Hepworths

• Joseph Hepworth & Son

Hepworths was a Leeds-based multiple tailor specialising in the manufacture and retailing of men's tailored outerwear. The company was started in 1864 by Joseph Hepworth (1834-1911) when he established a woollen drapers' business with his brother-in-law in Briggate, central Leeds. Shortly afterward Hepworth went into wholesale clothing manufacture on his own and expanded rapidly, moving into retail in the 1880s so they could sell their tailoring direct to the public.

Along with another Leeds-based company Blackburn, Hepworths were pioneers of the multiple tailoring model of menswear. Multiple tailors specialised in made-to-measure tailoring (though they also made and sold ready-to-wear). Men would go to one of the hundreds of high street shops owned by the company and be measured for a suit based on the catalogues and fabric samples provided. The details were then sent to the company's factory where the suit was hand cut by a tailor and machined (either in Leeds or elsewhere in the north of England). The completed suit was then collected from the shop a few weeks later.

The period after the First World War saw rapid expansion with Hepworths increasing their branches from 250 in 1926 to 313 in 1945. The company changed its strategy from the late 1940s dropping outfitting and concentrating on quality made-to-measure tailoring. In the early 1960s Hepworths innovated by contracting couturier Hardy Amies to design a range for them. This began a hugely successful partnership which lasted until the late 1970s.

After significant turmoil in the British clothing industry during the 1970s Hepworths innovated again in 1981 by working with George Davies and Conran Associates to launch a label aimed at fashion-conscious young women. Named Next, the first shops were opened at the beginning of 1982 and quickly attracted consumers. Just two years later, in 1984, Hepworths launched Next for Men which also marked the beginning of the end of Hepworths as in 1985 the last of the 350 Hepworths stores closed. By this point the company had completely rebranded as Next and had relocated all of their head office operations from Leeds to Leicester.