At the Fashion Retail Academy, we're always looking at new courses and opportunities for our students. We're proud to be collaborating with UK and international retailers to offer Fashion and Retail Apprenticeships.
We offer professional Apprenticeship programmes at Level 2, Level 3, Level 4 and Level 6. They're usually between one and three years long. During this time, you’ll be employed by a fashion and/or retail brand whilst studying with the Fashion Retail Academy to gain an industry-recognised Apprenticeship Standard.
If we don't currently have a live vacancy you're interested in, why not consider one of our full-time courses? All our timetables are structured over two full days a week, so you can continue working part-time whilst you study.
In 2020-21, 82% of our apprentices passed their courses with distinction.
EARN WHILST YOU LEARN
We run a range of apprenticeship programmes and vacancies come up throughout the year. Click on 'current vacancies' above to see what is available now.
Level 2
Customer Service Practitioner
On this apprenticeship, you’ll learn excellent customer service skills and behaviours, along with product and/or service knowledge to share with customers. As a Customer Service Practitioner, your actions will directly influence customers’ experience and their satisfaction with your brand. You'll deliver high-quality products and services to customers from stores, online, or by visiting them.
Level 2
Retailer
Retailers help customers buy products or services from businesses. As a Retailer apprentice, you’ll develop your understanding of the stock being sold by your business. You’ll also learn all the ways customers can shop and how to process payments. To be successful in this role, you’ll enjoy meeting a wide range of people and be motivated by completing a sale, knowing a customer is happy with their purchase. You must be keen to deliver quality service and always aim to exceed customers’ expectations.
Level 3
Customer Service Specialist
As a Customer Service Specialist, you’ll be an authority for customer support in your business. You’ll be an advocate for great customer service, acting as a referral point for dealing with more complex or technical customer requests, complaints, and queries. On this apprenticeship programme, you’ll become an expert in your brand’s products and services. You’ll also learn to collect and analyse customer data and information, using this to influence change and improvements in service.
Level 3
Business Administrator
Business Administrators have highly transferable knowledge, skills and behaviours that can be useful across many types of organisations. As a Business Administrator, you’ll be developing, implementing and improving administrative services to add value to a business. Your work will contribute to the efficiency of the organisation, by supporting functional areas, working across teams and resolving issues. You’ll also develop key skills to support your progression to management responsibilities.
Level 3
Fashion Studio Assistant
A Fashion Studio Assistant is a key position in the design team. Studying this apprenticeship, you’ll get experience in both the product and commercial sides of a brand. You’ll develop your understanding of how a design team functions and how a clothing collection is made, marketed and sold. You’ll start the programme in the studio, learning how collections are created. Then, you’ll spend 12 months in a more focused area of the business such as product development and production, sales and operations; or marketing and communications.
Level 3
Team Leader or Supervisor
Team Leaders or Supervisors have operational and project responsibilities and manage a team to deliver a clearly defined outcome for a business. They provide direction, instruction and guidance to ensure that business goals are achieved. Responsibilities can include supporting the team, managing team members and projects, planning and monitoring workloads and resources, delivering operational plans, resolving problems and building relationships internally and externally.
Level 3
Digital Marketer
A Digital Marketer creates and implements digital campaigns across a variety of online and social media platforms to drive customer acquisition, engagement and retention, and build brand awareness. A Digital Marketer works within a marketing team and assists with the overall marketing plan or campaigns, working to marketing briefs. They work across a variety of mediums, including social media platforms, email campaigns and SEO, and ensure that a brand’s digital marketing strategy is effective and adaptable.
Level 3
Travel Consultant
Travel consultants have a highly responsible role delivering a range of often complex travel arrangements, accommodation bookings and ancillary services to travellers. They help to ensure their travellers benefit from journeys, and time at their destination, that exceed their expectations.
This apprenticeship is a fantastic opportunity for those with some experience, or those new to the Travel industry, who would like to develop their skills and gain a qualification, as a Travel Consultant. The programme combines customer service skills with technical knowledge of travel planning, operations and legislation.
Level 4
Buying & Merchandising Assistant
Buying and Merchandising Assistants work together to create collections that meet brand sales and profit targets. On this apprenticeship programme, the buying modules teach you the skills to work alongside suppliers to select and purchase new products for a collection. The merchandising modules teach you to create and analyse product sales and performance reports. You’ll learn to identify trends and trading patterns, communicating your findings as needed.
Level 4
Retail Manager
Retail managers are in charge of creating a positive experience in their stores, so shoppers become loyal, repeat customers and ultimately help the brand achieve its sales targets. Studying this apprenticeship, you’ll develop your skills in business and people management, and use these to support the vision and objections of a brand. You’ll learn how to maximise income and minimise wastage within a retail store. You’ll also learn how to support a team of staff with their personal development, encouraging them to develop their own skills to further improve business performance and productivity.
Level 4
Data Analyst
Data analysis is essential for all fashion businesses, and a Data Analyst Apprenticeship will teach you how data can be used to answer questions and solve problems for brands. Data analysis is a process of gathering, cleansing, transforming and modelling data with the goal of discovering useful findings, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making. Data analysts play a crucial role in the evidence-based decision-making process, help organisations run more effectively, as well as ensure that security measures, GDPR and ethical responsibilities are all adhered to.
Level 4
Fashion & Textile Product Technologist
Product Technologists provide technical support throughout the product development process and ensure that products are created to the exact specifications required. They ensure that production instructions and patterns are in place and that the manufacturing of garments is completed to the best standard, on time, and within budget. Working with designers, buyers, merchandisers, pattern cutters, and production managers, Product Technologists will handle the technical and commercial elements of the product development cycle in a fast-moving environment.
Level 4
Retail Sustainability and Ethical Specialist
In a world where the future of fashion hinges on sustainability, we are proud to introduce the 'Retail Sustainability & Ethical Leadership Apprenticeship' - a transformative journey tailored specifically for the dynamic world of retail. This apprenticeship is designed to cultivate the next generation of retail leaders who are not only passionate about sustainability but also equipped with the business acumen and ethical insight necessary to drive meaningful change in the industry.
Level 5
Operations or Department Manager
Operations or Department Managers manage teams and projects and know how to achieve goals and objectives that are part of the organisation’s strategy. They support their team with personal objectives and develop their own skills in business and people management to support the goals of the business. Key responsibilities can include creating and delivering operational plans, managing projects, leading and managing teams, financial and resource management, talent management, and mentoring.
Level 6
Assistant Buyer/Merchandiser
As an Assistant Buyer or Merchandiser, you’ll have a deep understanding of your brand and customer. You’ll use this to source, maintain and deliver the right products to meet demand and business objectives. By developing your forecasting, risk analysis, creative and business skills, you’ll anticipate and shape market trends. The Buying pathway focuses on identifying and sourcing the right products and services for the organisation to sell to customers. The Merchandising pathway is all about making sure that the right products are available to customers in the right place, at the right time and in the right quantities.
Level 6
Coaching Professional for Retail
Tailored for retail leaders, this programme explores the theories behind leadership and management and then introduces practical exercises like setting goals, avoiding unconscious bias, and delivering feedback, to embed new ways of thinking.
Participants gain insights into their own emotional intelligence and ways to improve their communication skills. Integrating coaching with retail objectives, this program prepares leaders to create a high-performance team culture through a coaching style. It is ideal for managers to focus on retail-specific coaching techniques, including timely, in-the-moment coaching for immediate impact.
Level 7
Senior Leader
Senior Leaders set, manage and monitor the achievement of core goals that contribute to the objectives of their organisation, and ensure that these goals are achieved. They interact with stakeholders including team members, other senior leaders/managers, support services and project groups. Depending on the size of the organisation, a Senior Leader may handle reporting results relating to their area of responsibility to a Board, trustees, shareholders, executive team or to other senior management within the organisation.
THE ENTERTAINER Level 4 Buying and Merchandising Assistant
This is a fantastic entry-level role in the Merchandising team at the Head Office in Amersham. You will learn new knowledge, skills, and behaviours in areas such as Retail Business Environment, Planning and budgeting, Commercial Range Planning, and Trading.
Brand | THE ENTERTAINER |
Duration | 18 Months |
Course Assigned To | Buying and Merchandising |
Location | Amersham |
Salary | £ 25,000 |
Start Date | 27/11/2024 |
Closing Date | 24/11/2024 |
Age Group | 16+ |
M&S LEVEL 4 BUYING & MERCHANDISING APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMME
Spot the trends before they arrive and learn how to match customers with the products they love. This programme will put you right at the heart of our Clothing and Home team.
Brand | M&S |
Duration | 18 months |
Course Assigned To | BUYING & MERCHANDISING |
Location | London |
Salary | £24,500 |
Start Date | September 2025 |
Closing Date | January 2025 |
Age Group | 16+ |
If you haven’t found the Apprenticeship vacancy of your interest, please complete the form below. You'll be added to our database, and contacted when we have a vacancy which matches your interests.
Alternatively, you can search our full-time courses.
'The FRA are brilliant to work with. They have incredible support available for our students which means that not only do they get pastoral care as part of their work, but they also have a lot of support available to them from a studying perspective.'
- Katie, Talent Development Advisor at Harrods
The tutors that teach our learners make the effort to educate themselves about our business and learn about their students' roles. They deliver the apprenticeship content in a bespoke manner using relevant examples which relate to our learners. The tutors build great relationships with our learners and tailor the courses to their needs. They strive to encourage our learners to excel, and I am proud to say we have achieved fantastic apprenticeship results over the past 5 years.
Harrods Apprenticeship Programme
My experience so far has been great. It's been supportive from both sides, from the company side and from the FRA. It's been really good for networking as well.
Margarita
All Saints Apprenticeship
Learners have shown impeccable industry knowledge and independence throughout their learning journey. They thoroughly enjoy coming together for taught sessions at the FRA and find the content and tutors extremely informative.
TJX