Fashion Design with Business Studies

Fashion design with business studies is a degree that reflects the reality of the fashion industry: extraordinary creative vision is only commercially viable when it is supported by an understanding of how fashion businesses are structured, how collections are financed and merchandised, how brands are built, and how global supply chains operate. Designers who understand business as well as craft are better prepared to translate their creative ideas into viable collections and to build careers that last beyond the initial excitement of a graduate show.

At the University of Brighton, this three-year programme develops your design skills alongside a genuine grounding in the business of fashion. In the design strand, you will develop your creative practice through studio work, learning to develop concepts, work with fabrics and construction, and present collections with the professional polish that the industry expects. Drawing, pattern cutting, garment construction, and creative development are all central to your study.

In the business strand, you will engage with fashion marketing, brand management, retail, supply chain management, and the economics of the fashion industry, developing a commercial awareness that complements your creative skills. The programme includes a sandwich year in industry, giving you an extended period of professional experience within a fashion, retail, or related business, and work placement opportunities throughout the degree develop your professional network and your understanding of industry practice.

Graduates pursue careers across the fashion industry in roles that draw on both their creative and commercial abilities. Fashion design, both at established brands and in independent practice, is the most direct creative route. Roles in buying, merchandising, and retail management draw on the business knowledge.

Fashion marketing, styling, creative direction, and brand management offer further pathways. The sandwich year frequently leads to graduate employment, and Brighton's strong industry connections in the South East support graduates in making those connections. Some graduates continue to postgraduate study in fashion design or fashion business, while others move into adjacent creative industries.