BA (Hons)

Fashion Business and Marketing

Ranked in the Guardian University Guide 2024 top ten for fashion and textiles assessment, our BA (Hons) Fashion Business and Marketing degree blends strategy and creativity. Explore roles in buying, merchandising, social media marketing, PR, and more.

How to apply Apply Through UCAS Book an Open Day Chat to Us

Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    NN1N

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Cardiff

  • Campus Code

    B

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,535*

  • International students

    £15,850*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • UCAS Code

    NN2N

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Cardiff

  • Campus Code

    B

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,535*

  • International students

    £15,850*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

The ideal course for anyone who loves fashion, and is business-minded, but doesn’t want to ‘make’ clothes.


DESIGNED FOR

This course is perfect for anyone looking to learn about marketing and business, with a passion for fashion. You'll learn to develop your creative thinking, strategic campaign ideas and solutions for fashion brands and address key industry challenges such as sustainability and inclusion.

Career Paths

  • Fashion entrepreneurs
  • Marketing and PR professionals
  • Digital marketing and influencer marketing
  • Buyers
  • Merchandisers
  • Social media managers
  • Account managers

In collaboration with

  • The British Fashion Council

Skills taught

  • Creative thinking
  • Strategic planning
  • Campaign planning and management
  • Strong communication
  • Problem-solving
  • Photography and content creation

Staff sat in fashion studios smiling

Course Highlights

Fantastic facilities

USW Cardiff Campus offers top digital platforms used in the fashion industry, at the heart of the capital.

Industry placements

Enjoy access to a range of well-known fashion businesses, and opportunities for work placements.

Fashion Council

Our course is a member of the British Fashion Council.

Live industry-led briefs

Work on live briefs throughout your degree gaining valuable industry experience and contacts.

Top in Wales

Fashion and Textiles at USW is 7th in the UK and top in Wales for Teaching Quality (Guardian University Guide 2025)

Module Overview

What’s the difference between a fashion design and a fashion business and marketing degree? A designer will create new apparel or lines that are later sold to customers, whereas fashion marketers focus on taking a fashion product to market once it has been designed.

Year One introduces you to some key marketing models and theories. You will learn about how customers behave and how to use design thinking to help solve industry problems. You will be introduced to the roles of buyer and merchandiser and gain insights into different parts of the fashion industry. 

Buying and Merchandising 1

This module introduces you to the world of UK fashion retail, the current formats and the management functions behind the buying processes. You will learn all about the buying cycle, the roles of buyer and merchandiser and how their roles feed into other business functions.  

Design Thinking for Fashion Business

This module will let you explore and flex your creative muscle, share ideas and to visualise and communicate your ideas with impact. With the customer at the centre of your creative thinking you will be required to carry out market research and to absorb information and inspiration from a range of sources. 

Fundamentals of Fashion Marketing and Business 1 

This module introduces you to fashion marketing and business landscapes, linking them with current affairs and principally the consumer. You will cover fundamental topics, relevant to your academic career in fashion marketing and business. You will also be introduced to different primary and secondary research methods. 

Digital Marketing, Content and Strategy

The module equips you with the knowledge and tools required to design and plan the implementation of campaigns in an impactful and engaging manner. Students will be able to define the key considerations, frameworks, and steps of a campaign plan and design an adaptable solution which aligns with brand and customer requirements, demonstrated through digital practice.  

Branding for Fashion Business and Marketing

The purpose of this module is to equip students with a broad-based knowledge and understanding of the nature and background of fashion branding and the many aspects that play a part in enabling customers to recognise and understand a fashion brand. Students will consider the ‘brand-system’ and brand connectivity within changing business environments. 

The second year is all about exploring the role of innovation and technology to develop an understanding of what lies ahead in the fashion industry. You’ll start thinking about placements too.

Digital Fashion 

Explore the digital future of fashion and beauty industries, including artificial intelligence (AI), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain, commerce transactions and digital clothing.

Buying and Merchandising 2 

Develop an understanding of the fashion buying cycle, stock management, profit margin, financial planning, supplier sourcing, range and logistical planning and negotiating.

Preparation for Industry 

Explore employability in fashion, beauty, and marketing, focusing on professional practice and industry operations. Complete a work placement in your chosen field.

Fundamentals of Fashion Marketing and Business 2

Learn advanced methods in fashion marketing and business, including diverse research types and how consumers connect with fashion and culture.

Problem-Solving for the Fashion Industry

Gain insights into key issues and trends in the fashion industry, focusing on current and future developments affecting fashion and consumers.

A Sandwich Year option is available to all students on the course.  If you select the Sandwich Year option it will take place between Year Two and Year Three and will require you to find relevant industry work placement(s), with the support from our Careers Team and your Course Team. 

Fashion Industry Experience Diploma 

Working in the industry, gaining experience to define your place in the fashion and/or marketing/communications industry, building networks in preparation for your final year. 

Content for Marketing 

This module is about creating meaningful content that helps amplify brand storytelling and messaging.

The module focusses on experimenting with different types of content, creating it to professional standards and incorporating it into a planned, methodical and integrated marketing communications plan. 

Brand Futures 

This module aims to further develop the skills required for management and communication within business, while analysing the fashion sector in relation to the political, economic, social, technological, ethical, legal and cultural factors impacting on current levels of entrepreneurship and small business activity. 

Major Fashion Project 

The Major Fashion Project is designed to give you the best opportunity to focus on your area of interest. With reference to the projects and work placements completed in previous years of the course, you will be encouraged to identify your own strengths and career goals, developing a unique proposal aligned closely with your personal skill-set. 

 

Fashion Business Case Study 

Some modules have required students to produce reports or presentations making a clear research-based case justifying students’ creative approach or rationale. Each module encourages students to read widely and build a personal library of key sources. This module will bring all this together to produce a signature piece of investigative research and analysis.  

Professional Marketing Portfolio*

The focus for this module is about creating additional portfolio work around your key areas of interest and focus, in addition to further stretching the boundaries of your skill set and challenging yourself. Your final module is an opportunity to combine the very best of your creativity and problem solving, planning, resourcing, organisation, negotiation, written and visual interpretation skills into a celebratory final piece of work.   This module is also very much about developing your personal branding and readiness for future industry employment.  

The outcomes from this project will form the foundation of your launch into the world of fashion as a multi-skilled professional.

*Part of this module can be studied through the medium of Welsh

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS points: 104 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: BCC
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction Merit Merit
  • Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate: Grade C/B in the Skills Challenge Certificate and BC - CC at A Level
  • Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 104 UCAS tariff points.

Additional requirements include:

The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.

Selection for this course is based on a suitable application. If you do not meet the entry criteria you may also be required to attend an interview to help us assess your suitability for the course.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£9,535

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£15,850

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£15,850

per year*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Bursaries Cost of Living Support

“MY TIME AT USW WAS REWARDING, FASCINATING AND FULFILLING. THE COURSE PROVIDED ME WITH A VARIETY OF SKILL SETS TO ENABLE ME TO PROGRESS IN MY FUTURE CAREER.”

Laurie Griffiths

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

Media Loans

You can hire a range of equipment, for your assignments and practical work, for free from our Media Loans facility.

Media Loans

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

This degree is assessed through 100% coursework, with practical assignments designed to support your learning and goals. You’ll work with live industry clients and briefs, workplace visits and placements throughout your degree, giving you valuable industry insights. When it comes to developing the fashion industry leaders of tomorrow, our teaching environment offers an unparalleled experience. We regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment within fashion and continually look at the skills in demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect our student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

Teaching staff

Our teaching team is made up of industry professionals and all-round fashion lovers. They’ll guide you to develop your marketing and business acumen whilst nurturing your creative flair when it comes to selling fashion apparel. Our team will prepare you for a career in fashion business and marketing from the moment you start to study. You’ll develop all the skills and professional attributes needed, whether you choose to go into fashion marketing or a business role. When you’re on campus you’ll study in our most innovative facilities, sharing a space with like-minded students from photography, film, art and many other creatives.

Placements and work experience

We encourage all students to gain as much work experience as they can when they study with us. There’s an opportunity in year two to go on a work placement module and gain 70 hours of work experience in a relevant role. If you’re thinking you’d like a bit longer than 70 hours, there’s also an opportunity to take a sandwich year and gain valuable industry experience before coming back to finish your final year of study. Fashion is a global industry and our links with international brands connect USW students to opportunities anywhere in the world. Many of our students have travelled globally to undertake work placements.   

Facilities

Fashion students benefit from a whole floor dedicated to fashion design, promotion, and fashion business and marketing on our Cardiff campus. These facilities include two design studios with city and spaces designed to inspire you whilst you study, plan and explore. Whilst you won’t be making physical garments, you’ll be learning in a space that encourages creative and strategic thinking, collaborating with fashion design students and exploring digital fashion in spaces like the Metaverse. The campus is centrally located in Cardiff, so you’ll be inspired by the buzz of city life too.

Equipment

At our Cardiff Campus we have a vast range of equipment that you will be trained to use as part of your course. To help support your studies we have a Media Loans facility that allows you to hire the equipment, at no cost, for you to then use for your assignments and practical work.  We have both basic and high-end film and photography cameras, portable lighting and sound equipment as well as a range of professional studio recording microphones, instruments and associated equipment to use in our music studios or on location. The team of technical officers and instructors are also available to help you with any queries and technical issues.

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

The team on our fashion business and marketing  course will help shape your career before you graduate with relevant industry placements and connections. We’ve designed the course to be focused on what the industry needs in the future so you can develop those exact skills that employers are looking for. Our graduates leave USW with an extensive portfolio of skills that cover all aspects of the fashion industry. Many have gone on to work in roles such as digital marketing assistants, buyers, merchandisers, marketing and PR professionals as well as content creators and planners.

Career paths

You'll be introduced to a wide range of fashion marketing projects, shaping your awareness of the industry before you graduate. Achieving a fashion and business marketing degree will open opportunities in roles such as trends and consumer analysis, creative marketing and communication, branding and PR and business development. Fashion marketing jobs need core skills to raise awareness and activate campaigns that promote and sell products by appealing to customers. Graduating with these skills, you'll be prepared for careers with global brands like H&M, Next, and Zara, as well as independent and emerging labels.

Careers support

You’ll also have access to advice from our careers and employability service throughout your studies and when you graduate. This includes one-to-one appointments with faculty-based career advisers either in person or virtually or email. We also have online resources to help explore career options and ensure you present yourself well to employers. These include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, an interview simulator and application help. We also have over 2,000 registered employers targeting business and fashion graduates, so we’ll sign you up to receive weekly email alerts for jobs that match your interests too.

Sandwich years

A sandwich year enables you to apply the knowledge gained during your degree to real-world work situations. You’ll equip yourself with a transferable skillset and gain invaluable work experience that will help you to stand out to potential employers in future job applications. A sandwich year also provides a fantastic opportunity to network and, if you impress your employer, you may even find you have a job waiting for you when you graduate. Many employers like to take on dedicated employees as showcased via a sandwich year placement scheme.

How to apply

All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time.)

Advanced entry

If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.

International admissions

International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
 

Life at USW

Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.