Fashion and Textiles BA (Hons)

Buckinghamshire New University

Fashion and Textiles is one of the largest sectors world-wide and continues to offer exciting and rewarding opportunities globally. As the industry faces ethical, social, and sustainable change, employers look for designers and practitioners to have a greater awareness of these topics and to be at the forefront of new and emerging trends. With the right teaching and learning opportunities, it’s possible to turn your passion into a rewarding and successful career.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

With a history of delivering expert craft, art and design education for more than 130 years, Buckinghamshire New University is the perfect place to start your creative career.

Led by a dedicated and experienced course team, you’ll benefit from their industry knowledge and the industry links they bring to the course. You’ll get direct access to guest lectures, who are specialists in the sector, and can benefit from live project briefs, master classes, and networking opportunities. As a member of the British Fashion Council, UKFT and WGSN our students are supported by industry to reach their full potential.

We’re proud of the many achievements of our students and staff and throughout your course you will have the opportunity to take part in international competitions, including British Fashion Council reviews, exhibitions and the BNU Summer Show. Our fashion and textiles programmes are also ranked 3rd best in the UK (The Guardian University Guide 2023).

Degrees at BNU are designed to offer a broader and more flexible education by giving you the opportunity to try a range of subjects before specialising. Even if you know exactly what you want to do, with most of our courses you can choose to study additional subjects to enhance your education.

What will I study?

At the core of this degree are creativity, innovative thinking, and an exploration of contemporary approaches to the creation of fashion and textiles.

This fast-paced course will teach you how to excel at every step of the design and creation process, from concept, construction through to final creation. You’ll gain comprehensive hands-on experience, specialist technical skills, knowledge and professional understanding to work as practitioners in the fashion and textiles industry.

Covering both disciplines of fashion and textiles you’ll explore creative problem-solving strategies and techniques in pattern cutting, manufacturing, textile and fashion processes and materials, and a clear understanding of how these can be applied to realise a unique fashion product.

Starting with the fundamentals, you’ll be introduced to different textile specialisms, along with the core technical and design foundations required for fashion design. These specialisms include knitwear, print and surface design for fashion. As you go through the course, you will continue to develop your understanding and practice of these specialisms, eventually focusing on one chosen specialism in preparation for your final year of study.

This engaging course which allows the designer to work with a variety of different elements including colour, materials, pattern, structure, and composition. All of which helps you to create a capsule fashion collection based on your chosen specialism or create textile samples for a specific market.

Upon graduation you’ll have the skills and knowledge you’ll need to face the constantly evolving industry with new technologies, ways of working and changing customer values and expectations. This maximises your career and postgraduate opportunities.

Industry connections

With regular visiting lectures and workshops led by industry this is just a snapshot of our connections.

• British Fashion Council
• Mackintosh
• Lara Jensen
• New Start
• • UKFT
• • WGSN