MA Fashion, Enterprise and Society

Prepare for a career as a successful innovator in the fashion business with this varied and engaging course. You’ll develop an in-depth knowledge and understanding of strategic business design, fashion enterprise and social impact.

Delivered collaboratively between School of Design and the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies in Leeds University Business School, the course will equip you with the skills to view the fashion industry from social and cultural as well as commercial perspectives.

Along with concepts such as consumer behaviour, supply chain structures, branding and marketing, you’ll also study the principles of business and entrepreneurship and how they relate to social enterprise. You’ll also address the challenges of sustainability.

You’ll mix design, business and market-centred innovation to gain a broad base of skills to thrive in a complex, fast-paced and rapidly evolving industry.

Throughout the course, you’ll explore the concepts of entrepreneurship, enterprise and social responsibility as well as different ethical, social and sustainable approaches. You’ll study the challenges faced by social enterprises today and even the process of setting up a new business.

At the same time, you’ll learn about consumer behaviour and the fashion marketing cycle. You’ll research and develop prototype garments to explore how innovative design ideas can meet the challenges of sustainability and ethics, or make the most of emerging technologies.

In addition, you can tailor your degree to suit your interests and career plans with a choice of optional modules on topics such as fashion photography, fashion industry analysis and sustainability. You will be presented with a range of research methods to develop research skills by applying them in your independent Masters project, through discussion with the tutors and potential supervisors.

Your independent project can be developed as a traditional dissertation on a fashion related topic of your choice, or a more creative based Professional and Contextual Studies project. In the contextual route you’ll research and develop your own design solution – which you’ll exhibit at the end of the year – supported by case studies and other independent work.

Specialist facilities

We have a range of facilities to help you make the most of your time at Leeds. You’ll be able to develop your practice in well-equipped studios and purpose-built computer clusters so you can build your skills on both PC and Mac. There is also a dedicated suite for computer-aided design and manufacture (CAD/CAM), providing you with access to the latest design software and some of the latest design technology, such as digital printing and laser cutting facilities, clothing engineering and colour analysis/prediction labs.

We also have an impressive range of resources you can use for research. We house the M&S Company Archive including documents, advertising, photos, films, clothing and merchandise from throughout Marks & Spencer’s history, offering a fascinating insight into the changing nature of branding and advertising over time. The International Textile Collections, also housed on campus, collects, preserves and documents textiles and related areas from around the world.