Wide shot of students in fashion studio
Areas of interest

Study fashion and textile design , Ākona te hoahoa kākahu, hoahoa weru

Study fashion and textile design at Massey to create clothing or fabrics, shape trends, and drive sustainable practices in this global industry.

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Be in good company

Collaborate with and learn from internationally respected fashion and textile designers in your studies at Massey.

Go broad or specialise

At Massey you can focus on your passion for fashion or your talent for textiles. Or mix and match across both.

Global top 100

Get creative at Massey. The only New Zealand university to be ranked by QS in the top 100 for art and design.

Reputation counts

With a reputation for innovative research and practice, Massey is the country's oldest creative arts school, dating from 1886.

Overview

Design for the future with Massey. We focus on devising clothing, fabrics and systems that respond to our times, and on shaping a sustainable future for the fashion and textile industry.

Learn from lecturers with industry experience. Discover new ideas with researchers with expertise in areas such as ethical fashion or material innovation such as bio-materials. Explore ways of making, from traditional processes to digital technologies. Master in-demand skills in our well-equipped studios. Gain industry experience and contacts with field trips and internships in New Zealand and overseas. Graduate with a qualification respected nationally and internationally.

Fashion and textile design is a good fit if you:

  • do well in fashion technology or other design subjects
  • want to be part of a sustainable and ethical fashion and textile industry
  • like creative thinking and getting hands-on to make things.

Fashion and textile design courses may cover:

  • analysing historical or contemporary fashion and textiles
  • design processes, including ways to generate ideas and develop concepts
  • fashion communication
  • pattern-making and creating prototypes
  • sewing and tailoring techniques for garment construction
  • sustainability, including zero-waste production methods
  • textile techniques ranging from traditional to cutting edge
  • trends in the global fashion market.

Fashion design at College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi

Textile design at College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi

Catwalks and competitions

Our fashion and textile design students present their collections in exhibitions and fashion events at Massey, at New Zealand Fashion Week, and at other events around the world.

Our staff, students and graduates have a long history of participation and success in design competitions such as:

How to study fashion and textile design

Discover what we offer if you’re interested in fashion and textile design – whether you’re coming to university for the first time, changing direction or returning to advance your study or career.

Undergraduate study

An undergraduate qualification is generally the first thing you’ll study at university.

Undergraduate bachelor's degrees with honours

An undergraduate honours degree is a four-year bachelor’s degree. We also offer postgraduate honours years.

Undergraduate certificates

If you want to study at university, but aren't sure if you want to commit to a degree, try an undergraduate certificate.

Undergraduate diplomas

Undergraduate diplomas let you try university study before you commit to a degree. They’re also useful if you need to advance your career.

Graduate diplomas

Graduate diplomas can help you advance to postgraduate study or research in a subject you haven’t majored in for your undergraduate study.

Relevant undergraduate subjects to major or specialise in

When you apply to study at Massey, for some undergraduate qualifications you can choose what subject you’d like to specialise in. You can usually change your mind after you get to university, depending on the courses you enrol in.

Postgraduate study

Once you’ve graduated with a bachelor’s degree – or have equivalent experience – you’ll be ready to take on postgraduate study.

Master's degrees

A master's degree normally builds on a main subject of study from your undergraduate degree.

Postgraduate diplomas

Postgraduate diplomas are postgraduate-level qualifications that are longer than a postgraduate certificate. If you’re successful, you might be able to use the credits towards the longer master’s degree.

PhD and other doctoral degrees

Doctoral degrees, including PhDs, are the highest degrees we award. They’re very demanding and their entry criteria reflect this.

Our facilities

You'll have access to a wide range of first-class facilities when you study with us.

Fashion workrooms

Students have access to extensive workrooms that include plain sewers, overlockers, industrial presses, buttonholers, bar tackers, knit and leather machinery. The expansive studios have large tables for pattern-making and cutting, and computer labs for digital pattern-making using CAD software, pattern digitising and plotting. There is space for students to set up their own working stations as they prepare final collections or presentations.

Textile workrooms

Equipment and facilities include:

  • digital embroidery machines
  • dye laboratory with testing equipment
  • knit machines, yarn twister and cording machines
  • looms for felting or traditional weaving — and digital Jacquard loom
  • screenprint and digital printing with 7m print tables.

Location: Wellington campus

Video: Explore textile design

Fab Lab

Fab Lab Wgtn is Australasia’s first digital fabrication laboratory (Fab Lab) affiliated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Fab Lab's capabilities include: A computer-controlled laser cutter; numerically-controlled milling machine; a sign cutter; a precision milling machine to make three-dimensional moulds; surface-mount circuit boards; and small 3D printers, for fast production of 3-dimensional forms.

Massey Student Enterprise: Develop your entrepreneurial mindset

Got a business idea? Massey Student Enterprise helps students and staff gain hands-on experience and knowledge to build a sustainable enterprise. 

Join a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and innovators, supported by people who understand your goals.

Location: All campuses and available to distance students

Jobs in fashion and textile design

The fashion industry is ever-changing, thanks to creative flair and advances in sustainability and technology. Careers can span the catwalk to costume design, interiors to production processes, marketing to research and development.

Some Massey graduates set up their own label. Others work for established companies. Our graduates work in New Zealand businesses such as Cavalier Bremworth, Icebreaker, Kate Sylvester, Kowtow, and Wētā Workshop, and international companies such as:

  • Alexander McQueen (UK)
  • Givenchy (Italy)
  • Gorman (Australia)
  • Nike (USA).

Fashion and textile design careers include:

  • buyers, who source materials for designers or clothing for stores
  • costume designers for film, stage or TV
  • designers, who may specialise in accessories, clothing or jewellery
  • fashion illustrators or animators
  • pattern-makers
  • product developers, who may specialise in areas such as sport or travel
  • textile designers, who may specialise in knitted, printed or woven fabrics
  • trend forecasters.

Annual salary ranges for jobs

Salary ranges disclaimer

Indicative pay rates are:

Which fashion and textile design qualification?

Examples of where our qualifications may take you.

Table showing jobs and what you could study to enter them.
Jobs Examples of what you could study
Costume designer for film, stage or TV Master of Design
Bachelor of Design with Honours (Integrated Design)
Fashion designer Bachelor of Design with Honours (Fashion design)
Stylist Bachelor of Design with Honours (Fashion design)
Bachelor of Design with Honours (Textile design)
Textile designer Bachelor of Design with Honours (Textile design)

Accreditations and rankings

QS Ranking - Art & Design

College of Creative Arts – Toi Rauwhārangi ranks in the global top 150 for art and design by QS World University Rankings.

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Grey dot with NASAD in the middle

NASAD

Massey's College of Creative Arts is New Zealand's only art and design school granted “substantial equivalency” — an international benchmark of quality — by the United States National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).

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Red Dot Design ranking

Ranked 3rd in Asia-Pacific by International Red Dot Design Awards, the only design school to be ranked in New Zealand and Australia. This significant achievement recognises the high calibre of our teaching staff and the exceptional quality of our students' design concept work.

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Get an information guide

Download our guide to find out more about studying fashion and textile design at Massey.

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