Sustainable Fashion MA (Online) Falmouth University

Become a conscious changemaker in the 21st-century fashion industry

Develop a radical and circular approach to designing a pioneering, sustainably focused fashion system and challenge existing industry practices through ethical, regenerative and inclusive change. Through this online master's degree in Sustainable Fashion, you will gain the knowledge and skills to design the pioneering transformation needed to address the complex environmental, social, cultural and economic challenges we face throughout the fashion system.

Joining a global community of informed, visionary and collaborative change-makers, you will design innovative solutions to global and local challenges that deliver a responsible, sustainable and ethical impact on people and the planet.

By fostering a conscious mindset, you will envision new sustainable futures, question the purpose of design, develop responsible systems and assess the impact of social innovations within fashion communities.

Different to a traditional studio maker-based course, this Sustainable Fashion MA is designed to empower you to influence the future of fashion through the development of advanced creative and systems thinking practices, and to design outcomes in a multitude of forms that will affect systemic change.

You will:

• Graduate as a pioneering fashion practitioner empowered to lead and reform the fashion industry.
• Build a deep understanding of the fashion industry in the global sustainability context and learn how to drive the changes needed to deliver positive, responsible change.
• Develop advanced knowledge of social innovation design, systems thinking and design thinking.
• Utilise creative problem-solving approaches to find strategic solutions to complex problems across design, production, and business functions.
• Seek and create diverse networks across the fashion sector.
• Develop a conscious practice that filters decision-making through a sustainable and ethical lens.

On this empowering sustainable fashion course, you’ll acquire a radical, conscious, professional and courageous sustainable fashion practice, while creating meaningful and effective connections with other fashion practitioners.

You’ll build your knowledge throughout the course, starting with an understanding of the fundamental sustainable themes in the fashion sector and the problems facing the industry.

Developing advanced knowledge of systems and design thinking will allow you to build a transformative toolbox of creative skills to question and reframe the challenges of the sector, and test and prototype responsible design interventions.

Throughout the course you will build valuable project management skills, networking approaches and techniques, and strategy development expertise, enabling you to bring clarity to complicated and demanding projects.

Honing your investigative and academic research skills will enable you to ask the right questions, interrogate current industry practices and then forecast your own vision of a future sustainable fashion world. You’ll also sharpen your cultural awareness and sensitivity to global issues and events, thereby developing inclusive working practices and approaches.

At the end of the sustainable fashion course, you will establish yourself as an entrepreneurial industry leader, through the creation of sustainable and collaborative solutions for a self-identified problem - either within the fashion system as a whole or within a specific area that you are passionate about.

Modules

This sustainable fashion course is comprised of five modules, four 30-credit modules and one 60-credit project (180 credits in total). The modules have been specifically designed to be studied in a non-linear order, with the order in which you’ll study the modules depending on when you begin the course. All modules on the course are compulsory and must be passed in order to complete the award.

• Re_Imagine
• Re_Make
• Re_Wire
• Re_Frame
• Re_Form

The modules above are those being studied by our students or proposed new ones. Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.

How you'll learn

Our online degrees have been designed from the outset to be taught and learned online. This means that they're crafted specifically for you to study remotely. We offer a truly multidisciplinary syllabus designed to meet the demands of the creative industries, and as a postgraduate student, you should dedicate at least 20-25 hours per week for study.

You’ll learn through a blend of contextual investigation, case studies, workshops, webinars, guest talks, tasks and discussion forums, which you’ll access via our dedicated virtual learning environment. This is also where you’ll find all key documentation, get course announcements and access rich learning resources.

You'll be supported academically by Online Tutors, who will also deliver weekly webinars and facilitate the online forums. If you need assistance with anything that isn't directly related to course material, a dedicated Student Advisor team will be on hand to help. You'll also have access to Falmouth University's excellent employability service, RealWORKs.

We incorporate optional face-to-face events for all our online students. There will be up to two per year and will typically run over weekends, to fit around your other commitments. They're great opportunities to meet other students and Tutors and to explore course-related topics through additional activities and discussions. You'll get the chance to hear from industry experts, offering a wider professional context for your learning and a deeper insight into your chosen industry.

How you'll be assessed

Assessment on sustainable fashion this course has been carefully planned to work specifically for online delivery. Assessment provides the course team with a means of offering tailored guidance alongside advice on how to progress knowledge and skills in key areas that relate to the course Learning Outcomes. The course team will identify your strengths and weaknesses as an individual and discuss them with you throughout your time on the course.

As you move through the modules, you will keep an assessed critical reflective journal, for weekly reflections on learning, helping you to embed critical self-evaluation into your ideas and personal development.

You will be assessed via coursework at the end of each module in the form of visual, verbal and written assignments. You will also receive regular feedback via webinars, Q&As and workshops with other students on your course.

As a graduate of this Sustainable Fashion master’s course, your career could progress into sectors such as:

• Sustainable fashion start-ups
• Commercial fashion companies
• Sustainability strategy
• Sustainable corporate communications
• Teaching and development
• Environmental or social campaigning
• Social entrepreneurship
• Environmental or social campaigner
• Campaigning
• Community Organising
• Charities and NGOs
• Diversity and Inclusion

Within these sectors, you could go into roles such as:

• Sustainability Officer
• Product Sustainability Manager
• Sustainability Consultant
• Environmental Specialist
• Technical Designer
• Corporate Communications Manager
• Fashion Forecaster
• Creative Director
• Community Organiser

Research skills embedded throughout the modules and in your Final Major Project could allow you to successfully progress into postgraduate research programmes and PhDs, MBAs or teaching and PGCHE qualifications.