Level 4 Level 4 Fashion Buying

Studying Level 4 Fashion Buying, you’ll learn how to plan and trade a successful fashion season. 

You'll investigate the key relationships between the Buying, Merchandising and Design teams within a fashion brand, and learn how they work together to develop trend-led ranges.

In our popular fashion buying course, we’ll teach you the essential skills for creating fashion range plans and collections, discovering how to select garments that satisfy customer demand and sell successfully. By developing your data analysis skills, we'll teach you how to evaluate customer behaviour and purchasing patterns. You'll learn how to identify what consumers want before they want it, making sure bestselling products are ready for purchase in stores when the trends arrive. 

We’ll also show you how to navigate the global retail market. You'll explore how brands target new and emerging regions, and how to manage cultural and language differences within the supply chain. You'll learn how to complete 'Comp (Comparison) Shops' at competitor brands, and learn to use your findings to support your decisions. 

Issues surrounding the negative environmental impact of the fashion industry are increasingly important for retail businesses. You’ll explore the routes to market and the different distribution channels used by businesses, including methods for sustainable sourcing and ethical production.

You’ll also have the chance to visit a UK factory, where you’ll see how garments are produced from 2D sketches and how digital ranges are constructed. When you finish the fashion buying course, you’ll be ready to start your career as a fashion buyer or merchandiser.

The Fashion Retail Academy is an approved centre for UAL Awarding Body Level 4 Diploma in Buying and Range Planning for Fashion Retail.

The Level 4 Fashion Buying course covers:

• Fashion Retail Buying Environment: Explore a buyer and merchandiser's role within the fashion industry. Learn how to research and analyse key factors that influence buying decisions, and how to plan and design ranges for different types of fashion businesses.
• Fashion Retail Range Planning and Building: Develop the skills needed to create ranges of products for a brand. Learn how to work within a team to manage the design, production, quality, financial and marketing aspects used to build profitable ranges. Create visual range plans using a variety of design software.
• Fashion Retail Buying Principles: Examine the global market and learn to source fabrics and garments in the global supply chain, managing cultural differences. Develop an understanding of fabrics, garment construction, and pattern along with the ethical, political and environmental landscape of clothing production.

• Past Present Future: Learn how social, historical and cultural influences have impacted the fashion industry. Explore a wide range of influential ideas to improve research, writing and analytical skills.
• Individually-Negotiated Retail Project: Use the knowledge and skills developed over the year to create a professional-standard personal project, following a brief set by industry experts. Learn to self-evaluate and present work in a variety of different situations.
• Preparation for Progression: Learn to identify career opportunities to prepare for a career in buying, developing teamwork and presentation skills.
• Future Pathways Programme: Complete a three-week, full-time industry enrichment programme to help you take your next steps, make industry connections and put the skills you’ve learnt into practice. See the Industry Enrichment tab for more information.

We're proud of our exceptional industry links to over 250 major brands at the Fashion Retail Academy. All our tutors have worked in the industry, and have plenty of knowledge and experience to share.

During your fashion buying course, you’ll have regular enrichment from industry and our retail partners. We’ll teach you to develop a strong professional network that will support you throughout your career. You’ll also take part in projects and challenges set by brands that help you to develop valuable professional skills.

VISITING INDUSTRY EXPERTS

You’ll receive regular classes and lectures from Visiting Industry Experts (VIEs), from top brands in the fashion industry. Throughout the year, they’ll also set projects and tasks for you to complete.

Our VIEs will give you feedback on your work and tell you how their brand might react in similar circumstances, helping give context and direction to your studies. These projects will also develop your professional skills in time management, team building and prioritising for deadlines.

Previous projects have been set by retailers including Alexander McQueen, ASOS, Sweaty Betty and H&M.

FUTURE PATHWAYS PROGRAMME

The Future Pathways Programme is a 3-week, full-time (5 days per week) schedule of industry engagement activities to help you take your next steps after graduating, connect with industry professionals and build a range of skills and knowledge to improve your career prospects.

When you apply to the programme you can choose from the following routes: 

Placement Pathway: Qualifying students* can opt to apply for our Work Placement Pathway as part of our Pathways Programme.  This is a full time three week work placement within a brand.  This is aimed at providing hands on experience, however it may not always be specifically related to the course. 

Employability Pathway: Take part in a range of activities to support your progression into employment. You’ll work with a recruitment agency, learn about head office roles and complete an assessment centre, alongside an industry project and networking event to build your fashion retail contacts. 

* Students will be provided with qualifying criteria ahead of the September in the year of placement

After graduating from Level 4 Fashion Buying, you’ll be ready to progress straight into an entry-level role in fashion.

92% of our Level 4 Fashion Buying students are in employment or further education within 6 months of finishing their course at the FRA.

This course prepares you for jobs including Buyer’s Admin Assistant or Buyer's Clerk.

You could also move into merchandising as a Merchandiser’s Admin Assistant or Allocator. There's particular demand in the industry at the moment for entry-level merchandisers, with opportunities for rapid progression for strong candidates!

 Find out more about our Fashion Careers Service.

All our Level 4 specialist higher Diplomas come with our Job Guarantee. 

We design our courses alongside our industry partners to teach you the skills and attributes you need to secure a job. So, if you’re not offered one within six months of completing your course, we’ll refund your course fees in full. 

This offer applies to students who are paying privately or using the Advanced Learner Loan to fund their studies. If you secured a loan to pay for your course, we will not refund your loan interest.

See our Terms & Conditions for our full eligibility criteria.

Awarding body
UAL Awarding Body

Qualification Title
UAL Level 4 Diploma in Buying and Range Planning for Fashion Retail

Age requirement
18+

Course duration
1 year, delivered over 2 days per week

You’ll attend the Fashion Retail Academy for 2 full days per week (totalling an average of 16 hours per week) and you'll be expected to complete 2 days of independent study and coursework each week. Many of our students take on part-time work on their remaining free days to boost their industry experience.  

Course fees

• Fully-funded for students aged 18
• £4,220 per year for students aged 19+ - Advanced Learner Loans are available

Fees & Funding

Entry requirements

• 1 A-level or the equivalent Level 3 qualification
• 5 GCSEs grade C/4 or above, including Maths and English (either Language or Literature)

For non-UK qualifications, please provide an ENIC Statement of Comparability. 

If you're applying from a non-English speaking country, you'll need at least 5.5 overall and in each section of IELTS test for English language.

Assessment
The course is 100% coursework via termly assignments that measure your knowledge and understanding.

Offers
After completing our online form, we'll process your application and send you the outcome by post and email in 5-10 working days. We process applications in the order we receive them, and offers are made on a first-come, first-served basis. 

• If you have your exam results and you meet the course's entry requirements, you'll be given an unconditional offer.
• If you don't have your results yet, your offer will be conditional on you meeting the entry requirements.

Your place on the Level 4 Fashion Buying course is only secure after you have completed enrolment.

2025-2026

*Subject to change

AUTUMN TERM

• Academic transition week - Week commencing 25th August 2025
• Term starts - Week commencing 1st September 2025
• Half term - Week commencing 27th October 2025
• Term resumes - Week commencing 3rd November 2025
• Term ends - Week commencing 15th December
• Winter break - Week commencing 22nd December 2025

SPRING TERM

• Term starts - Week commencing 5th January 2026
• Term ends - Week commencing 30th March 2026
• Spring break - Week commencing 6th April 2026

SUMMER TERM

• Term starts - Week commencing 13th April 2026
• Term ends - Week commencing 1st June 2026

2026-2027

TBC

RUBY WILSON - VERGE GIRL RENTAL x HURR

range plan

price architecture

in-store styling

in-store smart mirrors

The Fashion Retail Academy is located at our new campus at Electra House near Liverpool Street, central London. 

The listed building has undergone a £50 million refurbishment to give our students the facilities and spaces they need. Liverpool Street has excellent transport links to the rest of London and beyond, and Electra House is situated directly across from Moorgate tube station. 

There are: 

• 8 floors (Electra House is double the size of our old campus)
• A bigger library and more workspaces
• 26 classrooms
• Bespoke studio spaces
• 6 lecture theatres
• Dedicated fashion design wing
• IT hub and self-service laptop lockers
• On-site cafe
• 2 specialist exhibition and event spaces
• Wellness spaces and communal areas
• Discovery nook

Click here for more information about Electra House.