A specialist London college for fashion and retail, founded in 2005 with retail partners, offering diplomas, apprenticeships and degrees from its Moorgate campus.
The Fashion Retail Academy, or FRA, is a specialist school in London that teaches fashion and retail. According to the Independent Higher Education member page, it offers Level 2, 3 and 4 diplomas, apprenticeships and undergraduate degrees, with degrees underwritten by Falmouth University. Most courses run on an accelerated two-year timetable so that graduates can start work about a year sooner than on a standard degree. Subjects cover design, merchandising, marketing and management. In 2024 it planned new degree pathways in UX/UI, data analytics, sustainable fashion, and fashion communications and styling.
The FRA was founded in 2005 at Gresse Street in central London by five industry partners, with early help from retail names including Arcadia, Marks and Spencer, Next and Experian, according to FashionUnited. It began with 50 students and now has over 2,000. The IHE page says it has more than 13,000 graduates working across the UK, Europe and abroad. We could not read the academy's own mission statement because its about page would not load. The IHE page says the FRA sees fashion and retail as fields built on creativity, innovation and business skill.
The FRA is based in central London. A 2023 report said it was moving to Electra House on Moorgate, a listed building, with 35 classrooms, six lecture theatres and studios for design and photography, and the IHE member page now gives its address as Electra House, 84 Moorgate, London EC2M 6SE. The report said the new campus would be about twice the size of the old one and that the aim was 5,000 students by 2029, though that is a plan and not a result. Students come from across the UK to study there.
On people and culture, the IHE page says the FRA works with more than 140 industry partners, and students complete real-world briefs and projects with well-known brands. That means students learn alongside the businesses that later employ them. The planned new campus would allow brand partners to host events, takeovers and pop-up shops for students. We did not find information about staff numbers or the day-to-day atmosphere, so we have not described them.
As a college, the FRA employs teachers and lecturers with industry experience, course leaders, careers and employer-liaison staff, admissions teams, and staff who run its studios and events. It is also a route into the fashion industry for others, which makes it a useful organisation to know about when you are choosing what to study. Check the FRA website for current courses and any vacancies.
Website: www.fashionretailacademy.ac.uk
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