Sustainable Fashion: Business and Practices MA
Subject and course type
- Design
- Creative Professions
- Postgraduate
Kingston University’s MA in Sustainable Fashion Business and Practices will give you the change-led perspective you need to make a real impact in the industry.
You are reading:
Envision a new future for fashion
Challenge current thinking and explore transformational systems
Studying this masters in Sustainable Fashion Business and Practices at Kingston University will prepare you for a range of sustainability-focused opportunities. You could go on to work in brand or product development, supply chain management, communications and so much more.
During the course, you’ll deepen your understanding of the many ways sustainability relates to fashion. Through exciting project work, you’ll develop new solutions and plot a new future – both for yourself and for the industry.
Leading academics and practitioners will challenge you to question accepted fashion system methodologies. You’ll unpick every step of the process – from sample making and production to sales, marketing and end of life.
You’ll refine your critical thinking and problem solving skills, learn how to drive systemic change and create innovative, ethical solutions.
Through values-led coursework, you’ll get to grips with participatory action and examine transformational systems and organisations. You’ll explore how to replace dysfunctional mainstream systems with practical, inspirational alternatives.
This programme is all about learning through doing, which means you’ll develop your practical skills, design thinking, analysis and ideation. By exploring the economic, environmental, social and cultural aspects of sustainability, you’ll solve industry problems and drive tangible change.
Before entering this course my knowledge on sustainability was less than half of what I know now. Sustainability was one of the topics discussed on many occasions during my undergrad, but this course gave me a much deeper understanding on what sustainability really is and the other factors that comes with it that many are not aware of.
Why choose this course
While you study, you’ll benefit from top quality teaching at Kingston University. Not only are we ranked Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework, we’re consistently rated among the best institutions in the UK for fashion and related disciplines.
The art school experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, you’ll benefit from joining a creative community where we encourage collaborative working and critical practice. Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
University museums and galleries
Kingston University has two on-site galleries, which offer exciting opportunities for career progression. Grade II-listed Dorich House is the former home of the sculptor Dora Gordine, while the Stanley Picker Gallery is one of the UK’s leading university galleries. Our Knights Park campus also has a bookable project space for large-scale exhibitions.
Workshops and studios
Explore, collaborate and share ideas in our state-of-the-art workshop facilities, designed by Stirling Prize-winning studio, Haworth Tompkins. Facilities are open to all Kingston University students, and include:
- 3D workshops, with spaces for ceramics, concrete, resin-casting, plastics, metalwork, woodwork, bronze-casting foundry, set design and large scale model making
- Animation and post-production studios
- A digital media workshop
- Knitting and sewing workshops with digital and analogue facilities, plus a working dress archive including from 1750 to the present day
- A HackSpace for collaborative, creative, solutions-focused projects
- A letterpress and printmaking workshop
- A moving image workshop, with studios, an editing suite and industry-standard equipment
- A fully-equipped photography workshop
Professional Membership
Sustainable Fashion: Business and Practices is a registered member of the United Nations' Education and Academia Stakeholder Group (EASG).
The Art School Experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where we encourage collaborative working and critical practice.
Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
Course content
Students will study the human and environmental impacts of the mainstream fashion system throughout the entirety of the value chain. The programme offers sustainable methodologies for the development of fashion businesses, services and practices. It provides students with the knowledge and skills required to effect positive change through creative problem solving, and equips them with the management, business and creative decision-making skills to develop their own career path.
This is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list.
Modules
Core modules for Teaching Block 1
30 credits
This module addresses the diversity of impacts and challenges within the fashion system, giving students an in-depth understanding of the problems that perpetuate the unsustainability of the fashion industry from an ethical as well an environmental perspective. It connects the dots between appropriation, marginalisation, practice, and process by giving voice to alternative systems, people, and places. Lectures, presentations, and site visits will provide insight into the challenges the fashion system engenders, acting as a baseline for the exploration and identification of individual values to inform future work.
30 credits
This is a live project with direct interaction with an external stakeholder, intended to have a tangible outcome and based on human-centric design solutions for an under-represented group. Adaptive and universal design is used to tackle societal bias and stereotyping by presenting and sharing other stories, experiences, and histories. This is socially-centred design, with the objective of encouraging critical discourse about the culture of fashion inclusion and exclusion, diversity, and representation.
Core modules for Teaching Block 2
30 credits
This module focuses on universal design in a broad context, with students working with either a local or global community in the development a collaborative response to a set of objectives and problems. This is an opportunity to revaluate the hierarchies embedded within the fashion system in the development of projects, skills, strategies, and trainings to support employability and integration into the greater community or industry. This is not a project ‘for' them, but ‘with' them, intended to develop products and skills and provide a focus for the community outside their experience and history, offering new possible futures.
30 credits
This module reviews the various business types and operational strategies that act as an alternative to business-as-usual profit only businesses. Content evaluates sustainable businesses that positively impact people, planet, or both, with a particular focus on the role that technology plays in the sustainability of business, product and operations. Lectures, workshops, and site visits provide insight into the breadth of creative responses to the fashion industry's challenges, by sharing concrete examples of designers, brands, agencies, and technologies disrupting the system effectively.
Core modules for Teaching Block 3
60 credits
The capstone project offers students the opportunity to challenge the status quo through their personal practice, impacting social, cultural, environmental, and ethical norms across a myriad of expressions and outputs, by encouraging them to push boundaries with radical outputs with transformational potential. Outcomes must be implementable and can include business or brand development, products, services, systems, strategies, websites, apps, communication vehicles, magazines, websites, film, e-zines and exhibitions without restriction, as long as they affect positive change in some aspect of the fashion industry.
We were really fortunate to be able to attend lectures from some of the world's top minds in sustainable design thanks to personal contacts in the industry. I now have a broader perspective on sustainability by the end of this module.
Career opportunities
After you graduate
You’ll complete this course ready for a range of sustainability-focused opportunities. Potential roles and routes after you study include:
- Brand and product development
- Sustainable supply chain management
- Systems and services management
- Sourcing and communications
- Setting up your own business
- Working as a freelancer
- Applying your skills in a non-fashion role
- Progressing to MPhil and PhD level
Live briefs
As part of the course, you’ll have opportunities to work on live briefs with sector partners that champion social and environmental sustainability. Potential clients include:
- Build a Nest New York – a nonprofit supporting global artisanship
- The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market – the world’s biggest gathering of master crafts people
- The Kingston Women's Hub – a local safe haven for women
- The Kingston University Disabled Students Society
Expert speakers
While you study, you’ll hear key insights from world-leading industry experts. These include representatives from brands, social enterprises, not-for-profits and governmental and non-governmental agencies. Previous speakers have included the United Nations Ethical Fashion Initiative, Fashion Revolution, Labour Behind the Label and ReDress.
Industry links
You’ll benefit from Kingston University’s strong connections with industry leaders. Previous opportunities range from professional experience to international recognition, including:
- Craft of Leather – an invitation-only workshop series in Tuscany with the Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium
- The Bilbao International Art and Fashion Contest
- Work study with the Saheli Women
- Internships with Safia Minney and By Walid
- Employment with:
- The North American Linen Association
- Marks and Spencers
- Benetton
- Two Hundred Million Artisans
- The Polish Cultural Institute
- Deloitte's Environmental Social Governance
Teaching and assessment
When not attending timetabled sessions, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This typically involves reading and analysing articles, regulations, policy documents and key texts, documenting individual projects, preparing coursework assignments and completing your PEDRs, etc.
Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and CANVAS, the University's online virtual learning platform.
At Kingston University, we know that postgraduate students have particular needs and therefore we have a range of support available to help you during your time here.
A course is made up of modules, and each module is worth a number of credits. You must pass a given number of credits in order to achieve the award you registered on, for example 360 credits for a typical undergraduate course or 180 credits for a typical postgraduate course. The number of credits you need for your award is detailed in the programme specification which you can access from the link at the bottom of this page.
One credit equates to 10 hours of study. Therefore 180 credits across a year (typical for a postgraduate course) would equate to 1,800 notional hours. These hours are split into scheduled and guided. On this course, the percentage of that time that will be scheduled learning and teaching activities is shown below. The remainder is made up of guided independent study.
- 19% scheduled learning and teaching
The exact balance between scheduled learning and teaching and guided independent study will be informed by the modules you take.
Your course will primarily be delivered in person. It may include delivery of some activities online, either in real time or recorded.
Assessment typically comprises exams (e.g. test or exam), practical (e.g. presentations, performance) and coursework (e.g. essays, reports, self-assessment, portfolios, dissertation).
The approximate percentage for how you will be assessed on this course is as follows, though depends to some extent on the optional modules you choose.
- 100% coursework
We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 20 working days.
To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally enrols 20 students and group sizes are normally 10–12. However, this can vary by module and academic year.
Fees and funding
| Fee category | Fee |
|---|---|
| Home (UK students) | |
| Full Time | £13,500 |
| Part Time | £7,425 |
| International | |
| Full Time | £21,800 |
| Part Time | £11,990 |
| Fee category | Fee |
|---|---|
| Home (UK students) | |
| Full Time | £12,900 |
| Part Time | £7,095 |
| International | |
| Full Time | £20,900 |
| Part Time | £11,495 |
Scholarships and bursaries
Interested in studying an MA in Sustainable Fashion Business and Practices at Kingston? The following funding support is available:
Get a 40% reduction in fees for taught masters or postgraduate diploma courses with September start dates. Find out more.
Receive up to £5,000 towards tuition in your first year of study. Find out more.
Get a 15% reduction in tuition fees. Find out more.
Receive £2,500 towards developing and producing work during your final year. Find out more.
Kingston University offers a 10% discount on full- and part-time postgraduate degree course tuition fees to our alumni. alumni discount page to find out more.
Additional course costs
Some courses may require additional costs beyond tuition fees. When planning your studies, you’ll want to consider tuition fees, living costs, and any extra costs that might relate to your area of study.
Your tuition fees include costs for teaching, assessment and university facilities. So your access to libraries, shared IT resources and various student support services are all covered. Accommodation and general living expenses are not covered by these fees.
Where applicable, additional expenses for your course may include:
Our libraries have an extensive collection of books and journals, as well as open-access computers and laptops available to rent. However, you may want to buy your own computer or personal copies of key textbooks. Textbooks may range from £50 to £250 per year. And a personal computer can range from £100 to £3,000 depending on your course requirements.
While most coursework is submitted online, some modules may require printed copies. You may want to allocate up to £100 per year for hard-copies of your coursework. It’s worth noting that 3D printing is never compulsory. So if you choose to use our 3D printers, you’ll need to pay for the material. This ranges from 3p per gram to 40p per gram.
Kingston University will pay for all compulsory field trips. Fees for optional trips can range from £30 to £350 per trip.
Your tuition fees don’t cover travel costs. To save on travel costs, you can use our free intersite bus service. This route links the campuses and halls of residence with local train stations - Surbiton, Kingston upon Thames, and Norbiton.
I'd like to take a moment to express my appreciation to Dr Sass Brown. From facilitating insightful discussions to helping us overcome challenges, mentoring our projects, and encouraging our diverse ideas and outputs, she demonstrated unwavering support. Dr Sass Brown's dedication and commitment were inspiring, and she truly practiced what she preached. She is a role model whom I will continue to look up to in my journey in sustainable fashion. Her efforts made our success possible.
Apply for this course
Before you apply
Please read the entry criteria carefully to make sure you meet all requirements before applying.
How to apply online
Use the course selector drop down at the top of this page to choose your preferred course, start date and mode, then click 'Apply now'. You will be taken to our Online Student Information System (OSIS) where you will complete your application.
If you’re starting a new application, you’ll need to select ‘new user’ and set up a username and password. This will allow you to save and return to your application.
Application deadlines
We encourage you to apply as soon as possible. Applications will close when the course is full.
After you apply
If the admission tutor wants to see your portfolio, we will email asking you to upload your zipped portfolio to the OSIS portal within three weeks. If we need more information or want to invite you for an interview, we will be in touch directly. After that you will then hear whether your application has been successful.
Course changes and regulations
The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Find out more about course changes
Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.
Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.
