Fashion Knitwear MA

Introduction:

• Benefit from the professional expertise of our academic staff, researchers and visiting designers such as Orsola de Castro, Juliana Sissons, Jo Cope, David Telfer, Moxham, and Christopher Raeburn
• Be selected to exhibit at New Designers in London and you may be selected for TexSelect (formerly Texprint)/. Subject to government guidelines, you may have the opportunity to visit London and join optional European study trips to Florence, Antwerp and Paris.
• Opt for an additional advanced research module if you’re thinking of progressing to PhD or Professional Doctorate study.
• You will have the opportunity to apply for specialist bursaries including ‘The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters’ and sponsorship of yarns through links with industry and individual networking opportunities.

Careers and employability

Career prospects

This course leads to a wide range of career opportunities including:

• knitwear / knitted textiles designer
• product developer
• sourcing manager
• technologist
• buyer, merchandiser
• production manager
• trend forecasting
• styling within companies and brands.

Some graduates also use this course to support careers in teaching, lecturing, journalism and progression to MPhil or PhD study.

Recent graduates have set up their own successful businesses, or work within related careers in the fashion and textile design sector. Others have returned to their previous job with a renewed focus and enhanced career prospects.

If you are interested in starting your own creative business, the University provides start-up training and support through NTU Enterprise, our centre for entrepreneurship and enterprise.

Connections with Industry

You will have the opportunity to take up short periods of work experience, learn entrepreneurship skills through business development courses and attend events held by our Employability team and other organisations. You will also be encouraged to undertake research into fashion, textile or knitwear design companies, or appropriate contexts, for retailing or showcasing your completed project.

In addition to the main focus of your project as set out in the project proposal, you are encouraged to enter national and international competitions such as the Shima Seiki Competition, where the winner is awarded an all-expenses paid trip to the Shima Seiki headquarters in Japan for a two-week training course. Other competitions include the Redress Design Award (formerly EcoChic), Woolmark Performance Challenge and the Arts of Fashion Competition. Prestigious competitions provide you with opportunities to demonstrate and promote your creative and technical skills and ability to answer an industry brief to a global audience, that can lead to employment and press opportunities.

You will be invited to collaborate in projects and attend research events and symposia. Recent exhibitions our students have been involved in include:

• Crafting Anatomies
• Knitting Nottingham
• Journeys in Lace: Parts 1&2 (Lace:Here:Now)
• Lace Unravelled with Nottingham Castle.
• Our students also benefit from visits to Nottingham Castle to explore their extensive fashion and textiles archives.

Study trips

Study visits can inspire and inform your projects. Recent visits to exhibitions in London have included:

• Basquiat: Boom for Real at the Barbican
• Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion at the V&A
• North: Fashioning Identity at Somerset House.

An optional annual trip to Antwerp and Paris has included visits to:

• Olivier Theyskens: She Walks in Beauty at Mode Museum, Antwerp
• Sheila Hicks: Lines of Life at Centre Pompidou, Paris
• Paris Première Vision
• Li Edelkoort’s Trend Union studio, Paris.

You will also be invited to submit your work to be considered for exhibition at London’s New Designers and SPINEXPO in Shanghai, China.

Showcase

Explore our showcase ‘We Are Creatives’ - celebrating the work of the Nottingham School of Art & Design students. You will find a sneak peak of some of our students’ work and gain a real insight into what it’s like to be part of the NTU creative community at wearecreativesntu.art

YouFirst – working with our Employability Team

Our friendly, experienced careers consultants will work closely with you at every stage of your career planning, providing personal support and advice you won't find in a book or on the internet. You can benefit from this at any time during your studies and up to three years after completing your course.

Re:search Re:imagined

To us, research is about more than writing papers and proposing new ideas. By daring to think differently, we’re disrupting the research landscape and finding the answers to the questions that really matter. From electronic textiles to the history of lace, we’re inspiring the brightest minds to rise up and find solutions to some of the most significant global challenges facing society.

Find out more: ntu.ac.uk/research