Skinners dealt in skins for fur garments. Their role was mainly that of the wholesaler and retailer of furs as well as manufacturer of apparel. Dressing of skins was performed by a separate craft of tawyers which later was absorbed by the Skinners' Company. In the Middle Ages the wearing of furs was rigidly controlled, being allowed only for the adornment of royalty, nobility and persons of wealth and importance. Vestiges of its use as a mark of distinction may still be seen in the fur trimming of mayoral and aldermanic robes and on other ceremonial gowns.

Owing to the importance attached to fur, the Company of Skinners attained a prominent place in civic life at an early date, and was among the first of the incorporated companies of the City, having received its first charter on 1st March 1327. It is now numbered among the Great Twelve companies, sharing with the Merchant Taylors the sixth place in order of precedence. One of the most notable of the Company's present-day affivities is the governing of Tonbridge School, founded by a former Skinner in the sixteenth century.

early form of arm, A.D. 1502/3,
from the Book of Assumption
(Skinners' Company MS.)

Furs made from the skins of lynx and marten (termed as lizard and sable) were much prized. An act of Henry Vlll's reign', prohibited the wearing of " furres of sables " by any man " under the state of an erle ", and similar, though rather wider provisions were made for " furres of blake jenettes or luserns". Other regulations had been made from time to time in order to discourage the presumptuous from assuming the guise of nobility of which furs and other attire were the outward sign.

Reference: The Armorial Bearings of the Guilds of London, Bromley and Child, 1960, Frederick Warne & Company Limited
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THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF DRAPERS
The primary importance of the cloth trade caused it to develop early into separate crafts or misteries, and the monopoly of the retail sale of cloth was confirmed to the mystery of drapers by a charter of 1364. This was not a charter of incorporation but merely empowered the Mistery of Drapery to govern itself and ordained that none should sell cloth within the City and suburbs of London except drapers free of the said mistery.
Functions of the mistery included ensuring the accurate measurement of cloth sold at cloth fairs in London, and the appointment of the keeper of Blackwell Hall that was founded in 1397 as a market for the sale of woollen cloth. On 30th November 1438 the mistery was incorporated as a perpetual community by the name of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary of the Drapers of London.
The grant of a common seal which was a necessary accompaniment to incorporation led the Company to seek its patent of arms in the following year. A succession of charters down to the reign of James 1 confirmed the Company's powers.

Imperial crowns from the painting in the margin of the 1439 grant
While retail sale of cloth was originally the predominant interest of members of the guild, the tendency grew, as it did in other leading companies, for the more wealthy members to become general merchants who traded in all kinds of commodities both at home and overseas. By the seventeenth century the company was composed of men of numerous callings, for even among the humbler members there were many who pursued affinities other than drapery.
The company now has little direct connection with the drapery trade but devotes considerable sums towards technical and general education. It ranks third in precedence among the Great Twelve livery companies.

Reference: The Armorial Bearings of the Guilds of London, Bromley and Child, 1960, Frederick Warne & Company Limited