Fashion Design (Professional Placement Year)

A fast-paced, dynamic and demanding course for determined and ambitious individuals who want a career in fashion.

• A reputation for producing highly individual, award-winning designers and practitioners.

• Member of the British Fashion Council Colleges Council, The Graduate Fashion Foundation, UKFT and Association of Fashion and Textile courses.

• #5 in the UK and #1 in the South West for Graduate Prospects in Fashion and Textiles (Guardian University Guide 2025).

Based at Locksbrook Campus in bespoke fashion design studios, this BA Fashion Design course offers a comprehensive design education for dedicated and ambitious individuals looking for a specialist career in the fashion industry.

Our focus on the ethical, environmental and social contexts of fashion guides our creative process and approach. Our philosophy is to develop you as an individual to become an innovative and creative designer with a design aesthetic relative to the contemporary fashion industry. We aim to inspire a more sustainable and inclusive future.

There's an emphasis on ideas, creativity, traditional skills, and developing your own personal design ethos, underpinned by strong pattern-cutting and product development skills.

On this Fashion Design course, we take the fear out of the 'technical' side of fashion by combining the 'technical' and 'design' into one creative endeavour. We look for highly motivated students with a strong creative focus and clear determination to enter the highly competitive world of fashion.

More about the Professional Placement Year
A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where you undertake a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between your second and final years of undergraduate study. You can engage in multiple placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) yourself, with support from the Careers team.