The History of Next Directory

The History of Next Directory

The history of Next Directory goes back to 1864 when Joseph Hepworth opened his tailoring company in Leeds called Joseph Hepworth & Son. By 1881 their factory employed 500 people and unusually for the time, they made all 3 pieces of a gentleman's three-piece suit. In the 1880's the began to sell direct to the public and by 1890 they employed 2,000 people and sold through 107 shops.

Hepworth's bought the fashion store Kendalls & Sons Ltd in 1982 to try and remarket themselves as a womanswear shop chain. The designer Terrance Conran was chairman of Hepworths at the time and it was his idea to tempt the designer George Davies to create the Next brand using the Kendalls outlets. The first stores were opened in 1982 and a year later all 80 shops were converted to the Next brand.

In 1985, mini department stores were introduced to sell women's, men's and children's fashion as well as Next Interior homeware products under the one roof. A year later the company changed it's name to Next plc and moved offices from Leeds to Leicester. They also bought the catalogue company Grattan then Combined English Stores a year later.

Next Directory launched in 1988 as a ground breaking mail order operation. Their 350 page hard back catalogue offered extensive collections for women, men and children aswell as great homeware products. The Next Directory website was launched in 1999 with the entire catalogue available online. Over the next 11 years the Next Directory online experience has expanded to include not only fashion & accessories and homeware but also electricals, flowers & wine and sports equipment.

Today, along with an expanding internet operation with over 2 million active customers, Next plc has more than 500 stores in the UK and over 170 franchise stores overseas. The Next Directory brand is synonomous with stylish, good quality merchandise at reasonable prices available on the high street or your pc.

Next Directory History