Fashion, textiles, and jewellery

Single Honours 

• Fashion Design 

• Textile Design 

• Jewellery Design 

• Fashion Marketing 

Joint Honours 

• Fashion and Business 

• Fashion and Marketing 

• Fine Art with Textiles 

• Jewellery, Glass, and Ceramics

SOURCE: COMMON DEGREE TITLES FROM WHATUNI

 Alternative options 

• Foundation years A foundation year provides a solid grounding in the practices needed to start an undergraduate degree in fashion, textiles, and jewellery. The course lasts a year, and can also be used to improve english language skills. 

• Sandwich degrees You can extend your undergraduate studies by a year to gain practical experience through internships, industry placements, or study abroad opportunities. This hands-on experience is usually taken between Years 2 and 3. 

• Integrated Master’s You can pursue an integrated Master's degree to deepen your knowledge and skills in fashion, textiles, or jewellery design. These programs typically extend your undergraduate degree by one year and, and you’ll receive a master’s degree upon successful completion.  

• Degree apprenticeships Degree apprenticeships combine undergraduate study with practical work experience, providing valuable industry insights and professional development opportunities while you earn a wage and gain a degree qualification. What’s more, your employer covers your tuition fees allowing you to graduate with less debt. 

SOURCE: WHATUNI

A strong foundation in art, design, or related subjects is helpful. Many universities will ask for A-levels (or equivalent) in art, or design technology. Often a portfolio of work or an art foundation qualification is required.  

Fashion, textiles, and jewellery design courses offer specialisations that range from hands-on design work to business and management, curation, journalism, film making, and much more. It’s worth exploring your options while at university, as this you can easily turn your area of interest into a specialist career pathway. 

These areas can include: 

• Fashion illustration Involves creating visual representations of clothing designs and concepts, using techniques such as sketching, painting, and digital rendering. Fashion illustrators study the human figure, mastering the silhouette, and drawing different styles of clothing. 

• Surface design Focuses on creating patterns and textures to make fabric designs pop. Techniques like screen printing, digital printing, dyeing, and embroidery are used to add personality to textiles, making them attractive options for use in fashion and interior design. 

• Metalsmithing Metalsmithing is fundamental in the creation of jewellery and decorative objects for use in fashion and textiles. Metalsmiths manipulate different types of metal and employ a selection of techniques such as forging, soldering, casting, and engraving to showcase their skills. 

• Fashion marketing Fashion marketing is as important to the fashion industry as the clothes themselves. Marketers use strategies such as advertising, social media, and retail merchandising to create awareness, generate demand, and drive sales for fashion brands in a constantly evolving marketplace. 

• Digital design technologies Computer-aided design (CAD), 3D modelling, and virtual prototyping are widespread in fashion and textile design across many industries. There’s a long list of software programs and digital platforms used to visualise and prepare designs for both traditional and digital fabrication techniques. 

• Pattern cutting 

• Digital design technologies 

• Screen printing 

• Jewellery design  

• Fashion marketing 

• Silversmithing 

• Branding 

• Fashion theory 

• Creative research process 

You'll gain a studio-based creative education, which will include learning design principles, techniques of manufacturing, and the industry practices which underpin your specific field of work. You’ll learn to represent your ideas through sketching, model making, and 3D digital drawing, and communicate ideas to your tutors and peers.  

Students may also develop skills in the professional side of their craft, which is essential for succeeding in their careers. This can include things like marketing and business, and how to communicate online, and in the professional space. 

Additionally, you’ll gain a range of transferable skills, which will be useful in a variety of workplaces and professional environments. These include: 

• Creative design 

• Technical fabrication skills 

• Presentation skills 

• Market research 

• Entrepreneurship 

In the UK, fashion, textiles, and jewellery design programs have various accreditation bodies to ensure high quality of tuition and professional practice. These exist in several creative professions, for example the Textile Institute, which accredits a wide range of courses globally and in the UK, within all areas of textiles, clothing and footwear.  

If you’re interested in fashion, textiles, and jewellery design but aren’t sure if the courses you’re looking at are the best fit for you, then it may be worth exploring some alternative degree subjects within related fields: 

• Graphic design 

• Ceramics 

• Architecture 

• Product design 

• Marketing and branding 

A degree in fashion, textiles, or jewellery brings a lot of career opportunities within creative industries. You’ll be able to thrive in a studio environment, work within a brief, represent your ideas visually, and create all kinds of objects using a mixture of techniques and materials. You may pursue roles such as an artist or craftsperson, putting your creative vision to use making objects for sale and exhibition. Your work may lead you to a job in high-end fashion houses, textile manufacturers, jewellery brands, or design studios. Additionally, you can explore freelance opportunities, or start your own label or design studio. Career options include: 

• Fashion designer 

• Textile maker 

• Jeweller 

• Fashion buyer 

• Marketer or brand manager 

• Stylist 

• Product manager 

• Patternmaker 

• PR consultant