anyone remember when NEXT started..

[MaryAnnSingleton]

..and it was good ? they used to do great clothes and really good shoes (eighties I guess)

They had shops before the catalogue. Shops 1982, then Directory came along when I was in sixth form, so 1987 at least. Got a skirt for university interviews from 1st Next Directory!

Shame they are so pants now.

Love this thread! Major nostalgia. Next was the very height of aspirational shopping back in the day - I remember reading the first Next Directory and gazing in wonder at the stunning and totally unattainable stuff therein.

Fast forward a few decades and it's become cheap and utterly ubiquitous. Having said that, I think it is slowly pulling it's socks up. I have quite a few things from Next at the mo, and if you wear them with other stuff it can look reasonably original.

My (well paid) friend who only ever shops in budget stores still thinks that Next is a 'designer shop' , and wouldn't even go in there as to her it would be like shopping in Louis Vuitton or something. She gasps in delighted horror when her sister routinely dresses herself and her kids from Next.

Somebody really should also inform the old biddies in charity shops too - they seem to think that Next is some magic word that means they can charge £6 for a bobbly old top in off-cream. Hello! The 80's are OVER!!!

Yes I remember. Twas fab and a breath of fresh air after the likes of Chelsea Girl.

I remember it too and still have an original dress and jumper that I got in Glasgow. Great quality and washes well even now.

Used to have Next cafe's in them as well as hairdressers

i loved the catalogue in the late 80s, though i spent too much and had to close my account. always loved their 'physical' lol exercise wear.

I was a saturday girl in the Next in Ealing.. i was prob about 15 and was VERY proud. I got 75% discount on the clothes and a clothes allowance of about £100 each season.. I was very sophisticated . The shop had a cafe on 1st floor and I used to meet my school friends there on my break for a coffee . I was way cool in those days.. I sometimes go in there now (rarely) and am so disappointed in the drop in standards.. we once had an incident where someone would come in the shop and poo in the (mens) cords on a regualr basis.. the mens floor would find poo inside the trouser (usually after an unsuspecting customer had tried them on). then one day it stopped.. not sure if they ever found out who or why

Was def 1982, I had a saturday job there whilst I was at uni (much later than 82 I hasten to add!). The store where I worked was not a nice place to work. The DCs sometimes get bought things from there, and if I have ever gone to change something for another size I just hate having to go in there.

Do remember in school some girls thought it was the height if sophistication - lots of talk of the next sale and queueing in the early hours! Wonder if people still do that.

All their sporty stuff has EST 82 on it !

It was more boutiquey in the 80's. I had a tweedy short jacket with a leathery type collar and leather straps on the sleeves which tied into a double buckle.

Ahhh... memories. I remember when it opened, it was sooooo posh. Real corporate workwear, slightly expensive, but very very nice. This was when men started going out in "shirts" - cant remember what they wore before but you definitely wouldnt have worn a shirt out on a saturday night. All the clothes were massive back then too - I had some massive jackets with massive shoulder pads, and court shoes with a big bow on them.

When I complained about paying for their catalogue in store the other day the lady blamed M&S for starting it, but I remember Next being the first to charge for their catalogue. I would love to look thru their old ones, bet its hilarious.

Shame it is such a total pile of pants now. I never understand why people QUEUE round the block for the Next sale these days??

I was at school and had a tailored pair of wool tarten shorts and a lovely green cord jacket
Very nice