Remember when Next used to sell good quality clothes?

[peaceanddove]

I was browsing eBay and looking at vintage 90s Next & Laura Ashley clothes. On a whim I bought a cream, knitted cotton jumper with a roll neck, from Next. It's just arrived. OMG it is such good quality. It's really heavy but soft and just looks like a very good quality sweater. Love it.

Also, was thrilled to spot a candy floss pink, fluffy sweater from Laura Ashley circa 1995. Thrilled because DH bought me the said same sweater Xmas '95, and I loved it so much. Until I shrunk it Again, the quality is just amazing, so heavy, soft, seams properly finished.

It's made me so nostalgic for when the high street sold good quality clothes.

I remember when River Island opened in our town around 1990. It was the classiest shop in town. Polished wooden floors, fresco style art on the walls, jazz music playing. So different. Then while my kids were small 10 years later I was skint and didn’t go proper clothes shopping for myself for a few years. But I DO remember the first time I went back into a River Island. I thought I’d walked into Ann Summers - it looked like a clothes shop made for women of the night. .

@CurlyhairedAssassin totally agree about River Island, I have always been too old to shop in there!

Simon Wolfson, who owned Next voted to slash Child Tax Credits and against a living wage.
Sorry for the mirror post.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/11-millionaires-who-voted-tory-6713773

@JingleCatJingle That is surprising, if he is part of the Woodson family.

Gah, autocorrect! I mean, Wolfson family. They were big philanthropists.

I remember buying from Next (1984) a dark purple wool skirt (and also the black one) with 2 small splits at the back and very small pockets, with a lilac high neck blouse for an interview, I could not afford the jacket! Got the job they lasted for ages. Also plenty holiday clothes and my all time fav a blue spatter shirt, in a fantastic cotton. You could get the matching skirt and it also came in green.

I still have a 'Opera' at Richards beaded evening top, fantastic quality.

But really in the '80's Principles was my goto shop, god I spent a fortune every pay day there, I remember the very swish (well at the time) bags with the square logo on. I still have some items, sadly I am no longer a size 8!

We used to have a Dewhursts clothing factory near where Ilived, they made M&S clothes and had seconds days, bun fight it always was with dozens of women undressed trying things on....

Sad now quality had all but disappeared

I bought a perfect black shift dress from Next in about 1996. If I was a stone lighter, I'd still be wearing it. It washes in the machine, hangs to dry, doesn't need ironing and still looks great. My adult daughter wears it now. I've never found a dress that fitted so well. It felt expensive at the time, about £40, but has certainly earned its keep. I think that I have got used to spending very little on clothes. I don't know what the equivalent price would be now, but I think I would baulk at paying more than £50 for a work dress so maybe that is the problem.

I also remember when Next clothes were really good quality.

The same has happened to Jack Wills, the most recent items I bought were a sweatshirt that bobbled after the first wash and a pair of socks that have developed holes in both socks after the fifth wear. Ditto for GAP long sleeved cotton t-shirts, used to be a staple buy for me, now bobbly and cheap looking.

My new find is Uniqlo t-shirts which wash brilliantly and keep their shape.

@Splodgetastic he may be from a family of philanthropists, but he’s a Conservative. He voted to cut tax credits and is pro-Brexit.
Andrew Lloyd-Webber flew in from New York to vote to cut tax credits.

Here’s an article from the Independent.
This was only 5 years ago:
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tax-credits-some-britain-s-most-prominent-millionaires-among-peers-supporting-cuts-house-lords-a6711591.html

Next always seemed a little out of my reach when I was a teenager.

I remember loafers from Next were really popular, they were oxblood or black.

These days it’s cheap and full of polyester.

No, it had a high collar and long sleeves, with a deep split up the back.

Sorry, my above comment was to Polyexna.

@OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow

Me and dh loved Next, we felt so grown up. I had a black blazer and red pencil skirt which was my go to interview and looking smart out fit. I still have a Chanel style suit in black ribbed fabric that has a half ruffled peplum at the back. Dd wears it sometimes. I bought so much on trend baby wear from there, when baby wear was strictly gendered. I longed for a navy striped outfit with a matching hat for my son. It was always out of stock. Remember phoning up with your order?

In the 90s I used to order so much from the directory that I can still remember my customer number, 20 years later

I remember saving up to buy a jumper from Next in 1990. It was wool, fair Isle and the softest warmest jumper I ever owned. It cost £45 and lasted for years. I don't think it's possible to buy a 100% wool jumper in Next these days, and you be hard pushed to spend as much as £45 on any jumper there either.

Annoyingly, the M&S men’s collection still has good Italian wool suiting. Menswear seems less vulnerable to cheapness.

Ooh WingBingo that brought back memories! Those loafers were great quality and I think I remember having the dark red ones.

Yes, Next used to be great back in the day. I had a dark red ‘bodycon’ dress with buttons at the back and little shoulder pads; it was lovely and wouldn’t look that dated now. These days I wouldn’t darken the door of a Next - the clothes are unrecognisable, and I sort of see them in the same light as Primark.

I can recall the 80s being a time when it was hard for me to afford new clothes because they were actually quite expensive. I’d have to wait for sales and shop in charity shops (and there were fewer of those back then). There’s something wrong with looking back and thinking how much more expensive things were back in the day, but it’s true. Lots of clothing was still made in the UK and, I suspect, the conditions for workers were better too.

I do feel compelled to add that, although the quality was much better in the 80s/90s, a lot of the high street was - at least as I remember it - really quite dull.

I would say the heyday for shoppers was the late nineties/ early noughties. Manufacturing had moved overseas and the rot was setting in but not yet too noticeable. For a few years we had Top Shop knocking it out of the park with their catwalk dupes and Zara coming to the UK and shaking things up while, at the other end of the high street, Hobbs and Jigsaw quality was still high, French Connection were selling brilliant trousers and everyone I knew bought their wedding outfits at Monsoon.

That's how I remember things, although memory can be dodgy. It was a house of cards to be sure, nevertheless I have to say, enormous fun the likes of which we'll probably see again.

Whoops - we'll probably never see again,

And yes, as Craftycorvid says, clothes were much more expensive in real terms in the 80s. I had a fairly decent job but I had to save up even to buy basics. I used to buy a lot of second hand clothes and also make some of my own; I've now gone back to doing both albeit for different reasons.

As said above, men's clothes don't seem to have deteriorated as much in quality. Go upstairs in Marks and there are cotton shirts, merino wool sweaters, well cut trousers and jackets. In the summer I was struggling to find nice cotton clothing. Or stuff that wasn't see through.

Lovely shoes and belts. I spent a small fortune on the first few next directories. You could pay in installments like the freemans catalogue.

Yes I do! I joined a graduate trainee scheme in 1982 which was when Next started and I used to really admire and desire their clothes. They had bought the Kendall (?) rainwear shops for their first branches. The quality was outstanding especially for work clothes. Absolute rubbish these days.

I loved Next when it started. I lived overseas then, and used to time visits home for their sales, having admired my sister's Next outfits. When I moved back, I remember especially fondly a pair of black velvet jodhpurs I bought for a date to see the premiere of The Colour of Money at the NFT, with some black and gold ballet slippers.

CurlyHairedAssassin, yy to River Island

In the late 80s I got the loveliest tea dress of all time in there - I used to love the fixtures and fittings and the music, it were right classy Dreadful tat now

Next was my go-to for workwear staples up until my dc were born (mid noughties) I went back a few years later and it had changed