Zoe Hinton is the course leader. She has an extensive background in retail, having spent almost 15 years in industry across various retailers. She ran buying teams at House of Fraser and New Look, managing the departmental finance to repeatedly deliver record profits. She spent her time in multi-product areas, buying products across categories and working with factories all over the world. She holds an external examiner post at Instituto Marangoni in both London and Paris, and has also taught for both Conde Nast College of Fashion and Milano Politecnico. She has a PGCERT in Academic practice at distinction level, and is a Fellow of the HEA. Zoe has a keen interest in student engagement and digital pedagogy, as well as experimentation with online platforms and interactive sites in order to improve student experience, and has published research regarding this. Read Zoe's interview about the course here.
Chloe Mason's has a breadth of knowledge of curricular, development, widening participation and learning and teaching co-ordination and personal tutorship. Her previous life was as a buyer for Urban Outfitters, French Connection and George at Asda. Buying across the categories of ladies, men’s and children’s outerwear and underwear has given her the experience to spread her knowledge and help nurture students and enjoy their progress through the 3 or 4 years that they are with the Fashion Buying and Merchandising course.
Nicole Dunlop is the programme director. Nicole's career began with a degree in clothing and management at Manchester University where she was sponsored by Marks & Spencer, this also included a short spell in Paris at the Sorbonne. She started her career with Jaeger, as a member of their buying team, and eventually moved on to become the sourcing manager for Adams. Having gained a qualification for marketing with the CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) Nicole moved on to manage various consultancy projects with various retailers throughout Europe including Etam, Graduate Fashion Week, Harrods, Karstadt, La Rinascente, London Fashion Week, Matalan, Tencel, and Wrangler. She ultimately became head of marketing for the Hunter family of brands (best known for their iconic green welly), transforming it from the historic workwear brand into the fashion icon that it is today. Nicole gained a distinction in her Post Graduate Teaching degree and has extensive experience teaching at degree and masters level at several London business Universities, and CIM.
Ginny Hutt is a lecturer in Buying and Merchandising and started teaching at UAL after a 30 year career in buying. She is a direct sourcing specialist, and has extensive experience working for UK and international brands such as Arcadia, BHS, F&F at Tesco and Ralph Lauren where she was Buying Director. Ginny loves product and has covered most garment types during her career, working across Menswear, Womenswear, Childrenswear, Sportswear and Footwear. Ginny loves to share her experience and knowledge with students. She is the DiPS placement year leader and works with students to support them with their placements.
Mikael Persson is fashion lecturer in Future and Innovation, Creative Digital and Visual Communications. He graduated with a degree in Design Technology for the Fashion Industry followed by experience working with brands such as Michiko Koshino and Alexander McQueen and ran a London-based fashion streetwear brand, delivering graphic printed apparels to trend savvy, ethically conscious millennials and Gen Z consumers.
Mikael entered fashion related education as a creative digital specialist to develop a strategy for delivering digital skills to fashion students based on industry demand. In addition to completing a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) for Post Compulsory Education Mikael has also completed a Post Graduate Cert in Learning and Teaching Art and Design at Higher Education, from which he achieved a 1st.
His ongoing research interests include current and future creative fashion tech, design and visual communication.