The Shirley Institute was established in 1920 as the British Cotton Industry Research Association as a research centre dedicated to cotton production technologies. The Institute invented Ventile and developed the tog measure of thermal resistance.

In 1961 the association merged with the British Rayon Research Association to form the Cotton, Silk and Man-Made Fibres Research Association. In 1989 it merged with the Wool Industries Research Association to form the British Textile Technology Group.