Footwear Design BA (Hons)

De Montfort University

United Kingdom, Leicester

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715

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De Montfort University

United Kingdom , Leicester

Key Facts

Program Level

Bachelor

Study Type

Full Time

Delivery

On Campus

Course Code

WWF7

Campuses

Main Site

Program Language

English

Start & Deadlines

Next Intake Deadlines10-Sep-2026

Apply to this program

Go to the official application for the university

Duration 3 year(s)

Tuition Fee

GBP 16,800 / year(s)

Next Intake 10-Sep-2026

Footwear Design BA (Hons)

About

We offer more than a degree — every course is designed with employability and real-world experience at its core.

Enhance your studies and broaden your horizons, and develop new skills with our international experience programme, DMU Global.

DMU is one of the few universities where you’ll benefit from a unique block teaching approach.

Footwear design is a skilful and creatively unique discipline that is highly sought after within the fashion industry. DMU is currently the only UK university offering a single honours course in this area, also enabling you to specialise in men’s, women’s, children’s or performance footwear.

In our industry-standard facilities, you will develop technical and modern shoemaking skills and be empowered to turn your imaginative 2D ideas into physical, 3D functional pieces. Our goal is to produce confident, career-ready graduates, and wider-employability skills are embedded throughout the curriculum. We will coach you on illustration and drawing skills, and you’ll learn how to present and communicate your ideas and concepts to a professional standard.

With over 100 years of heritage in footwear design, our impressive links with industry present opportunities to work with iconic footwear brands and help you to build an impressive address book of connections - students have recently worked with Adidas, Hermes and Kurt Geiger to name a few. We also host regular guest visits and lectures, so you can learn the tricks of the trade and gain valuable insights into new products and technologies.

You don’t need to have a background in footwear to join us – many of our students have no previous experience but graduate as skilled experts, going on to enjoy impressive careers in the creative industries.

Benefit from a range of showcasing opportunities and annual competitions, such as the DMU Degree Show and New Designers – connecting you with global brands and industry experts.

Our impressive industry connections support students in obtaining placements with sector-leading brands, including Puma, Clarks, Lacoste, Bemont and Adidas.

Graduates have gone on to enjoy successful careers in roles in design, technical product development, buying and marketing at global brands such as Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Jimmy Choo, Sophia Webster, Nike and New Balance, as well as many others.

Requirements

Entry Requirements

Entry requirements

Typical offer

UCAS points:

112

A Level:

BBC

BTEC Extended Diploma:

DMM

Contextual Offer:

DMU operates a generous contextual offer for students from underrepresented backgrounds in Higher Education.

This is a minimum of one to two grade reduction from our typical offer and full details including eligibility criteria can be found at dmu.ac.uk/contextual

T Levels:

Merit

Access to HE:

Pass with 30 Level 3 credits at Merit

International Baccalaureate (IB):

GCSEs:

5 x GCSEs at grade 4/C or above including English and Maths

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with 5.5 in each band (or equivalent) when you start the course is essential.

English language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.

Interview and portfolio

Interview required: No

Portfolio required: Yes

To find out more what we're looking for in a portfolio, head to our portfolio advice page.

Career

Where we could take you

Placements

Our impressive industry connections support students in obtaining placements with sector-leading brands, including Puma, Clarks, Lacoste and Adidas.

Recent graduate Jenny Oh spent 12 months at Bemont (Nine West & Vince Camuto) in South Korea, which helped him to build experience and industry knowledge for his current role at Jimmy Choo, where he works as a a Junior Footwear Designer.

You will also benefit from support from our Careers Team. This award-winning service can help to hone your professional skills with mock interviews and practice aptitude tests, and an assigned personal tutor will support you throughout your placement.

Graduate careers

As the only single honours footwear course currently running in the UK, we work closely with the sector to produce and elevate leading designers, and have an impressive alumni list.

Our graduates have forged successful careers in roles in design, technical product development, buying and marketing and work for big brands internationally such as Givenchy, Jimmy Choo, Sophia Webster, New Balance, Adidas, Nike, Lacoste, Kickers, Dr. Martens, Irregular Choice, Kurt Geiger, Dune, Office, Next and Foot Soldiers to name but a few.

Graduate, Cobey Cooper, joined Alexander McQueen over five years ago as an Assistant Designer, has been awarded two promotions and is now a Footwear designer for this luxury brand.

Other graduates have gone onto forge their own path in this exciting industry. Graduate Ann Williams founded her own footwear design consultancy, Schwilliamz Creative Consultants, and has since enjoyed an inspiring career working all over the world.