The institution was originally established in 1921 as a weaving school at Narinda, Dhaka, during the British colonial rule, to provide specialized technical education in the fields of textile by offering artisan-level courses. It used to go by the name "British Weaving School". A while later, it took the name "East Bengal Textile Institute" only to offer diploma courses in textile manufacturing process. In 1957, The institute was transferred to its present campus at Tejgaon Industrial Area and set its foundation stone by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In 1960, it started academic activities renamed as "East Pakistan Textile Institute". In the post-liberation era of Bangladesh, in 1971, the institute was renamed as "Bangladesh Textile Institute". Afterward, in 1978, the institute launched a four-year period bachelor's degree program in textile technology in affiliation with University of Dhaka and re-branded itself as "College of Textile Engineering and Technology". Initially, intake was only 60 per year and more than 4,800 textile engineers and technologists have graduated from this institution since the introduction of bachelor's degree course. The envolved college of textile engineering and technology was run under the administrative control of the Bangladesh education ministry through Directorate of Technical Education which offered Bachelor of Science in textile technology and in textile management courses as a constituent college of the University of Dhaka. The Government of Bangladesh took initiatives to upgrade the College of Textile Engineering and Technology into a full-fledged university. After receiving a formal consent from the President of Bangladesh to fulfill that purpose, the "Bangladesh Textile University Act, 2010" (Act no. 49, 2010) was passed by the Bangladesh national assembly on 5 October 2010. The act was made effective from 22 December 2010 as per SRO No. 395-law/2010 date 20 December 2010 of the Ministry of Education, Bangladesh. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, officially inaugurated the revamped institution with its present naming scheme on 15 March in next year.