One year of SOMER

 News 

How graduates are benefiting from SOMER, a pioneering retail project from BSU, and how you can too

Monday, 1 June, 2026

SOMER is a sustainable fashion store, immersive learning environment and community space in central Bath, launched in June 2025 by Future Fashion Works from Bath Spa University.  

In its first year, SOMER has consolidated its place as an integral part of the business community in the South West and as a sustainable fashion and creative business incubator, supporting over 300 local creative businesses and graduates, 50% of whom are students, graduates, or alumni of Bath Spa University.   

Alongside boosting the local business community, SOMER has worked as a bridge between the University and local SMEs to create live briefs with sustainable fashion professionals and a range of BA and MA pathways at BSU, offering more ‘real life’ business experience and opportunities for students, and in turn connecting local businesses with BSU talent.  

Operating as a live public-facing retail and enterprise environment, SOMER enables students and graduates to engage directly with branding, merchandising, customer interaction and creative business development in real-world conditions, embodying BSU’s commitment to being the ‘Professionally Creative University for the future.’ 

Yuting Yan BA (Hons) Textiles Design for Fashion & Interior, 2022 

During her studies at BSU, Yuting Yan (Ting) launched her brand Manifest alongside her partner Rob Goulding, specialising in high-quality streetwear and custom digital embroidery for other businesses.   

Through SOMER, Manifest has increased its B2B business by 500% in the last six months, receiving large-scale bespoke embroidery commissions that include work for fashion brands, luxury perfume labels, merch for bands, and smaller projects with visual artists.   

Manifest also stocks its own line at SOMER, offering one-off upcycled embroidered streetwear to local fashion-lovers and the national and international tourists who pass through the store. Alongside sales, the brand receives valuable feedback on pricing and product development through direct engagement with customers and the SOMER team’s enterprise support model.

Next up, Manifest and SOMER are excited to announce a limited-edition line of caps for summer 2026. The first cap features SOMER’s tagline, ‘Fresh and Local’, and the second, 'Work in Progress’, which was designed by BSU graduate Islay Hardern.   

Islay graduated in 2025 from Creative Arts Practice. Pop into SOMER store to see the limited-edition collaboration now. 

Bo Fisher BA (Hons) Textiles, 2025  

The SOMER team met Bo, known creatively as Beeobo, at the Undergraduate Degree Show and commissioned an interactive Valentine’s window display. This display spanned the length of SOMER’s Georgian shop front on Bartlett Street, a busy thoroughfare to the historic Royal Crescent, and a destination in its own right for independent restaurants and stylish boutiques.   

The window activation named ‘Make a Mark on our Heart’, created in Bo’s signature joyful style attracted over 500 participants to write in playful pink marker pens ‘who, or what they love’  on the SOMER window for Valentine’s 2025, giving Bo a fun portfolio piece that helped define their style as an installation artist, and SOMER the most talked about window display in Bath.  

Projects such as this allow graduates to test creative ideas in a live, public environment, gaining hands-on experience in audience engagement, installation practice , and public-facing creative enterprise.

Lola Bennett  BA (Hons) Creative Arts Practice, 2023  and Grace Pyatt  BA (Hons) Creative Arts Practice, 2025  

When artists Lola Bennett and Grace Pyatt were looking for a venue for their ‘Anti-Christmas Goth Girl Market’, on the busiest Saturday before Christmas, the team at SOMER jumped at the chance to host them.   

Over the day, 1000+ students and local shoppers headed to SOMER to support the 10 graduates and students who set up their stalls to sell artisanal Christmas gifts on the mezzanine of the store, and the tooth gem pop-up studio they installed in the window. The collaboration resulted in one of the most profitable market days for some of the stall holders who took part, and a celebratory feel in store as ‘goth girls’ and SOMER’s shoppers mixed on the shopfloor.

Working with partners like BANES Council, Fashion Museum Bath and local schools, the team at SOMER reaffirm their commitment to being a part of a wider push to reimagine the local high street, retain creative talent in the South West, and create job opportunities for our graduates and the wider community.   

In just one year, SOMER has shown what happens when creative education steps beyond the classroom: ideas become products, students become practitioners, and a university becomes part of the fabric of its region. Through its combination of immersive learning, public engagement, sustainable enterprise and professional support, SOMER offers a compelling model for how creative education can deliver impact at a national level.