Institute for Creative Leather Technology, 1893- | University of Northampton Archive

The beginnings of the Institute for Creative Leather Technology date back to 1893 when attempts were made to start a class of Technical instruction in Leather Manufacture at the Borough Polytechnic in South London, initiated by the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers. Evening lectures in the subject were organised at the Herold's Istitute. This building was lent to the Borough Polytechnic by the Governors of the Herold's Foundation under a clause in a scheme controlled by the Charity Commissioners. Further financial support from the Leathersellers' Company enabled the appointment of a director and some alterations to the building. In 1895 four evening classes were offered.

Further expansion followed and in 1898 the success of the school and its importance to the leather trade was recognised with the inauguration of a research scholarship. In 1908 the Leathersellers' Company built a college in Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey, London which was opened in 1909.

In the ensuing years the college became world famous for its training leather technologists. Between 1909 and 1951 the college was known firstly as the Leathersellers' Company Technical College and then as the Leathersellers' Technical College. In 1951 the college was established as the National College for the Leather Industry by the Minister of Education and was renamed the National Leathersellers' College. New extensions to the College were formally opened by the Minister of  Education in 1955.

By the 1970s changes in the leather industry meant that it became necessary to centralise and unify education and training. In 1976 the Secretary of State approved the establishment of a National Centre for Leather Education at Nene College, Northampton. The generosity of both the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers and Northampton County Council, who provided funding and land, together with the services of an architect, respectively, resulted in a new building to house the National Centre. In recognition of the support given to education by the Leathersellers' Company it was agreed to name the new building the National Leathersellers' Centre. September 1977 saw the merger of the National Leathersellers' College, London with Nene College to form, with the Department of Leather Manufacture, Nene College the Division of Leather Technology. May 1978 saw the opening of the new National Leathersellers' Centre by His Royal Highness, Prince Michael of Kent, an Honorary Liveryman of the Leathersellers' Company.

In 2019 the Centre on the University's former Park Campus closed as part of the University's relocation to its new Waterside Campus. The Institute for Creative Leather Technology (ICLT), as the centre is now called is housed in a newly built, two-storey, building which includes a tannery, testing and research laboratories, teaching spaces as well as rooms for commercial organisations to rent. The University maintains its links with external partners including the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers, the Leather Conservation Centre and  the National Leather Collection (NLC) which is also based in Northampton.