Bachelor of Fashion Marketing (Buying and Retail Management)

This is a two-year accelerated bachelor degree in fashion marketing with a buying and retail focus, taught at Collarts. You come out with a degree, not a diploma, and you do it in two years instead of the usual three. That means trimesters or a compressed semester load rather than the standard Australian three-year structure. The trade-off is intensity: you will be studying year-round with fewer long breaks.

The course sits where fashion meets commerce. You study how garments get from a designer's sketch to a shop floor or an online store, and who decides what gets made, in what quantity, at what price. Buying and retail management means range planning, assortment building, supplier negotiation, margin calculation, markdown strategy, and stock control. Marketing side covers brand positioning, campaign planning, consumer behaviour, digital and social channels, and visual merchandising. You will work with spreadsheets a lot. Buyers live in them.

As an Australian bachelor degree, this sits at Level 7 on the Australian Qualifications Framework. It is made up of units of study, each worth credit points, and you need to pass a set number to graduate. Because Collarts is an arts and entertainment specialist, expect studio-style classes, industry briefs, and assessment that looks like real work: range plans, buyer presentations, marketing pitches, retail analytics projects. Work-integrated learning and industry placements are common in fashion buying degrees, and Collarts has links across Melbourne's fashion and retail sector. Confirm the exact placement requirements, unit list, and credit point structure on the official page.

Who is this for? School leavers who know they want fashion but also want a commercial skill set. Career changers who have worked retail and want to move into buying, planning, or brand roles. People who want to finish faster and start earning. It suits organised types who are comfortable with numbers and deadlines. If you only want to design clothes, this is not that degree. If you want to decide which clothes get made and how they get sold, it is.

International students should check the English requirement: IELTS Academic 6.0–6.5 overall is the common undergraduate standard at Australian institutions. TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced, and the university's own English programmes are accepted as equivalents. The Department of Home Affairs sets a separate English threshold for the Student visa itself. Once enrolled, your visa allows 48 hours of work per fortnight during study periods. After graduating, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream may be available depending on your circumstances. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register under course code 114013C. Check the official page for current fees, intake dates, and entry requirements.

• Fashion buyer, selecting ranges, negotiating with suppliers, and planning stock for retailers, department stores, and online fashion businesses.
• Retail planner or merchandise planner, forecasting sales, managing inventory levels, and analysing performance across stores or e-commerce channels.
• Brand or marketing coordinator, running campaigns, managing social media, and coordinating product launches for fashion labels and retailers.
• Visual merchandiser, designing in-store displays and online product presentations to drive sales.
• E-commerce coordinator, managing online product catalogues, promotions, and digital retail operations.
• Product developer or sourcing assistant, working with factories and suppliers on costings, samples, and production timelines.
• Retail operations assistant, supporting store networks with reporting, stock allocation, and process improvement.

Australian industries that hire these roles include fashion retail chains, department stores, online fashion retailers, wholesale fashion businesses, and boutique brands. Melbourne and Sydney have the largest concentrations of fashion head offices and buying teams. Many graduates start in retail store roles and move into head office buying, planning, or marketing positions.