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The beginnings of Next were in 1980 when the Leeds multiple tailoring group Hepworths decided to expand into women's fashion. They purchased the Leicester-based womenswear chain Kendalls and then approached fashion retailer George Davies to work on the proposal. From early 1981 Davies and Conran Associates developed the new label and retail design 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.

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.

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.

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.

Raincoat manufacturer, Birmingham.

Italian label from the 1980s and 1990s. Advertising for the label dates from around 1983 to the 1990s and it was manufactured by Reflections [Diffusion] Srl, advertised as available from their showroom at Corso di Porta Vigentina, 6, Milano. Reflections also manufactured for labels such as Martine Sitbon. Piero Panchetti was stocked by the Woodhouse chain of shops in the UK in 1985 and Joe Casely-Hayford worked for Piero Panchetti as a freelance creative director in the late 1980s, early 1990s.