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Authority record
Westminster Menswear Archive
Next
Corporate body · 1982-
British retailer Next was founded by the Leeds-based menswear company Hepworths (1864–1986). Responding to changes in UK clothing retailing in the early 1980s, the Hepworths Group purchased Kendall & Sons, a family-owned womenswear business, in 1981. The following year they recruited retail entrepreneur George Davies (b. 1941), alongside designers Conran Associates (design director John Stephenson came up with the name ‘Next’) to lead the project to transform Kendall & Sons into a new women’s fashion chain. The label was aimed at fashion-conscious women aged between twenty- four and forty-four; by May 1982, eighty stores had been completely redesigned, fitted out and stocked as Next. The label was hugely successful and in 1983 Davies was given the responsibility of the 350 Hepworths menswear stores, quickly deciding to replace them with a menswear version of Next. Next for Men launched in August 1984, the last Hepworths store closed in 1985, and the parent company of J. Hepworth & Son changed its name to Next plc in 1986. Next launched their mail-order business Next Directory in 1988 and in 2015 opened their 546th store.
Sources: Hepworth Mercury; George Davies, What Next? (London: Century, 1989); nextplc.co.uk.
Speedo
Corporate body · 1914-
The company was founded in Sydney, Australia by Alexander MacRae. He began by manufacturing knitted underwear and socks using the brand name 'Fortitude'. The company made their first swimwear range in 1927 with a racer-back design and began using the name 'Speedo' in 1928. Speedo swimsuits were first worn by competitive swimmers at the Olympic Games in 1932. Since the 1930s Speedo has made swimwear for racing as well as leisurewear and has pioneered technical advances in materials and designs which have often been controversial. The company was acquired by the Pentland Group in 1991.
Falmers
Corporate body · nd [1962-1998]
The company was founded in the early 1960s by Tom and June Easterford (they had met in 1955 working at the Lee Cooper factory in Harold Wood, Essex) but they left and began another business soon afterwards. By the 1970s Falmer Jeans were described as Britain's number one maker of jeans. They went into administration in 1998 and the brand name was purchased by Matalan.
Paul Harnden Shoemakers
Corporate body · 1985-
Originally from Canada, Paul Harnden moved to London in 1985 to study shoemaking. He trained at Cordwainers and John Lobb before establishing his own business and began designing clothing in the early 2000s.
Swallow
Corporate body · 1932-1990
Raincoat manufacturer, Birmingham.
Dirk Bikkembergs
Corporate body · 1985-

Fashion designer Dirk Bikkembergs (1962-) studied fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. He began Dirk Bikkembergs-Homme Co. in 1985 after serving in the army and working as a freelance designer. He was associated with the 'Antwerp 6', a group of designers with varying styles and individual design aesthetics who emerged from Belgium in the mid-1980s.

He became known for his footwear, especially his boots, and developed a design which removed the eyelet holes for laces and drilled a hole through the heel. He launched his first women's wear line in 1993.
Johnny Moke
Corporate body · 1984-2002
Johnny Moke was a label and shop at 396 King's Road, Chelsea which was started by Johnny Moke (John Joseph Rowley, 1945-2009). Moke had begun his career in fashion with Mick Oram selling antique clothes from the Granny Takes A Trip store on the King's Road in 1967. In the 1970s he began designing shoes and clothes, trading from different locations in Chelsea and Kensington Market before opening his eponymous shop in 1984 to sell his shoe designs. The store closed in 2002.
Highlander
Corporate body · 1985-
Highlander is an outdoor clothing company which was begun by Bahram Golzari in Edinburgh. He was a member of the university mountaineering club and took over an outdoor supply shop in the city when it was about to close down. Much of the gear supplied was military surplus but he began designing new gear under the name Highlander, reflecting Scottish mountaineering heritage. They have two main lines: outdoor for mountaineering, hiking and camping, and forces which is kit aimed at military force professionals.
Meridian
Corporate body · 1815-2000
Meridian was the trade mark of J. B. Lewis Ltd which was founded in 1815 by James Blount Lewis in Nottingham. Between 1911 and 1929 they had the UK rights to produce a new interlock knitted fabric which established them as a major underwear manufacturer. Various versions of their 'Meridian' and 'Meridian Double Lock' trade marks were registered between 1911 and 1954. In 1951 the company changed its name to Meridian Ltd to take advantage of the popularity of the Meridian trade mark. They were known for underwear, knitwear, leisure-wear, swimwear and jersey. The company was purchased by Courtaulds in 1963.
Weaver to Wearer
Corporate body · 1932-1977
Weaver to Wearer Limited was a multiple tailoring label, the retail division of manufacturers Town Tailors Ltd, established by Hector Mackenzie Frazer in about 1932. They had tailoring stores across the United Kingdom while the suits were made in factories in Leeds and Castleford. They were the cheapest of the Leeds-based multiples, for example during the 1930s they sold suits for 30 shillings, with a pair of shoes included. In 1954 they were taken over by GUS (Great Universal Stores) who also owned men's tailoring firms John Temple and Neville Reed. From the mid-1960s GUS turned many of the Weaver to Wearer stores into Neville Reed shops and the company was dissolved in 1977.