Launch or Shift Your Career With These 16 Sustainable Fashion Degrees
By Stella Hertantyo
As the sustainable fashion movement grows, an entirely new job market has emerged for those looking to create equitable alternatives to fast fashion’s exploitative status quo.
While many jobs in conscious fashion don’t require a degree, having a sustainable fashion degree may give you an edge in the job market.
This is especially true if you aim to move into a more technical sustainable fashion career — including fashion design, material innovation, the science of sustainable fashion, or academic research.
(Not sure if your dream role requires a certain education? Check out our Conscious Career Chats with sustainable fashion professionals.)
If you're interested in studying a sustainable fashion degree that capacitates you with deep knowledge about the fashion system and a skillset to develop solutions, take a look at this list of 16 highly-regarded sustainable fashion degrees from across the world.
These are not just for aspiring fashion designers, but rather for multidisciplinary fashion changemakers.
Sustainable Fashion Undergraduate Programs
Anant National University: Sustainable Fashion and Textile Design
We have to look to the past to move toward the future. If you're looking for a hands-on experiential learning journey that balances explorations into indigenous traditions with more contemporary techniques, look into this undergraduate sustainable fashion degree in India.
Anant National University’s comprehensive offering covers everything from garment construction and textile literacy, mending, and weaving, to the anthropology of garments and sustainable business practices.
The program draws from the fields of fashion, textile, technology, and sustainability, to impart a unique understanding of conscious fashion and textile design.
Conscious career paths: Sustainable fashion designer, sustainability or fashion researcher, sustainable materials production manager, sustainable processing manager, digital fashion innovator, fashion sustainability compliance officer
Location: Anant National University (India)
Duration: 4 years full-time
Collarts: Double Degree in Bachelor of Design and Bachelor of Applied Business
This academic approach affirms that the fashion industry needs multidisciplinary solutions. The Double Degree: Bachelor of Design (Fashion & Sustainability) and Bachelor of Applied Business (Fashion Marketing) is ideal for those who are curious about the creative side of fashion design and construction, as well as the analytical business of fashion.
Facilitated through industry partnerships, students have opportunities to partake in several real-world fashion experiences, which provide access to industry connections. Each of the degrees strengthens the other ensuring that this double sustainable fashion degree nurtures career-ready graduates.
Conscious career paths: Fashion designer, stylist, textile designer, fashion buyer, fashion merchandiser, pattern maker, product developer
Location: Collarts (Australia)
Duration: 5 years full-time or 3 years full-time (fast-tracked option)
RMIT University: Bachelor of Fashion and Textiles (Sustainable Innovation)
Creating solutions in the fashion industry means thinking outside of the current system. The fashion faculty at RMIT University believes that our future clothing solutions will focus on the interaction between materials, the body, and the environment.
This boundary-pushing degree is future-focused. It explores the integration of 2D and 3D virtual fashion and textile design, digital production methods, material innovations, smart textiles, and the need for improved transparency.
Students gain practical, theoretical, and technical skills to develop solutions, products, and systems, using user-centered approaches. If you are interested in the intersection of technology and traditional practices for the future of fashion, this is a sustainable fashion degree worth looking into.
Conscious career paths: Materials designer, materials researcher, digital fashion innovator, fashion experience creator, fashion coder, sustainability compliance officer, sustainable sourcing manager, corporate social responsibility manager, fashion design engineer, fashion or textile technologist
Location: RMIT University (Australia)
Duration: 3 years full-time
University of Leeds: Sustainable Fashion BA
The University of Leeds believes that sustainability experts are made by simultaneously engaging with real-life ideas and problems and developing essential research and analysis skills.
In pursuit of this, this sustainable fashion degree in the UK considers the interconnectedness of sustainability, business and technology, and the changing nature of consumption and consumer behavior in fashion. Students are exposed to a wide range of exciting experiences through industrial engagement, guest speakers, and optional Year in Industry between the second and third years.
Ultimately, this learning journey creates the space for students to expand their skills and assess and develop fashion solutions that meet the needs of the planet, as well as the industry and its customers.
Conscious career paths: Retailing, manufacturing, product development, corporate social responsibility
Location: University of Leeds (UK)
Duration: 3 years full-time
International Fashion Academy Paris: Bachelor's in Fashion Sustainability
This holistic dive into the business of sustainable fashion takes students on a hands-on journey from one end of the value chain to the other. This sustainable fashion degree in Paris begins by looking into sustainable sourcing and supply chains, before moving towards textile processing and finishing and manufacturing processes. The final few modules cover branding and communication, customer experience, and end-of-life solutions.
Real-life examples are given of fashion brands who have started to realign their whole value creation process towards sustainability by introducing relevant practices and tools.
The program seeks to explore how fashion brands can deeply integrate sustainability into their business practice, instead of seeing sustainability as a once-off add-on.
Conscious career paths: Conscious fashion designer, supply chain manager, sustainable materials production manager, researcher and innovator, sustainable fashion communication and marketing
Location: International Fashion Academy (France; also offered online)
Duration: 3 years full-time
Parsons: Integrated Design BFA
Today’s fashion changemakers must be skilled, versatile, and collaborative problem solvers in our ever-evolving world.
This BFA Integrated Design is a self-directed program that enables students to actively shape their creative practice by engaging in maker-based studios, academic courses, and real-world challenges with leaders in design. Students will get the chance to collaborate with partners and clients working in a range of environments — from NGOs and private businesses to grassroots movements.
This interdisciplinary sustainable fashion degree encourages students to ask complex questions, embrace their creative potential, and hone a values-based framework to imagine new futures.
Conscious career paths: Service design, fashion design, entrepreneurship, sustainability management, consulting, fine arts, academic research
Location: Parsons (US)
Duration: 4 years full-time
Sustainable Fashion Graduate Programs
University of Leeds: Textile Sustainability and Innovation MSc
Textiles are the foundation of the fashion industry. This sustainable fashion Master’s degree prepares students to discover and drive sustainable and innovative textile solutions to address the socio-environmental crises in the fashion industry.
Students gain an advanced understanding of the role of technology in the development of textile materials and products. This is strengthened by practical experiences including laboratory research, problem-solving, and report writing.
Through the university, students have access to specialized equipment for polymer synthesis, fiber extrusion, yarn, and fabric development (including woven, knitted, and nonwoven) as well as a digital printing studio and a laboratory for materials testing and characterization.
Conscious career paths: Sustainability manager, textile innovation, product development, fashion buyer, textile management, technical consultancy, garment technologists, testing laboratory professionals, technical marketing and support, color technologists, textile engineering
Location: University of Leeds (UK)
Duration: 1 year full-time
Falmouth University: Sustainable Fashion MA
Through this online sustainable fashion Master's degree, students gain the knowledge and skills to bring to life the innovative solutions needed to address the complex environmental, social, cultural, and economic challenges we face throughout the fashion system.
This includes developing a range of valuable skills including project management, networking approaches and techniques, and strategy development expertise. These skills equip students to take on and manage complex, demanding projects at all scales.
As opposed to being a maker-based Master’s, this program is geared towards thought-leaders who are looking to influence the future of fashion through the development of advanced creative and systems thinking practices to affect systemic change.
Conscious career paths: Sustainability officer, sustainability consultant, environmental specialist, technical designer, communications manager, fashion forecaster, creative director, community organizer
Location: Falmouth University (UK; Master's degree is offered online)
Duration: 2 years part-time
Polimoda: Master’s in Sustainable Fashion
Polimoda is ranked as one of the top fashion institutes in the world. This program was created for students who wish to learn about brand management, fashion sustainability, fashion culture, the global economy, and sustainable production.
This intensive specialization program is run by experienced teachers, international professionals, and in-demand guest lecturers. Two field trips to production sites are also part of the program to add a real-life experience to the course.
This sustainable fashion Master’s positions itself as a rigorous and practical unpacking of industry buzzwords that are transforming fashion: systems thinking, ethical fashion, circular business models and standards, eco-design, diversity, and inclusion.
Conscious career paths: Sustainability managers, circular economy managers, diversity managers, ethical trade managers, sustainable business managers, supply chain directors, corporate social responsibility managers, fashion writers
Location: Polimoda (Italy)
Duration: 9 months full-time
Polimoda: Master’s in Fashion Styling
Stylists are the storytellers of the fashion industry. These stories shape the way we view, engage with, and create aspirations about clothing. To move towards an ethical and sustainable fashion future, we need new stories.
This sustainable fashion Master’s in Fashion Styling covers five main areas:
Styling a collection,
Styling a still-life or product editorial,
Digital styling,
Styling an editorial, and
Personal styling.
Each area includes dedicated classes and ends with a project that can be added to a personal portfolio.
Polimoda believes that styling requires organizational skills, research methodology, a sociological overview and understanding, and an analytical lens on culture and subculture. This sustainable fashion degree in Italy will sharpen your lens and set you on the right path.
Plus, it has a few impressive benefits including attendance at Milan and Florence Fashion Weeks, internship opportunities, a visit to the Venice Biennale, and the regular use of a professional photography studio.
Conscious career path: Fashion stylist — within a brand, at a magazine, in retail, or as a freelancer
Location: Polimoda (Italy)
Duration: 9 months full-time
Kingston University: Sustainable Fashion Business and Practices MA
Changing the way we think about problems is key to reimagining existing fashion systems. This sustainable fashion Master’s allows students to plot a new future for the fashion industry by developing new systems that challenge existing practices.
Students choose their areas of focus, ensuring their outputs have real-world applications contributing to society, culture, and ecology.
Part of learning to develop new systems is working with organizations already committed to this work on a day to day. So this sustainable fashion degree includes projects in collaboration with prominent sector partners, such as the Design Council, Ethical Fashion Initiative, Fashion Revolution, and ReDress.
Conscious career paths: Brand development, product development, systems development, communications manager
Location: Kingston University (UK)
Duration: 1 year full-time
IED Istituto Europeo di Design: Design for Sustainable Fashion Technology Master’s
As the worlds of technology and fashion merge, this dynamic sustainable fashion Master’s program offers an opportunity to develop perspectives and practice-based research about advanced materials, digital fabrication, bio-textiles, and circular design.
The program is open to any level of graduate in Fashion Design, Product Design, or Architecture who is interested in exploring new aesthetics, materiality, and digital fabrication processes in the field of fashion. See this sustainable fashion degree in Spain as an accelerator for creativity and an incubator for innovation.
Conscious career paths: Fashion designer, fashion innovation consultant, fashion researcher, entrepreneur
Location: IED Istituto Europeo di Design (Spain)
Duration: 11 months full-time
London College of Fashion: MA Fashion Futures
It’s time to build alternative fashion futures outside of our current fast fashion reality. This MA in Fashion Futures is a renowned postgraduate sustainable fashion degree in London known for shaping the next generation of influential fashion industry practitioners who prioritize nature, people, sustainable economic growth, and culture.
It offers a space to experiment with new ideas and physical or digital prototyping to challenge existing narratives.
The modules include “New Fashion Perspectives”, “Collaborative Challenge”, and “Re-Imagining Fashion”. There is also, of course, a sustainable fashion Master’s Project. As the course synopsis reads, “you will conceptualize a transformed fashion system, one that values nature first and creates economic prosperity in service to this goal.”
Conscious career paths: Fashion educator, entrepreneurship, sustainability manager, fashion designer, fashion innovator
Location: University of the Arts London College of Fashion (UK)
Duration: 15 months full-time
Glasgow Caledonian New York College: Master of Science in Sustainable Fashion
Empathetic and impact-driven fashion leaders will be at the heart of a transformed fashion system. Unique among college programs focusing on fashion, this sustainable fashion degree in New York prepares students for leadership roles.
It aims to help students develop creative strategies to support sustainability, social equity, and ethical practices within fashion. This program prepares graduates to understand the full range of business needs from supply chain to merchandising, to marketing messaging.
The modules cover topics such as business strategy, fashion as culture, materials and labor, sustainability policy, and values-based leadership.
Students will learn the benefits of alternative sustainable fashion business models that shift from a singular goal of exponential profit to an ambition of equitably adding value to the worlds of a range of stakeholders.
Conscious career paths: Director of sustainable strategy, manager for innovation in sustainable business transformation, sustainable operations manager, sourcing expert
Location: Glasgow Caledonian New York College (US; online program is available)
Duration: Full-time (16–18 Months) or part-time (19–24 Months)
Central St Martins: MA Material Futures
Material Futures is where science, technology, and design collide. This ground-breaking sustainable fashion Master’s degree in the UK encourages a multidisciplinary approach to design. It focuses on developing smart, eco-friendly textile technologies to respond to the emerging environmental awareness in the industry.
Students entering the program come from a diverse range of disciplines including fashion and architecture, as well as industrial, communication, textile, digital, and speculative design. It encourages an inquiry into social, scientific, political, environmental, ecological, and economic disciplines to ensure that solutions are inclusive, robust, and widely applicable.
Students will work on at least one paying client project. By working with experts and acting at the intersection of multiple disciplines, students are better equipped to forecast future needs, desires and challenges.
Conscious career paths: Multidisciplinary international design projects and initiatives
Location: University of the Arts London Central St Martins (UK)
Duration: 2 years full-time
Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour PhD
Based at the University of Leeds, the Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary research institute addressing global challenges in color, fashion, and textiles through research and innovation. The Institute believes in technology-driven sustainable development and welcomes PhD in sustainable fashion candidates who are aligned with this belief.
This PhD in sustainable fashion focuses on the development of innovative science and technology, materials, methods, and processes. They value collaborations with businesses, governments, NGOs, and policymakers to make this happen.
A few of the topics they are seeking out research in include: Biological recycling of textile waste, unraveling for a circular knitting economy, and mechanical recycling of textile waste into sustainable textiles.
Conscious career paths: Textile researcher, textile technologist, polymer scientist, textile and fashion design, color chemist, and color technologist
Location: University of Leeds (UK)
Duration: 1 year full-time
About the Author:
Stella Hertantyo is a slow fashion and slow living enthusiast based in Cape Town, South Africa. Stella finds solace in words as a medium for sharing ideas and encouraging a cultural shift that welcomes systems change and deepens our collective connection to the world around us. She is passionate about encouraging an approach to sustainability, and social and environmental justice, that is inclusive, intersectional, accessible, and fun.
Stella holds a B.A. Multimedia Journalism from the University of Cape Town, and a PGDip in Sustainable Development from the Sustainability Institute. She currently works as a writer, editor, and social media manager. When she is not in front of her laptop, a dip in the ocean, or a walk in the mountains, are the two things that bring her the most peace.
