Elective specialist units
Fashion Means Business (30 credit mandatory unit)
In this first unit, you’ll explore the breadth of the fashion industry, considering key current issues and its cultural, artistic, and business influences.
Discover our Fashion Business School pillars (people, planet, profit and purpose) and use them to research a fashion challenge and analyse them against current fashion industry leaders.
The unit emphasises the business and employability skills you’ll need in this industry through the Creative Attributes Framework and a research design lens that introduces you to the rigours of research-led postgraduate study.
Strategy and Leadership (30 credits)
Strategy and business models can unlock opportunities within the global, cross-cultural fashion industry.
Strategy and Leadership explores the principles of strategic fashion business management to discover how business goals, resources and structures can offer competitive advantage and opportunities.
You'll be supported in developing your strategic thinking and leadership skills using industry database tools and activities. You’ll assess leadership and management theories and skills used by current leaders and managers to identify effective and ethical implementation of a strategy and business model design.
You’ll examine the process of creating risk-managed strategies that consider the external factors that face the business and its internal capabilities to respond within a market segment.
Finance, Risk Management and Governance (30 credits)
The financial aspects of running a business and the management of capital are critical in successful strategic and operational decisions.
In Finance, Risk Management and Governance, you’ll analyse and apply analytical tools and techniques to inform investment and financing decisions at both a project and company level.
You'll examine how financial statements, budgets and investment criteria make appropriate financial and investment decisions, sharpening your own ability to make good financial and investment decisions.
In everything you do, you’ll learn how to examine and apply legal requirements to be compliant with accounting standards, ethical business governance and legal frameworks that shape the role and responsibilities of a business as a citizen within society.
Sustainable Supply Chain Management (30 credits)
Managing a diverse relationship between global stakeholders is crucial to supplying consumers with suitable fashion products.
In this unit, you’ll explore the fashion supply chain, its networks and the emergence of a sustainable supply eco-system. You’ll then feel empowered to re-imagine the fashion supply chain and its adherence to social, racial and environmental justice.
To move towards a more sustainable future, you’ll gain an understanding of environmental and social sustainability themes and their impact on organisation, sourcing and production strategies and last-mile logistics.
Elective shared units
Product Design and Management (30 credits)
Products are essentially a portfolio of investments that are invented to reference popular cultural, social, and emotional themes.
In this unit you’ll embark on a creative journey to investigate the creation of consumer-centric and balanced product ranges that reflect the ethos of the business and the fashion trends of a season.
Twinned with this journey is the examination of the data and analytical tools that ensure the financial viability of the product offer. This fusion of creative and data management thinking forms the core of the unit enabling you to propose future fashion product ranges with confidence and commitment.
Retail Futures (30 credits)
Complex business demands and consumer expectations create an ever-shifting landscape for fashion retail.
In Retail Futures you’ll explore in-depth how retailers navigate this competitive and disruptive environment, with a focus on sustainability, inclusivity, and social justice. Through the lens of omnichannel and technology-enhanced retail, you will analyse the evolution of physical stores, online platforms, mobile commerce, and app-driven experiences.
Covering topics such as community-building, sensory retail, and digital integration, this unit invites you to critically assess current retail strategies and envision innovative solutions that prioritise economic stability, social impact, and environmental responsibility.
Through creative problem-solving and teamwork, you will develop the skills needed to shape sustainable, future-ready retail experiences that foster practices addressing the needs of the planet and create lasting value in a rapidly changing industry.
Fashion Trends and Strategic Innovation (30 credits)
The fashion industry is ever-changing and disruptive by nature. This unit invites you to explore trends and innovation to develop an understanding of how trends are born, how they evolve, and how they impact both brands and consumers.
By delving into trend development and forecasting methods, you’ll learn how to anticipate market shifts and understand what drives consumer preferences. Focusing on strategic innovation within fashion businesses, you’ll explore frameworks that help companies stay competitive in the face of rapid change and gain insights into balancing creativity with commercial realities.
You'll be empowered to shape brand strategies that not only keep up with industry trends but also proactively lead change. You’ll be encouraged to question existing practices and think innovatively about new business models and approaches, honing your ability to identify opportunities for strategic transformation and create value for organisations and their stakeholders.
Capstone Project (30 credit mandatory unit for MA students)
What contribution do you want to make to the fashion industry?
In the Capstone Project you will produce a significant piece of work that allows you to apply the knowledge and skills you’ve gained over the course to a research project of your choice.
You’ll be supported in acknowledging a fashion problem and devising an innovative solution for the problem. Working under tutor supervision, you’ll undertake a practice-based consultancy project or a theoretical research project to create an artefact, focusing on a specialism to solve an identified problem.
This project could go on to benefit your future job interviews, highlighting real experience before graduating.
UAL Online will review the units we offer regularly to ensure they are up-to-date and relevant. Please note that this means units could be subject to change. We suggest you keep an eye on our website for updates.