Bachelor of Arts - Footwear Design (Honours)

BA (Hons) Footwear Design trains a genuinely scarce specialism: shoe design from concept sketch through last selection, pattern engineering, upper construction, sole systems and materials, with hand-making skills taught alongside CAD so that graduates understand a shoe as a three-dimensional engineered object rather than a drawing.

Northamptonshire’s historic shoemaking industry lies within easy reach of Leicester, and the course draws on that regional heritage alongside contemporary sports and fashion footwear practice — students work across categories from tailored classics to performance trainers, learning the construction logic each demands.

Counselling should frame the specialism’s trade-off honestly: choosing footwear narrows the field of potential employers substantially, but within that narrower field the graduate faces far less competition than a general fashion designer faces everywhere — a bargain that suits committed applicants and frustrates uncertain ones. Portfolio evidence of three-dimensional thinking, whether in shoes, bags or sculptural work, strengthens applications considerably. Materials and workshop consumables add to the £16,800 fee, and September entries run across all three recorded admission cycles.

Workshop provision is central and unusual: lasting equipment, clicking and closing facilities, and materials libraries that let students realise full pairs rather than renderings, with the final collection presented as made footwear judged on fit, finish and commercial coherence.

Graduate demand outstrips supply in this niche, with design and development roles at £21,000–£26,000 across UK brands and international suppliers, and strong relevance to India’s substantial leather and footwear export sector. As a completed honours award the degree qualifies for the Graduate Route’s 18-month allowance under post-2026 application rules, dependants excluded on taught study.