Fashion Buying with Design BA (Hons) at De Montfort University

Fashion buying requires both strong commercial understanding as well as theoretical knowledge. This course will prepare you for a diverse range of roles within the global fashion industry by developing in-depth design and buying expertise, and by gaining knowledge of the product lifecycle and critical path, current trends, selection, costing and promotion.

Learn about garment design, pattern cutting, prototyping, construction, and computer-aided design (CAD), while investigating materials, embellishments and technical approaches.

We place a strong emphasis on nurturing your professional practice through personal development planning which encourages you to reflect on your progress and achievements and identify areas you wish to develop and improve, as well as guided research and critical reasoning and offer you the option to specialise in design in years two and three.

We are delighted DMU is ranked in the Top 10 for Fashion and Textiles in the UK, according to The Guardian University Guide 2020 and DMU was named best in learning experience in 2019 by The Business of Fashion, the internationally renowned website which assesses the world’s top programmes. 

Key features

• Meet and learn from successful practitioners in the fashion industry. Produce innovative designs for them and discuss your ideas.

• Gain industry-specific knowledge of the design process, from market analysis and trend prediction to pattern cutting, manufacture, assessing fit, and garment success.

• Explore what makes a successful product and become confident with technical specifications, sourcing decisions and planning.

• Take part in our one-year UK or global placement schemes. Fashion Buying with Design students have gained experience at Tommy Hilfiger, O'Neill, Marks & Spencer, Next, George, Joules, G-Star, River Island, The Global Brands Group, and at supply bases. Many of our graduates have gone on to work for these international brands and suppliers.

• 100% of our Fashion Buying graduates from summer 2017 are in work or further study after graduating (Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) 2016-17).

• Take advantage of international opportunities through our DMU Global programme. Students have visited Hong Kong, New York, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Porto.

• Study in the award-winning Vijay Patel Building, where our well-equipped design workshops and photography studios enable you to explore your design potential while making and testing products.

• We provide core workshop materials at no cost, and give cash awards – £150, £200 and £300 in years one, two and three respectively – to support personal materials/printing costs*.