Shoreditch Technical Institute Girls Trade School Shoreditch College for the Garment Trades Shoreditch College for the Clothing Industry

Shoreditch Technical Institute Girls Trade School Shoreditch College for the Garment Trades Shoreditch College for the Clothing Industry

Shoreditch Technical Institute founded a Girls Trade School in 1906 to train girls for the garment trades. The school offered trade courses in dressmaking, embroidery and upholstery and was set up by the London County Council Technical Education Board. During the nineteenth century both skilled men and women employed in the clothing industry earned their trade through an apprenticeship, but by the end of the century the system was not training sufficient workers and trade schools were established to provide more skilled labour.

Pupils were taken from the age of 12 following elementary education, and were trained for two years to work primarily in London's West End couturier houses and hair salons. Women were employed in the ready-to-wear trade centred on London's East End, or in the fashionable dressmaking and allied trades in the West End based around the South Kensington and Oxford Street areas. Women working in this area were highly skilled, and the early needle-trade schools in London, including Shoreditch, trained women for this high quality couture work. Almost all pupils obtained employment on completion of their courses. All pupils followed a curriculum that was two-thirds trade subject and one-third general education. Following the success of the full time courses the school started to run a variety of day release and evening courses for women already working in the trade. The school worked very closely with the trades and had consultative committees that were almost exclusively made up of members from the industries. These committees advised in the suitability of courses for the prevailing employment conditions in the clothing industry at the time, and courses were introduced or adapted accordingly. For example, with the developments in clothing mass production the consultative committees introduced further wholesale classes at Shoreditch

The 1944 Education Act required pupils to continue full time general education until 15 and gave Shoreditch technical college status. The junior courses were discontinued and senior courses expanded. Management courses were introduced. Shoreditch merged with Clapham Trade School and became Shoreditch College for the Garment Trades in 1955, including men on their courses. Renamed Shoreditch College for the Clothing Industry in 1966, the college amalgamated with Barrett Street Technical College (formerly Barrett Street Trade School) in 1967 to form the London College for the Garment Trades, later renamed the London College of Fashion.