Clothing Technology and Management
This Bachelor of Engineering degree course in Clothing Technology and Management is designed to provide students with a broad base of knowledge and skills for the diverse range of potential career challenges that await them in the clothing sector after graduation.
Trained engineers have a role in developing innovative products and technologies for the industry. This course teaches the tools of the trade for the entire process, from sample and pattern production, developing novel products and technologies, and cost-conscious systems for the industry, to coordinating fashion buying, production and sales.
Your future career
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Engineers specialising in clothing technology and management contribute their technical, business and organisational skills to the realisation of fashion, textile and costume designers’ creative ideas. They are the ones who turn a unique sample into a production-ready garment, carry out quality control, and supply the logistical support that creative processes within the sector can’t do without.
Graduates of this degree course are ideally suited to roles in clothing product development, process planning, management and review, quality control, HR, capacity and delivery planning and costing, management, marketing, purchasing, sales, industrial engineering and data processing. Sectors where they are in demand include the textile and clothing industries, trade and retail, suppliers to these industries, and education. Their day-to-day work might involve product management, overall technical operations or departmental management, providing advisory and consultancy services to suppliers around applications engineering in computer-assisted packaging, finishing or sewing and ironing technologies, acting as independent industrial consultants, or running their own businesses.
Course content and structure
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This Bachelor’s degree course is seven semesters in duration and centres on skills for applying scientific knowledge in clothing technology to the design and development of innovative products and technologies for the sector.
The course’s first year mainly revolves around the teaching of key principles in science and engineering, textile chemistry, clothing technology, occupational and business studies.
In their second year, students expand their knowledge and skills by exploring the areas of product development and realisation, textile finishing and clothing physiology, the workings and applications of technical equipment used in the field, economic considerations, and methodologies for the development of suitable process control systems in the textile chain.
The course’s fifth semester is taken up by an internship in a clothing-sector business, which represents an opportunity for students to apply and advance their knowledge and skills.
The required elective modules taken in the final two semesters allow students to specialise in the following areas, in accordance with their career interests:
- Textile science
- Innovative concepts around clothing
- Technical textiles
- Textile colouring and finishing
- Product data management
- Business administration
Students complete the course by writing their Bachelor thesis.
Your interests and skills
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You should be passionate about fashion and keen to solve technical, organisational and business challenges. You’ll do best if you enjoy working with other people and have an open-minded, cosmopolitan attitude towards other cultures.
Interested – but not quite sure yet whether this is the right course for you? Our self-assessment test can help you make up your mind. Take it here: HAW Navigator
Admission requirements
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Higher education entrance qualification
You can apply directly for this course if you hold one of the following qualifications:
- Fachhochschulreife
- Allgemeine Hochschulreife
- Fachgebundene Hochschulreife (subject-specific HE entrance qualification)
- Meister*in (vocational qualification – master tradesperson)
- Fachwirt*in (certified specialist)
Applicants who do not hold a higher education entrance qualification but have completed vocational training (Berufsausbildung) and at least three years of subsequent work experience can apply under Section 38 of the Hamburg Higher Education Act, which sets out special provisions for these applicants (Besonderer Hochschulzugang für Berufstätige).
Find out more atAdmission requirements for a Bachelor's degree.
Pre-course experience
We do not require you to have completed pre-course experience for this course.
International applicants
If you completed your schooling outside Germany and want to study here for a Bachelor’s degree, you need to hold an academic school-leaving qualification which entitles you to admission to higher education; that is, it needs to be comparable to a German Abitur or Fachhochschulreife. The organisation uni assist will check your certificates from school and any degree-level studies to establish comparability. Please note that you are also required to have proof of German at level C1 – for example, in the form of a TestDaF certificate – in order to apply for all Bachelor's degree courses (except Information Engineering and International Business).
You can find more information about HAW Hamburg’s application criteria at International applicants.
Application process
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We only accept online applications. Before applying, applicants must register with www.hochschulstart.de. Applications can be submitted between 1 December and 15 January for the following summer semester. This course does not have a winter semester intake.
You can find more information about the application process here: Applying for a Bachelor's degree course. This is also where you can access the online application system during the application period.
More information (in German) about the numerus clausus process and the minimum grades accepted for admission in recent semesters is provided at Applying for a Bachelor's degree course / Selection criteria.
Applications from international applicants should likewise be submitted online during the relevant application period.
We’ve prepared a step-by-step checklist to guide you through the process: International applicants
Questions about selecting a course, applications, admissions and degree courses
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Applications and admissions
Student Admissions and Registration Office (Studierendensekretariat)
Stiftstraße 69, 20099 Hamburg (ground floor)
T +49.40.428 75-9898
studierendensekretariat (at) haw-hamburg (dot) de
Contact us with your questions about applications and admissions
The Information Point is open at the following times:
Monday–Thursday: 10:00 am–1:00 pm
Friday: closed
In-person office hours:
Thursday: 2:00 pm–4:00 pm
Telephone office hours:
Monday and Tuesday: 9:00 am–10:00 am
For general queries about HAW Hamburg degree courses and course choice
Student Counselling Team (Zentrale Studienberatung)
Stiftstraße 69, 1st floor, room 122
20099 Hamburg
T +49 40 42875 9110
Contact form
Office hours
Contact person for applicants with disabilities or chronic health conditions
Meike Butenob/Dieter Röh
Stiftstraße 69, Haus 3, room 37
Tel. +49.40.428 75-7220
inklusion (at) haw-hamburg (dot) de
Contact the department
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Specifically subject-related queries
Student advisory service
Prof. Dr. Patrick Lorer
Armgartstraße 24, room A310, 22087 Hamburg
T +49 40 42875-4733
patrick.lorer(@)haw-hamburg.de