Sarah Lees

Sarah Lees

Department: Fashion Marketing

Office/Location: O1.57a

Telephone:

Email: selees@cardiffmet.ac.uk

Staff Overview

​​​​​​A vibrant lecturer with diverse market experience within the fashion industry, leading industry practice across modules with industry linked collaborative practice live briefs , internship and work placement driving employability and work experience across courses. 

Sarah evokes an individual student-centred approach and encourages enquiring minds to explore the ever-changing fashion arena. 

With 20 years of fashion industry experience started in her early career as a fashion designer at Stirling Cooper, the innovative high street retailer of the early 90’s, pioneering high street collaboration with emerging designers such as Bella Freud and Nicholas Knightly. 

Later with Jeffrey Rogers and independent brand Naughty which took her sourcing experience around the world gaining in-depth manufacturing knowledge for the UK and European customer base driving product adaptability to diverse market levels within branded global retail. 

Experience gained abroad with Germany and Hong Kong head office at Esprit de Corp as senior designer & product developer before returning to the UK to work with Warehouse, Jane Norman, George, and independent brands. 

Sarah’s latter career as a fashion buyer developed business strategy at Monsoon, New Look and Peacocks, leading the value retailers first designer collaboration with Pearl Lowe and marketing campaign with Daisy Lowe. 

Incorporating lectures while in practice since 2008 and her own academic study graduating with a Master of Research degree from Goldsmiths in 2014.

Sarah’s passion for diverse market retail strategy operations combined with her focus on the need and care to educate sustainable fashion inspires students to emerge into the exciting fashion industry aware of its evolving roles that encompass concepts to reality. 

Awarded Fellow of the HEA in 2017 continuing professional study for the next generation of learners. 

Fashion is ever changing and future thinking.

Teaching

  • ​Senior Lecturer Fashion Marketing and management and Fashion Buying and brand management 

  • Senior Lecturer MSc Fashion Marketing

  • Module leader Principles of Fashion L4

  • Module leader Fashion in Practice L5

  • Module leader Sustainability and Responsibility in Fashion L6

  • Module leader Fashion buying/ Fashion Marketing Projects L6

  • Module leader; Fashion marketing Internship L7

  • Module leader; Fashion Marketing Plan L7 seminar and workshops

  • Introduction to Fashion L4

  • Sustainability and responsibility in Fashion L6

  • Multi-channel fashion Marketing L7 Supervision

  • Fashion buying/ Fashion Marketing Projects L6

  • MSc Fashion Marketing Plan L7

Research

  • By the Fire -contributor of a combined research group of educators ‘by the fire’ a focus group of sustainable fashion educators, renowned fashion sustainability authors and campaigners conducting shared research into the challenges around sustainable fashion education. Ongoing contributor.

  • MRes design at Goldsmiths with the specialism drawn from Sarah’s ‘on the ground’ knowledge in the fashion industry and the impact to sustainable practice, this research masters entitled’ Collaborative Transformers’ whereby the concept of ‘care’ is used as a model to investigate an evolving sustainable fashion direction. The study investigates designers and the fashion practitioners from education, design practice and business strategy outlining the need for a paradigm shift of consciousness in order for positive change to be implemented.​

Key Publications

Other Projects and activities

​Member of Schumacher Institute

Validation External Panel; Conde Nast Fashion College

External Links

​A member and academic contributor to Wales Sustainable Clothing and Textiles group;  SCT.Cymru. 

Skills Cymru, Visual Merchandising competition Judge 2017-2023​