Fashion
Fashion is a discipline that combines creative design thinking with cultural awareness, technical skill, and an understanding of how the fashion industry operates. Studying fashion at degree level means engaging with the full spectrum of what fashion involves: the creative process of generating ideas and translating them into garments or collections; the technical knowledge of construction, materials, and production; the cultural and historical contexts that shape what people wear and why; and the commercial realities of an industry that is global, competitive, and rapidly changing. Fashion design at its best is simultaneously an art form and a response to human needs and desires.
At Teesside University, this four-year, full-time programme explores the fundamental principles of design and composition, developing your understanding of image creation, digital design tools, form, space, and the use of photographic and other visual source material alongside the practical design and making skills that fashion demands. The programme includes a sandwich placement year and work placement opportunities, giving you direct experience of the fashion industry and the professional contexts in which fashion designers work. The combination of creative development with practical professional experience is central to the degree's approach to preparing graduates for the industry.
Graduates from fashion degrees work as fashion designers, fashion buyers, product developers, stylists, visual merchandisers, fashion journalists, and in textile and garment manufacturing. The creative and technical skills developed are also applicable in costume design for theatre, film, and television. Many graduates build portfolio careers across design, styling, and creative production, while others develop specialist expertise in areas like knitwear, menswear, sustainable fashion, or digital fashion.
Postgraduate study in fashion design, sustainable fashion, or fashion communication is an option for those who want to develop specialist expertise.