Fashion Buying and Merchandising (with Foundation Year) BA (Hons)

Course overview

Benefit from key expertise in the global business of fashion, this fashion buying and merchandising degree embraces knowledge and creativity through key elements of marketing, buying and selling for careers in this exciting global industry.

About the course

Develop your career as a fashion buyer through a range of skills to get ahead in the industry including internationalisation, customer enhancement, business management, entrepreneurship and innovation, fashion theory, cultures and identity, cycles, trends and forecasting, sustainable and inclusive fashion design. Taught by experienced industry professionals, you also learn research and planning, concepts of branding and essential digital, photography and media skills.

What you learn

Whilst studying this fashion buying and merchandising at Teesside University, you connect directly with industry through live projects, competitions, internships and international opportunities. Working independently and collectively, you acquire the professional skills for the fashion industry, including a critical dialogue with contemporary practice, providing the independence and confidence to succeed within a changing, fluid global creative industry.

You develop an understanding of international fashion markets, trends, visual communication and product development with supply chain management, range planning and distribution, sales analysis and international business management. You work alongside the other fashion courses in a dedicated design studio environment with access to high-quality computer aided-design (CAD) and industry-standard workshop facilities.

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

You study at MIMA School of Art & Design, an art school led by Teesside University and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), an international contemporary museum and gallery. You gain a full artistic experience, learning in a social space that inspires dynamic ideas, fuels collaboration and allows you to build local, national and international networks with industry professionals for your future fashion buying and merchandising career.

Foundation year

The fashion buying and merchandising foundation year helps you develop knowledge and skills to make the transition to university study, and in particular, to gain art and design knowledge and develop academic and personal skills to proceed confidently through the remainder of the course. During the foundation year (also called year 0) you study through projects, lectures, tutorials, seminars, skills workshops and presentations. There are three modules each semester. An optional work placement year is included, at no extra cost.

Career opportunities

Fashion retail, fashion management, fashion business, fashion buying