When The Glovers Company was formed it was essentially a trade association; by the 20th century the connection with the trade had all but disappeared, and separate organisations fulfilled this role, with ever-increasing links to the Livery.
The National Association of Glove Manufacturers (NAGM) was formed in 1941 under the presidency of Ralf Southcombe of Southcombe Bros Ltd. Its principal objectives were to "foster the welfare of the Glove Manufacturing Trade generally, and to enhance its prestige", to promote the amicable working of the industry and to represent its members at national level in dealings with the government and employees' organisations, including the negotiation of a national agreement for terms and conditions of employment." Its members were drawn from both the industrial and dress glove trades and, at their peak, totalled in excess of a hundred manufacturers and their suppliers.
The Glove Guild of Great Britain (GGGB) was formed around 1965 and was essentially an association of wholesalers, importers and high street retailers whose main objective was to promote the sale of dress gloves. To this end, it organised a number of regular promotional events, including glove fairs, the naming of an annual "Glove Personality", and an annual student glove design competition. John Meier, of Speciality Gloves Ltd, was the Guild's long-serving President from 1973 until 1998.
The NAGM remained a robust trade association until the end of the 1980s when the economic climate changed forever. In 1972 there had been over fifty members in the industrial glove section alone, whilst ten years later in 1982, there were still over sixty members in the association as a whole; however, the deep economic recession in the early 1980s which caused permanent damage to UK manufacturing, combined with the increasing tide of low cost imports of both industrial and fashion gloves from the Far East meant that, by 1993, membership had dropped to a mere two dozen full members and half a dozen associate (supplier) members.
A decline in membership of the GGGB over the same period meant that, by the mid 1990s, it had become impractical and uneconomic for either organisation to continue independently, and with several key players in the industry being members of both organisations, amalgamation seemed the obvious solution to the problem of falling membership; negotiations commenced in late 1996 under the aegis of The Glovers Company, acting through the Master, Alan Fishman, and were concluded in early 1998 when the British Glove Association (BGA) was formed. The Immediate Past Master, Michael Down, was appointed as its first President at its inaugural meeting in April of that year, handing over to Assistant Roderick Morriss at the 2001 AGM.
During the 2000s the number of gloves made in the UK continued to reduce, and imports continued to rise; membership of the BGA reduced to 14 (virtually all the major players in the industry), many of whom were also members of other trade associations more relevant to their specific areas of glove manufacture. The BGA was failing to provide any unique advantages to its members, expenditure exceeded subscription income, so it was agreed at an Extraordinary General Meeting held on 14 July 2010 under the presidency of Past Master John Spanner (who had taken over from Roderick Morriss in May 2006) that the BGA be dissolved at the end of 2010, with its small amount of residual funds being gifted to The Glovers Company for use in glove-related projects.
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