Viable Fashion Ventures (20 credits)

The highly competitive, yet established global fashion industry, currently faces unprecedented disruption from shifts in consumer behaviour and expectations, polarisation into high end and value segments, new technologies and continuous changes in the fashion system. In order to discover or create opportunities in this ‘predictably unpredictable’ market, entrepreneurs need to analyse current trends impacting the fashion sector. At the same time, entrepreneurs need to evaluate opportunities, be agile and be equipped with the skills and tools to create and deliver value for their target customers. This unit explores the process and practical steps in the foundation of a viable fashion venture through a “learning by doing” methodology. Working with team entrepreneurs, you will apply theories of opportunity analysis, client segmentation, viability assessment and entrepreneurial strategy to form or sustain a new venture in fashion design, media or tech. You will participate in shared training sessions that provide practical, in-depth analysis of the key issues encountered in the projects that support the groundwork in founding a new fashion venture. The shared training sessions are supported by the team coach, stakeholder and peer feedback.

Building Effective Teams (20 credits)

The extensive growth of the global fashion industry, in recent years, has been driven by disruptions in the fashion system. Disruptions include: value chain improvement and digitisation, accelerated industry pace, new and innovative business models, and the expansion of business to consumer fashion brands, and have increased the complexity and interconnectedness of the challenges faced by all fashion entrepreneurs. Therefore, new ways of thinking and working are needed to find useful solutions; effective teams have more potential than individuals to find solutions and face current and future challenges. Effective teams constitute a ‘learning system’, which increases the capacity and capability of each team member as well as continually developing collective performance, capacity and capability. This unit aims to explore the process of team learning and effective team formation. At the start of the course, you will be allocated into a cross-disciplinary group of independent thinkers. The process of team learning and formation will be assessed in practical activities such as: managing business challenges, running entrepreneurial projects, research and critical reflection. Your team learning and development is supported by the team coach, stakeholder and peer feedback in shared training sessions. As team fashion entrepreneurs, you will lead the training sessions to learn new ideas and share experiences.

Leadership for Entrepreneurs (20 credits)

Entrepreneurial leaders have disrupted traditional fashion companies with distinct visions of innovation and created start-ups, which offer product sharing services, data driven subscriptions or peer-to-peer selling. Entrepreneurial leaders demonstrate agile thinking, emotional intelligence, persistence, resilience, proactivity, and openness to learn to get people on board to add to the vision. Due to the increasingly urgent need for product and process innovation across the fashion industry, the qualities of startups are being emulated by larger fashion companies. This unit explores the foundations of leadership for entrepreneurs including personal mastery, emotional intelligence, developing entrepreneurial skills and mindset. The process of acquiring leadership attributes will be assessed through self-awareness, reflection, skills audit and the development of individual learning goals in the context of team entrepreneurship. Your learning in this unit will be supported by a team coach, stakeholders and team entrepreneurs.

Business Modelling (20 credits)

Launching and scaling up a fashion venture, collection, brand or service is challenging. Whether your venture idea is in the earliest phase of development or needs to accelerate, it requires intense focus, discipline, courage and crisp execution. Building on the foundation in entrepreneurship from the Viable Fashion Ventures unit, you will practice your analytical skills in more depth to evaluate and sustain the survival and growth of new and existing businesses. You will learn how to apply key entrepreneurial tools, metrics and frameworks from the Lean Start up perspectives, Business Planning and Capital Raising and Pitching. This unit is underpinned by a team coaching approach where you will actively support and contribute to the learning of your team members.members.

Coaching for Entrepreneurial Leaders (20 credits)

Entrepreneurial leaders are frequently faced with limited financial resources and operate in volatile, uncertain markets. In order to inspire others to work with them to build on and add to their vision, entrepreneurial leaders require skills in coaching and strategic thinking. This unit explores the practice of coaching for entrepreneurial leaders. It is concerned with understanding and using a range of coaching tools and techniques in coaching interventions to build commitment to the process and achievement of the strategic objectives in team projects and/or their own Masters Project. The practice and theory of coaching will be assessed through reflection and self-awareness of the coaching cycle, the use of appropriate coaching tools and techniques to develop the coaching relationship, assessment of coachees engagement and lastly the development of coaching interventions to achieve specific strategic objectives. Your learning in coaching theory and practice is supported by a team coach, stakeholders and team entrepreneurs. This unit offers optional professional recognition of your competence in coaching. You may have the opportunity to submit your work for the CMI Level 5 Award in Coaching practice and theory.

International Collaborative Project (20 credits)

International collaborations to improve value chains and ‘born global’ sales strategies are key to building stronger fashion enterprises, which are able to sustain the pace and complexity of global expansion. Increased international connectivity provides opportunities for local SMEs to reach global scale and become ‘micro-multinationals’. The growth of platforms provides opportunities for fashion companies to collaborate and to survive in the digital world. International collaborations provide powerful networks that transcend geographic boundaries and embrace diverse opinions to solve global business problems. Learning how to collaborate by using each party’s strengths can result in a better customer proposition. This unit aims to explore the process of team learning in international collaborations. Your team will collaborate with an international partner for a particular purpose that uses your strengths for mutual benefit. The process of team learning in international collaboration will be assessed in practical activities such as: building professional networks and strategic alliances, negotiating contracts, setting up communication channels, agreeing team objectives, research and critical reflection. Your team learning is supported by the team coach, stakeholder and peer feedback in shared training sessions. As team fashion entrepreneurs, you will lead the training sessions to learn new ideas, share experiences and coach each other.

Master’s Project (60 credits)

The Master’s Project is an important piece of work central to achieving the course aims, which will provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate your knowledge and skills in relation to the course learning outcomes. Throughout the Master’s Project, you are guided and supported by tutorials and peer and staff evaluation at interim stages. You will be allocated a supervisor for your project and will complete a learning contract outlining how you intend to develop and deliver your project. The Master’s Project may take a variety of forms by negotiation and is assessed by presentation in an agreed format

Showing your work

All students are advised to set up a profile on portfolio.arts.ac.uk, UAL’s new portfolio platform, which can be done at any point during your time at LCF and will last for up to 12 months after graduation. This platform is often used to source student work for promotional use on the website, social media and for print and can be a great way of getting your work seen. You may also be asked to have a portfolio profile for the selection process when it comes to degree shows.

Learning and teaching methods

• Briefings, tutorials and feedback
• Collaborative Group project work
• Library and workshop inductions
• Lectures and seminars
• Presentations
• Learning Plans
• Coaching

Assessments methods

• Reports and dissertation
• Peer evaluation and feedback
• Blogs
• Student self evaluation
• Tutorials