It was 1988 that NEXT Directory first launched a 350 page hard-backed catalogue, a catalogue that would change the face of UK mail order catalogues for the next 21 years. There was a substance to this catalogue missing from the stale and boring fashion and home shopping catalogues that came before. Innovative, stylish and glossy, the new Next Directory catalogue was photographed in the style of a Vogue or Harpers Bizarre and included top up-and-coming models like Karen Mulder, Yasmine Le Bon and actress Uma Thurman.

The directory was the brain child of the Next CEO George Davies, and it promised to bring high quality stylish fashion with delivery in 48 Hours. However, the Next Directory was not an instant commercial success. It only began to show signs of commercial success 4 years later in 1992 when NEXT directory and Next retail merged offering the same high quality and well designed fashion in the catalogue and the high street.

The current CEO of Next, Simon Wolfson said recently "For the first three or four years, it didn't make money. What went wrong was a divergence from the Next retail chain, which was a must-go destination on hundreds of high streets all over the country. Next Directory had the same spirit, the same quality, but was more fashionable, less accessible." This is still the same in Next Directory's current summer collection, inspired by Woodstock, it has a hippy vibe to it with embroidered folk-tops with fringed and tasselled accessories.

Next Directory has expanded every year since 1988 and added new fashion categories for women, men and children as well as homeware and furniture, sports clothing, electrical and flowers.

In 1992 the online directory was launched to enable Next Directory to be browsed on the internet.

There are now more than 140 Next retail stores around the world and more than 2 million active customers and the success of Next Directory can be directly attributable to the high quality catalogue they launched 21 years ago.