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BA (Hons)

Fashion Design

Featured in the UK top ten of the Guardian University Guide 2024 for assessment in fashion and textiles, our students take radical steps to improve the fashion industry while honouring the potential to be thought-provoking, innovative and inclusive.

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

Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    W230

  • 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.

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Cardiff

  • Campus Code

    B

Fees

  • Home students

    £785*

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

  • UCAS Code

    W231

  • 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.

Push the boundaries with clothing, be brave and bring your designs to life with our leading Fashion Design degree.

DESIGNED FOR

Our fashion design course is perfect for anyone who loves exploring clothing, culture and materials, and expressing themselves through design. It’s for creative individuals who enjoy pushing boundaries and working collaboratively. If you’re passionate about fashion and self-expression, this course is for you.

Career Paths

  • Fashion entrepreneurs
  • Textile designers
  • Buyers
  • Designers
  • Curators
  • Educators
  • Costume designers

In collaboration with

  • The British Fashion Council

Skills taught

  • Design thinking
  • Creativity
  • Problem solving
  • Project management
  • Strong communication
  • Negotiation
  • Innovative thinking
  • Technical drawing and design

 

Member of staff stood in front of a red backdrop in the fashion studios

Course Highlights

Top facilities

Study in our state-of-the-art city centre design studio with CAD software and sewing machines

Industry placements

Enjoy a range of work placements in well-known high-street businesses and fashion houses

Fashion Council

Our course is a member of the British Fashion Council

Excellent industry links

Learn alongside some of the best creative minds and take part in industry and student led shows and events.

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

We've designed the modules on our Fashion Design degree to help you grow into a professional designer who can thrive in the global fashion industry. You'll learn new ways to think, make, draw, and promote yourself, so you’re ready to respond to the demands of today’s employers.

Year one
Fashion Engineering 1 – Fashion Introduction
Fashion Design 1 – Fashion Design Methods
Fashion Engineering 2 – Sustainable Production 
Fashion Design 2 – Circular Fashion Design
Fashion Cultures 1 – Fashion Studies*
Fashion Communication – Visual Language

Year two
Fashion Engineering 3 – Phygital Fashion
Fashion Design 3 – Experimental Digital Fashion
Fashion Cultures 2 – Fashion and Society
Fashion Design 4 – Collaborative Design
Fashion Engineering 4 –  Advanced Pattern Cutting and Materials
Fashion Industry Preparation – Industry Skills and Experience*

Optional Sandwich Year

Year three
Critical Research in Fashion
Professional Practice 1 – Launching collection research
Professional Practice 2 – Launching collection realisation
Professional Strategies*
Fashion Futures
Professional Portfolio

*Part of these modules can be studied through the medium of Welsh

In the first year, you'll build a solid foundation in core skills such as sewing, drawing, pattern cutting, designing, and researching, all essential to your career as a designer.

Fashion Engineering 1 – Fashion Introduction

Start by learning garment construction, industrial sewing techniques, pattern drafting and cutting, technical documentation, and project management.

Fashion Design 1 – Fashion Design Methods

Learn how to innovate using the design process, fashion design techniques, design methods, and project management.

Fashion Engineering 2 – Sustainable Production

Explore sustainable sewing processes, zero-waste and sustainable pattern-cutting techniques, and draping.

Fashion Design 2 – Circular Fashion Design

Discover new sustainable design methods, circular fashion, and design for disassembly and upcycling.

Fashion Cultures 1 – Fashion Studies*

Explore in-depth design and fashion history, gender studies, sustainable design theory, and fashion ethics, and develop more general academic research skills.

Fashion Communication – Visual Language

Learn about fashion illustration, visual communication, drawing for design, digital illustration, and technical drawing.

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

The second year is about connecting with the industry through partnerships and projects that will improve your design practice. It’s time to start thinking about placements if you want to put your skills to work, too.

Fashion Engineering 3 – Phygital Fashion

Discover the digital and physical construction techniques in a modern context, advanced construction techniques, and advanced pattern-cutting processes.

Fashion Design 3 – Experimental Digital Fashion

You’ll learn to push the boundaries of design explore and understand digital processes with industry-focused design and innovation.

Fashion Cultures 2 – Fashion and Society

Explore critical perspectives such as identity, ethics, media cultures and industry practices, as well as research methods to prepare for your dissertation.

 

Fashion Design 4 – Collaborative Design

Establish your identity as a designer by working on a collaborative project to understand the global fashion industry and future design.

Fashion Engineering 4 – Advanced Pattern Cutting and Materials

Push construction boundaries with 3D printing, technical skills, laser and pattern cutting, while mastering material understanding.

Fashion Industry Preparation – Industry Skills and Experience*

You’ll learn about personal branding, preparing a portfolio, CV development, professional skills, and the role of branding in design.

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

Optional sandwich year - Fashion Industry Experience Diploma Define your place in fashion and design by working on placement, building networks and gaining experience in preparation for your final year.

Your final year is a creative playground, where you’ll develop as a designer. You’ll have the skills and creativity to define yourself as a contemporary and innovative industry professional.

Critical Research in Fashion

Develop a research base for your graduate collection and shape your research skills in preparation for your dissertation.

Professional Practice 1 – Launching collection research

Research and design your own launch collection, developing a brief, designing, experimenting, and completing digital design processes.

Professional Practice 2 – Launching collection realisation

Create a launch collection, manage your production process and enjoy cross-industry collaboration.

 

Professional Strategies*

We’ll help shape your professional profile, build a personal brand, develop your CV and social media strategy, understand industry behaviour, and career planning.

Fashion Futures

You’ll discover trend forecasting, visual research, and industry competitions to prepare you for work in industry after graduation.

Professional Portfolio

Develop your professional portfolio, lookbook, photoshoots, work with models, and launch yourself into the industry. You’ll learn new ways to promote yourself and your work.

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

Members of

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS points: 96 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: CCC to include a relevant subject
  • BTEC: Merit Merit Merit in a relevant subject
  • Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate: C in the Skills Challenge Certificate and CC at A Level with a relevant subject
  • Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 96 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. 

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*
UK Part-time Fee

£785

per 20 credits*

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

Year 1 - Fashion Design Tool Kit:


Garment Construction & Pattern
Cutting items Approximate Costs: £200 - £300

Fashion Illustration Equipment Approximate Costs: £120

Fashion Materials/Consumables (an approx. budget for each year) 

Approximate Costs: 

Year 1: £200

Year 2: £250

Year 3: £800

(To include materials for final collection, which is at student discretion)

Note: Some students prefer to work digitally, which can include design and final outcomes/collections, this can significantly reduce material/consumable costs.

Field Trips UK: Field Trips will be organised throughout each year and are an important part of your learning.

International Trips: These are not considered compulsory, and any costs will be the responsibility of the individual student.

Approximate Costs: £300 per year

Printing and Exhibition

Approximate Costs: £100-£300 per year

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.

“THE FACILITIES AT USW ARE GREAT. HAVING ACCESS TO THE STUDIO IS SUPER IMPORTANT. THE TUTORS HERE ARE REALLY PROGRESSIVE AND NURTURING. IT GIVES YOU SPACE TO PUSH YOURSELF.”

Joseph Thomas

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.

A student sat smiling and talking to friends off camera in Treforest Student's Union
Student Life
Exterior view of the University's Cardiff Campus.
Cardiff Campus
A double room at our Pontypridd accommodation featuring a large window.
Accommodation

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

Your fashion design degree is assessed through regular coursework submissions, as well as practical assessments, presentations, a portfolio and collaborative projects. The final assessment is designed to support your learning and help you achieve your goals. All your hard work will culminate in a prestigious fashion show for our graduates where you’ll launch your collection and showcase your designs in real life.

Throughout your time studying you’ll have access to both traditional and cutting-edge technology, helping to develop the skills and creativity to define you as a contemporary and innovative fashion designer.

Teaching staff

Our teaching team is made up of industry professionals, technical experts and all-round fashion lovers. They’ll guide you to develop your identity as a designer, nurture your creative flair and encourage you to adopt future and traditional methods of garment design and creation. When you’re on campus you’ll be amongst our most innovative facilities, sharing a space with like-minded students from photography, film, art and many other creatives.

You’ll develop all the skills and professional attributes needed as an industry leader, whether you choose to set up your own fashion brand, lead future teams or join an established fashion house.

Placements and work experience

At USW, we prepare you for a fashion career from day one. You'll work closely with the industry throughout your degree, gaining valuable experience through internships, work experience and placements.

Our strong links with partners such as Next, S?ze, as well as independent and global brands, offering work experience and placements throughout your time studying. In this global industry, we know how important it is to connect our students with international brands to give them opportunities anywhere in the world.

You'll have the opportunity to compete in national and international design competitions, showcasing your work on a global stage.

Facilities

Fashion students benefit from a whole floor dedicated to fashion design, promotion, and fashion business and marketing on our campus in the heart of Cardiff. These facilities include two design studios designed to inspire you whilst you sketch, design and create.

We’ve also got a full suite of manufacturing equipment, including industrial sewing machines as well as the latest in technology for design and 3D and 2D software. This mix of live and digital design gives our students a unique experience, allowing them to create digital collections and gain a professional edge.

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 BA Fashion Design degree will help shape your career before you graduate with relevant industry placements and connections. We’ve designed the course to be focused on what employers will need in the future, so you can develop those skills before you graduate.

Our graduates build extensive portfolios and become well-rounded, confident professionals, ready to begin successful careers. Alumni go on to work in roles at recognised fashion brands and fashion houses in roles as varied as assistant designers, buyers, set designers and costume designers and some graduates launch their own clothing or accessories brands.

Career paths

When it comes to developing fashion industry leaders of tomorrow, our teaching environment offers an unparalleled experience. Many of our alumni have established their own fashion brands or consultancy firms, whilst others have gone on to support global fashion houses.

Other graduates go to work for industry leaders on a national and international stage, across all aspects of the fashion and design industries. They’ve gone on to work with brands such as Givenchy, Raeburn and Harrods as well as Next and The Royal Shakespeare Company. You’ll graduate with the skills to shape a unique career in fashion.

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 over Skype 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.

Learn more about sandwich years

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.