Bachelor of Applied Business (Fashion Marketing) and Bachelor of Design (Fashion & Sustainability)

This is a double degree: a Bachelor of Applied Business (Fashion Marketing) and a Bachelor of Design (Fashion & Sustainability), taken together over five years at Collarts. You graduate with two awards, so you leave with both the marketing and business thinking to sell and position fashion, and the design and sustainability skills to actually make it. The two halves feed each other. You might be working on a marketing plan for a label in one unit and rethinking its material sourcing in another, in the same semester.

How the degree is structured

A double degree is longer than a single bachelor because you complete the core requirements of both awards. At Collarts, the year is split into trimesters rather than the two semesters many universities use, which means three study periods a year and a faster pace. Each unit carries credit points, and you need to accumulate the required total across both awards to graduate. Expect studio and workshop units in the design stream, where you work with textiles, garment construction and sustainable production methods, alongside business units covering consumer behaviour, brand strategy, digital marketing, retail and fashion business operations. Most students finish with a capstone or major project that pulls the two disciplines together, often a real label concept, a sustainability strategy or a campaign built from the ground up.

Skills you build

You learn to research a market and read what customers actually want, then translate that into a brand story and a campaign. On the design side you learn how garments are made, how materials are chosen, and how to reduce waste and environmental impact across a product's life. You also pick up the practical stuff employers assume you already have: pitching, working to a brief, presenting to a room, and running a project from idea to delivery. Group work is constant, because fashion is a team industry.

Who it suits

This suits someone who can't choose between the creative and the commercial, and doesn't want to. If you're interested in why a brand succeeds as much as how a collection is designed, the double degree gives you both languages. It also suits people who want to work in sustainability specifically, where you need to understand materials and supply chains as well as how to communicate change to customers and investors. Collarts is based in Melbourne, a city with a dense fashion, retail and creative industries sector, so placements and industry projects sit close by. International graduates may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream, and while you study, a student visa lets you work up to 48 hours per fortnight. Confirm the current structure, unit list and entry requirements on the official Collarts page and the CRICOS register before you apply.

• Fashion marketer or brand coordinator for labels, retailers and e-commerce businesses
• Digital and social media content producer for fashion and lifestyle brands
• Product developer or garment technologist working with offshore and local makers
• Sustainability coordinator or ethical sourcing officer for apparel companies
• Retail buyer or merchandiser for department stores and online retailers
• PR and communications assistant in fashion, beauty and creative agencies
• Studio assistant or junior designer in a small label or startup
• Freelance stylist, content creator or consultant building your own practice