Course summary

Sportswear incorporates apparel worn for a vast range of activities, from traditional team sports and athletics through to outdoor pursuits and watersports.  Designing sportswear is about much more than just aesthetics. Specialist sports apparel is technically engineered to ensure fitness for purpose and to optimise the wearer’s performance whether they are climbing a mountain, sailing a dinghy across a lake, or running a 100-meter sprint. The MSc Sportswear Design course at BCU combines creativity with science to equip designers with a combination of technical design skills and sports science knowledge.  What's covered in the course? The initial stages of the course will include lectures, seminars and workshops covering important academic research skills, as well as methods for concept exploration and idea development. You will learn to translate sports specific user needs into functional products that are also aesthetically pleasing. Seminars and talks from visiting tutors and industry professionals will provide access to specialist knowledge around performance fabrics, industry standards and the test methods used to assess and evaluate fabrics and garments. In semester two you will take your learning to a deeper level and refine your personal practice. In a live industry brief, you will be enterprising and innovative within a commercial project's parameters. This involves developing your critical thinking and analysis skills and fine tuning your concept exploration, design prototyping, testing and evaluation process.  Workshops on design thinking and circular design will increase the sustainable principles of your practice. Talks from and discussions with industry professionals will build confidence and enhance your specialist knowledge and skills. The opportunity to take a work placement will strengthen your network connections and give you firsthand experience of the sportswear industry, strengthening your future employability.  In your final semester, you will implement all you have learned and demonstrate your creative and technical proficiency with an entrepreneurial, self-directed project. You will apply your skills in critical research, concept development, prototyping, testing and evaluation to arrive at a final product or products. You will have the opportunity to present and celebrate your work in an end-of-year showcase.  This major project can be the basis for a business opportunity and will position you well on your path towards a career as a sportswear design professional.