Course units
Block 1
Fashion Strategy and Innovation (20 Credits)
Fashion organisations operate within a rapidly evolving global industry shaped by changing consumer expectations, competitive dynamics and growing stakeholder expectations for responsible business practices. This unit introduces the strategic landscape within which organisations identify opportunities, navigate risks and design business models to create and capture value. You’ll apply strategic and systems thinking to understand how coherence and synergy across organisational activities support effective strategy development and implementation that enables business transformation. The emphasis is on how fashion businesses adapt to emerging challenges, drive innovation and sustain relevance and purpose while achieving performance and creating long-term value with positive impact.
Fashion Operations (20 Credits)
Fashion businesses operate within complex, dynamic systems where data-informed operational decisions shape how products and services reach consumers. This unit introduces core principles of operations management, focusing on their application within fashion retail systems. You’ll analyse how operational processes translate strategy into execution across the value chain, using frameworks for planning, coordination, and performance optimisation. The unit explores demand forecasting, supply chain dynamics, process efficiency, and quality management, emphasising data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement. You’ll evaluate how fashion organisations manage operations to deliver responsive, reliable, and sustainable outcomes in global markets.
Advanced Research Methods (20 Credits)
This unit introduces advanced research methods to support the development of your research proposal for the MSc Project. It develops your ability to design and conduct rigorous, evidence-based research using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. You’ll engage critically with relevant academic literature while applying principles of research design, data collection, statistical and thematic analysis, and interpretation, to generate robust and reliable findings. It also introduces research ethics, validity, reliability, and reproducibility in research practice. Through workshops and guided study, you’ll refine your research questions and develop a clear and feasible research plan aligned with your course specialism.
Block 2
Elective Units (20 Credits)
Students will have the opportunity to participate in an elective unit as part of this course. This is an opportunity for students to collaborate with students from other courses within the college.
The following is an example list of electives that have been previously delivered:
- Creative Decision Making for Fashion Enterprise
- Cultural Programming
- Fashion Politics and Cultures
- Fashion Practices for Social Change
- Fashion Together: Collaboration for Innovation
Please note:
- Elective unit titles and details of the unit may change year to year
- Elective units offered may change year to year, that is, unit listed above may or may not be offered in subsequent years
- Students participate in a bidding process for choosing electives and participation in any particular elective is not guaranteed.
Course Option Units (40 credits)
You'll participate in one of the below units in Block 2 of the course:
Principles and Practice in Fashion Law (40 Credits)
This unit takes a deep dive into the legal system and its application within the fashion industry. It develops your understanding of key legal frameworks and principles, equipping you with the knowledge to navigate legal structures, processes, and key principles in professional contexts. You’ll explore how legal disputes are identified, challenged and resolved. It focuses on the real-world legal issues faced by fashion businesses and practitioners. Through analysis of case law and practical examples, you’ll build foundational legal skills including analysis, research, and professional communication, enabling you to engage critically and confidently with legal challenges relevant to your career.
Purpose and Social Impact (40 Credits)
Fashion organisations face growing expectations to define a clear social purpose and demonstrate meaningful contributions to society. This unit examines how organisations respond to societal challenges and create social value through purposeful initiatives. You'll explore what social impact means in practice, both as measurable outcomes using indicators and evidence, and as broader, intrinsic forms of value. The unit introduces the principles of social impact evaluation and equips you with the analytical skills needed to assess and communicate impact responsibly and rigorously.
Luxury Brand Management (40 Credits)
This unit delivers a comprehensive understanding of luxury brand management, examining the concepts and origins of luxury alongside key academic brand management models and frameworks. It also covers consumer behaviour, supply chains, global logistics, technology innovation, sustainability, service excellence, financial management, and the protection of valuable intellectual property.
The unit features industry guest speakers, site visits, contemporary debates, and a potential live project with a luxury brand. There is a strong emphasis on leadership, developing evidence-based strategies, and refining negotiation and problem-solving skills. You’ll gain valuable insights into how luxury brands are strategically managed in today’s dynamic marketplace.
Fashion Analytics and Intelligence (40 Credits)
Fashion businesses generate vast amounts of data yet often struggle to convert this into strategic intelligence. This unit develops your ability to work with fashion datasets to uncover patterns, trends and anomalies that matter for decision making. You’ll learn to apply machine learning and predictive modelling to uncover insights and support decision making while critically engaging with data quality, ethics and responsible AI practice. Through hands on work with fashion datasets and case based learning, you’ll be able to translate analytical outputs into clear narratives and recommendations, building the confidence to use data driven evidence to shape strategy and innovation in fashion and creative industries.
Block 3
Masters Project (60 Credits)
The MSc Project is the culmination of your course and involves an independent, data-informed investigation within your chosen field of management. Drawing on the knowledge and analytical skills developed throughout the course, you’ll define a research focus and apply appropriate methodological and analytical approaches, under the guidance of an academic supervisor. You’ll critically engage with relevant literature, data, and evidence to address a defined problem or research question. This self-directed project emphasises methodological rigour, systematic analysis, and the production of valid, well-supported insights, demonstrating your ability to conduct independent research relevant to contemporary management practice or theory.
