Fashion

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

• Fashion designer
• Further education teacher
• Retail buyer
• Retail manager
• Retail merchandiser
• Stylist
• Textile designer
• Visual merchandiser

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Arts administrator
• Event manager
• Higher education lecturer
• Jewellery designer
• Magazine journalist
• Make-up artist
• Marketing executive
• Public relations officer
• Talent agent
• Textile technologist

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

It's crucial that you build up your portfolio while at university to showcase your skills and creative abilities to potential employers. As well as using degree projects to do this, try to get external work experience to extend your skills and develop an understanding of the fashion industry.

Fashion is a broad industry, and experience can be gained in many different types of organisations, including:

• clothing manufacturers
• design studios
• fashion publications
• PR agencies and marketing teams
• retail businesses
• theatre and costume departments.

Internships, work placements (including a year in industry), part-time jobs, volunteering and extra-curricular activities can all help you build skills, experience and professional contacts.

Networking is important so contact fashion houses, independent designers, manufacturers and retailers about opportunities. Your university careers service may be able to suggest employers and industry contacts. Attending fashion events and exhibitions, as well as taking part in live projects with designers and other organisations as part of your course, can also help you develop industry knowledge and make contacts.

Before accepting an internship or placement, check whether it's paid and make sure you understand your rights. See the UK government's guidance on work experience and internships for further information.

Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.

Typical employers

Fashion industry employers range from top designers in well-established studios to high street retail outlets, supermarket clothing labels and manufacturers. Each one offers a range of employment opportunities in areas such as:

• buying
• creation
• design work
• e-commerce
• marketing
• PR.

Consider employers in less obvious areas, too, such as:

• costume design for television and film
• digital content creation
• fashion media
• fashion photography.

Other employers include universities and colleges offering teaching positions, and PR and marketing agencies where you may be able to specialise in fashion and design.

Recruiters may attend university graduate shows to find talented designers. The biggest retail chains run graduate trainee schemes for buyers and merchandisers. Employers may also fill junior posts through tutors and university careers services, as well as niche agencies and specialist vacancy sites.

You can also work as a self-employed fashion designer, marketing your work through agents or directly to buyers from large businesses and clothing outlets.

Find information on employers in creative arts and design, retail, marketing, advertising and PR, and other job sectors.

Skills for your CV

During your degree you develop a range of practical fashion design skills, including:

• creative portfolio building
• illustration techniques
• pattern cutting and draping techniques
• sewing
• sketch and digital design skills
• tailoring
• technical drawing
• the use of digital technology in fashion.

You also gain an understanding of fashion trends, consumer lifestyle, brand and market awareness, marketing and enterprise, and ethical and ecological issues facing the fashion industry, including sustainability.

You also develop a range of transferable skills, including:

• commercial awareness
• communication
• presentation
• problem-solving
• research
• teamwork and collaboration.

Building skills in self-promotion and portfolio presentation is also important. The portfolio you start during your degree is a vital tool when looking for work in fashion. It should include your coursework and be developed continually through work experience and other projects you undertake.

For designers, your portfolio should contain themed collections of garments. It's your best chance to show your practical skills and demonstrate your natural creativity and flair.

Further study

The majority of fashion graduates go straight into employment after their studies, but some go on to study a Masters, perhaps specialising in areas such as menswear, costume, textiles, knitwear, garment technology or footwear.

Other Masters courses allow graduates to explore the social, economic, ethical, environmental or cultural side of fashion in more detail. Emerging areas of postgraduate study include digital fashion, sustainable fashion and fashion-related AI and data-driven innovation.

Some fashion MAs are practical and assessed through projects, such as producing an innovative collection, while others involve essays and a dissertation.

You could also choose further study that takes you in a different career direction but is still connected to fashion, such as teaching on a fashion course, fashion marketing or fashion media.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in fashion.

What do fashion graduates do?

Advertising and marketing associate professional (14%) is the most popular occupation for fashion graduates. Also among the top five most popular jobs:

• sales and retail assistants (8%)
• buyers and procurement officers (8%)
• clothing, fashion and accessories designers (7%)
• public relations professionals (6%).

Find out what other fashion graduates are doing 15 months after finishing their degrees in What do graduates do?

Graduate Outcomes survey data from HESA.

Find out more

• Discover 5 ways to get into fashion design.