The 750 Anniversary Fund was established to mark 750 years of the Cordwainers Company. The Fund provides three grants of up to £1,500 annually, including one Stuart Weitzman Grant for a footwear designer. The application deadline for the current round is 1st March 2026.
The Fund can support recent graduates or individuals starting their footwear/leatherwork career to participate in work placements or internships, or footwear/leatherwork entrepreneurs to participate in training courses which will develop their professional skills and assist with the growth of their new business.
Funding available:
- Grants are available for recent graduates or individuals starting their footwear/leatherwork career to participate in work placements or internships. Grants can be used to cover necessary attendance costs for the work placement or internship, which can include travel costs, accommodation costs, etc.
- Grants are available for footwear/leatherwork entrepreneurs to participate in training courses which will develop their professional skills and assist with the growth of their new business. Training courses can be skill-specific (e.g. last making, leather buying, etc.), or can be business related (e.g. accounting, marketing, etc). Grants cannot cover core business costs.
750 Grant Application Pack
Application Form PDF
Application Form Word
For further information about the grant scheme, contact the Cordwainers’ Charity Manager: charity@cordwainers.org.
Footwear Education
The Cordwainers’ charities provide scholarships, bursaries and prizes to students of footwear and leather goods.
Footwear courses are offered in the UK at De Montfort University, London College of Fashion, the University of Northampton and Capel Manor College. In addition, the Company celebrates and promotes the work of footwear students through the annual Cordwainers Footwear Awards.
The Cordwainers have supported DMU students on the footwear design course since 2009. Recent grants have provided student travel costs for industry visits overseas and in the UK, support for summer internships, an employability development fund, design innovation awards and hardship funds.
London College of Fashion (LCF), part of University of the Arts, London
Cordwainers at LCF originated as an independent trade school. Founded in Bethnal Green in 1887, it was a joint project between the Worshipful Companies of Cordwainers and Leathersellers, the City and Guilds of London Institute and the Boot and Shoe Manufacturers’ Association. It became Cordwainers Technical College in 1913 and in 2000 merged with LCF, moving from Mare Street in Hackney to Golden Lane near the Barbican and, more recently, Stratford. Recent charitable grants have provided student prizes, a travel scholarship, hardship funds, work placement bursaries and support for the LCF Footwear Symposium workshops, seminars and showcases.
The Cordwainers support University of Northampton students on the fashion design courses who elect to specialise in footwear or leatherwork. Recent grants have supported internship awards, a student innovation fund, a guest speaker programme, a student portfolio development fund and an internship award.
The Cordwainers have supported the students taking the saddlery and leatherwork course at the Capel Manor College site in Enfield since the transfer of the course from the former Cordwainers College at Mare Street, Hackney, in 2000. The Cordwainers began supporting the students on an advanced diploma in shoemaking at the college in 2017. Recent charitable grants have provided student prizes, materials and tools funds, travel support and hardship funds.