Study Fashion & Textile Design in Europe

This bachelor's program trains students to create sustainable and innovative fashion, combining digital design technologies, advanced textiles, and functional clothing design within a single course of study. It is built around the integration of design, engineering, and technology, preparing graduates to organize production, develop new fashion standards, and build a business within the fashion industry.

The first year introduces foundational skills, combining introductory coursework in fashion engineering with information technology, mathematics, and physics, alongside a choice between media philosophy and sustainable development, followed by design fundamentals, engineering drawing, materials science, and further mathematics, together with a foreign-language elective at an advanced level. In the second year, students build technical garment-making skills through clothing pattern construction and modeling, fashion design, general chemistry, textile technologies, and probability and statistics, before moving into digital pattern design technologies, fashion visualization, clothing technology, and textile finishing, supported by an elective in areas such as prototyping methods or technical creativity and intellectual property.

The third year deepens specialization through clothing-specific technologies, knitwear design and technology, digital prototyping, the evolution of fashion, and the challenges of functional and sustainable textiles, including textile recycling, before turning to the design and technology of complex textiles, functional clothing, and image design and communication, alongside a substantial elective component covering new fashion product development, project management, or technology entrepreneurship. In the fourth year, students explore digital fashion, build fashion collections, conduct fashion research and prototyping, and study the international textile and clothing industry, culminating in a bachelor's degree final project and a professional internship.

Throughout the program, students develop engineering and logical thinking alongside creative design skills, learning to identify and evaluate textile materials, construct and model garment patterns, apply digital pattern design and 3D visualization tools, design garment joining technologies while ensuring quality, and analyze the environmental impact of new products. Students also build skills in image-building, trend analysis, quality assurance, and the development of virtual, animated fashion collections, along with the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams and apply theoretical knowledge to real production and research problems. A flexible 24-credit block of study modules allows students to shape their own path, developing competencies in areas such as design, marketing, business, computer games, or virtual fashion, with the option to choose a career or research mentor and to pursue a track focused on developing real innovations, products, or services in partnership with external organizations.

International experience is built into the program, with opportunities for part-time study, work placements, or project work at partner universities abroad, including short exchanges with international student teams in countries such as Italy, Portugal, Greece, and Sweden. Graduates go on to work as clothing designers, developing fashion collections that balance market demands, functionality, and aesthetics within multidisciplinary production teams; as textile experts, assessing and selecting materials and developing new, sustainable textile innovations; or as virtual fashion experts, creating digital clothing collections and managing personalized, digitally driven production.

Applicants must hold a high school certificate obtained no more than three years before applying, with a minimum average grade of above 60% in each relevant entry subject. Applicants must also demonstrate English proficiency through an IELTS score of at least 5.5, a TOEFL score of at least 75, a CEFR level of at least B2, or an equivalent qualification. A school transcript must be submitted, accompanied by official translations and certified copies where the original is not available, and all documents must be legalized with an apostille from the issuing country's foreign affairs ministry, except for documents issued within the EU or in Belarus and Ukraine.

Admission is based on final secondary school exam results, weighted as follows: mathematics accounts for 40% of the score, a science or technology subject such as chemistry, physics, biology, information technologies, geography, or engineering technologies accounts for a further 40%, and the English language exam accounts for the remaining 20%.

This 7-semester program provides a comprehensive foundation in textile science, fashion technology, and design. Students study core subjects like fiber science, spinning, weaving, sewing, CAD, and garment construction. They also explore areas such as textronics, eco-design, nanotechnology in textiles, and smart textiles. The final year includes a diploma thesis, industry internship, and practical prototype development for both fashion and technical textiles.

Applicants must have completed secondary school with mathematics and English (advanced level with at least 60%, or 30% at bilingual level). A second foreign language and one of the following subjects are also required: physics, chemistry, or a vocational diploma in relevant fields such as textile technician, fashion industry technician, or styling technician.

This bachelor's program connects the performing arts with contemporary visual arts, centering on dressing the body and the performative in response to the way theatre, performance, dance, opera, and film have increasingly merged into hybrid artistic forms combining multiple disciplines. Students learn to develop a clear design concept from personal inspiration or a text, using a variety of techniques to bring these ideas, concepts, and costumes to life, with an expectation that students engage seriously with social themes and the contemporary art world.

An extensive theoretical foundation supports students in developing a personal, critical perspective on the performing arts in all their forms, while a dedicated team of professionals active in various areas of contemporary performing arts provides supervision throughout. The program focuses on developing drawing skills, perception, visual communication, and the full range of profession-specific techniques needed to design and realize costumes, complemented by practical exercises in text analysis, dramaturgy, semiotics, character analysis, scenography, technical research, and collaborative work. The theoretical framework further includes research methodology, art history, art theory, techniques for analyzing theatre history, and the study of costume in film and costume history more broadly.

Through collaborative projects, internships, workshops, and practical exercises, students gain hands-on experience and a wide range of professional tools, preparing them to continue toward a master's degree centered on independent artistic research, in which a final graduation project is presented in a personal, professional manner within a multidisciplinary context spanning visual and performing arts. Graduates of the full program can go on to work as autonomous artists or as costume designers, seeking collaborations across the world of performing arts, live performance, film, and television.

Applicants need a secondary education diploma or equivalent qualification that provides access to higher education, with the specific accepted qualification depending on the applicant's country of education; applicants from the Netherlands need a VWO diploma or an HBO propaedeutic certificate, as a HAVO or MBO diploma does not provide access to the program, while applicants from other countries need a diploma recognized as providing access to university-level study in their home country. Applicants holding a Chinese diploma must additionally complete an APS screening in Beijing, both to verify their documents and to obtain a student visa.

Applicants must also demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the language of instruction at the B2 level. For Dutch, this can be shown by having completed at least one year of Dutch-language secondary education, having earned at least 60 credits in Dutch-language higher education, or holding a recognized B2-level language certificate; for English, this can be shown through certain qualifying diplomas from Dutch- or English-language secondary or higher education, or through an accepted language certificate such as IELTS Academic, TOEFL iBT, Cambridge English, ITACE, or Pearson PTE Academic at the required minimum score.

Admission to the program is only possible after passing an artistic entrance exam, which begins with a digital pre-selection based on a submitted portfolio. Applicants who pass this pre-selection are invited to a multi-day artistic entrance exam, combining studio-based artistic assignments with a dedicated drawing assignment, which can be completed either in person or digitally, though in-person participation is recommended. The exam assesses the applicant's creativity and imagination, interest in general culture and in art, design, and visual culture specifically, drawing skills, and ability to express ideas both visually and verbally.

This master's degree specializes in textile design, providing a forward-looking environment for rethinking and creating textiles within an expanded field encompassing textile craft, new materiality, innovation, and digital approaches to design. Students build on undergraduate design knowledge to deepen their artistic, technical, theoretical, and reflective skills, working with textiles across a range of contexts while placing sustainable design practice at the center of their studies.

The program is organized around a series of major design projects, supported by shared coursework in design methodology and artistic development, along with design seminars that run alongside other courses throughout the two years. Each student's individual study plan grows out of the project proposed in their application, and a dedicated supervisor follows each student through all of their design projects, ensuring continuity across the program. Teaching takes place in a multidisciplinary environment, drawing on instructors from various backgrounds together with guest lecturers and external supervisors, which gives students the chance to build a professional network during their studies; mentoring, seminars, and workshop activities form the core teaching approach, and documented reflection on both process and results is embedded in every design project.

In the first year, students deepen their theoretical understanding of design methodology while developing their individual artistic practice in relation to current trends in art and design. They also develop their initial application project into a fuller design program and further advance that work either through a project that may involve collaboration with a textile or fashion company or organization, or through a practical placement within one, both with attention to sustainability in the textile industry. Students can also take elective courses in specific textile techniques, such as dyeing, textile printing, weaving, knitting, or construction, to deepen their technical skills.

The second year continues this trajectory through further study of design history and critical reflection, a research project exploring materials, design, and function in relation to fashion and textiles, and the concluding master's degree project, in which students bring together a final collection for exhibition. Throughout the program, students gain practical experience through internships, and take part in workshops, seminars, and guest lectures led by researchers and industry professionals, along with opportunities to present their work on national and international platforms.

Graduates go on to a range of career paths, including working as textile designers for companies across sectors such as furniture, automotive, and interiors, launching their own textile or fashion-related businesses or design studios, collaborating with organizations focused on sustainable and socially responsible practices in the textile industry, or pursuing doctoral studies and further research.

Applicants must hold an undergraduate degree comprising at least 180 credits in design, or an equivalent qualification, along with a demonstrated ability to conduct experimental, investigative work and engage in critical reflection. Applicants must also demonstrate English proficiency equivalent to English 6 (English level 2) in the Swedish upper secondary school system. Students with a bachelor's degree specifically in textile and fashion design are eligible to apply, as are those from other design-related disciplines or with equivalent skills to a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design, provided they meet the program's admission criteria.

Applicants apply for the textile design specialization specifically and must submit a portfolio containing work samples and a CV, along with an application project describing their intended focus during the master's program. Eligibility and selection are assessed on artistic grounds in stages: the portfolio is first evaluated for artistic interpretive ability, experimental work, technical skill, and reflective capacity, after which selected applicants are invited to an interview, followed by a final ranking of eligible candidates for admission.