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.
Strategic Thinking for Marketers (30 credits)
The fashion industry is in a state of constant evolution, driven by political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal shifts. Strategic Thinking for Marketers empowers you to navigate and lead this change with a forward-looking mindset, using strategic thinking to create meaningful, positive change in the global fashion industry.
In this unit, you’ll dive into key marketing theories and concepts that are reshaping traditional business models. With a focus on sustainability and social justice, you’ll explore how strategic thinking can drive the fashion industry towards more responsible and inclusive practices.
You’ll gain insights into the intersection of various business functions, learning to think critically about markets, brands, and their broader impact. You’ll also examine marketing’s crucial role in shaping sustainable and inclusive fashion, understanding how strategic decisions affect stakeholders and align with overall business goals.
Branding and Communications (30 credits)
From advertising and public relations to content creation and influencer marketing, brands use multiple strategies, tools and techniques to shape brand narratives and connect with audiences. In Branding and Communications, you’ll explore the art and strategy behind building powerful fashion brands.
You’ll investigate the history and evolution of branding, gaining a deeper understanding of the brand strategies that drive successful brand management. In marketing communications, you’ll look at how brands craft and deliver their messages to engage and influence their target markets. You’ll learn how to develop impactful campaigns that not only resonate with consumers but also uphold values of social responsibility and sustainable business practices.
This unit merges these two vital areas, emphasising the synergy between brand-building and strategic communications. By exploring how these elements interact, you’ll be able to create cohesive and compelling brand experiences that captivate audiences, drive positive change, and contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive fashion industry.
Fashion Consumer Behaviour (30 credits)
Consumers think, feel, and behave in different ways throughout their journey with brands and products. In Fashion Consumer Behaviour, you’ll explore what truly drives consumer choices and actions in the complex landscape of fashion consumption.
You’ll examine the psychological and sociological factors shaping how individuals and groups engage with fashion products, services, and experiences. From initial attraction to long-term loyalty, you’ll gain insights into the minds of consumers and provide contextual explanations.
This unit encourages you to look beyond trends and demographics, focusing instead on understanding deeper motivations and emerging behaviours. You’ll learn to anticipate changes in consumer landscapes and respond strategically, using this knowledge to create marketing approaches that resonate with today’s diverse and conscious audiences.
Throughout the unit, you’ll critically engage with key issues such as sustainability, equality, diversity, and inclusion, and explore how brands can lead with purpose. Combining academic theory with real-world applications, you’ll develop essential skills to excel in the modern fashion marketing landscape, preparing you to make informed, impactful decisions in your career.
Elective shared units
Product Design and Management (30 credits)
Products can be thought of as a portfolio of investments that are ideated to reference prevailing cultural, social, and emotional themes.
In this unit, you’ll embark on a creative journey to examine the creation of a consumer-centric and balanced product range that reflects 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 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, 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 through rapid change and gain insights into balancing creativity with commercial realities.
You'll be empowered to use a future-focused mindset to develop innovative 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.