. Some graduates continue to postgraduate study in fashion or marketing, and others build freelance or portfolio careers that draw on both dimensions of their training.