World-leading fashion and sustainability project announced

 News 

Bath Spa University announces plans for world-leading fashion and sustainability project

Monday, 30 January, 2023

Bath Spa University has confirmed it is in fruitful discussion with international partners and other core fashion industry stakeholders to develop a world-leading project around fashion and sustainability in the city.

Bath Spa University is already working in partnership with Bath and North East Somerset council to create a world-leading Fashion Collection Archive in Locksbrook, to the west of the city centre. This will provide a home for the Fashion Museum’s extensive collection and will be accessible to the public through special events and study sessions. The intention is for the Fashion Collection Archive to open in the next three to five years.

Plans are for the Archive to be housed adjacent to the University's Locksbrook Campus, strengthening the long-established relationship between arts students and the collection while also providing physical and digital access to the world-rated archive collection for all. 

Andy Salmon, Pro-Vice-Chancellor External Affairs at Bath Spa University, said:

“This is incredibly exciting for the University, our students, the city, wider community and the fashion industry alike. We are in the final stages of discussions with national, industry and global partners to bring something so unique to Bath, the like of which has not been anywhere else in the world. The two threads of fashion and sustainability are now necessarily and inevitably interwoven, and Bath Spa is at the very forefront of these challenges and changes.”

This announcement comes just one month after Bath Spa University was recognised as the 18th greenest UK university in the People and Planet University rankings, and almost six months since it was awarded Gold Mark Social Enterprise status. 

Teams from Bath Spa University have supported B&NES on the recent bid for £20 million Levelling Up Funding, which was rejected by the UK Government but has only strengthened the intent of the relationship and project.

B&NES is working on a Re-Fashioning Bath project, an ambitious 20-year vision to transform Bath into a fashion destination for the South West, attracting creative industries to the area, boosting the visitor economy and providing 180 new homes.

Find our more about the Fashion Museum’s relocation and the Milsom Quarter Masterplan.