The current director of the TRC (as of 2020) is Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, a textile and dress historian.

In particular, the TRC specialises in dress - what people wear in order to express their identity - and pre-industrial textile technology.

Many of the garments were obtained during fieldwork by TRC staff and students, whilst others were purchased or given as donations.

It now organises a series of exhibitions, lectures, workshops and training courses for students and others who are interested.

The veils in the TRC collection, for instance, were used for a major exhibition at the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden (1996), and for various publications, including Covering the Moon: An Introduction to Middle Eastern Face Veils.