Principles (retailer) (original) (raw)

Principles was a UK-based fashion retailer founded in 1984. The firm was launched by the Burton Group (now Arcadia Group) as an attempt to capitalise on the new modern trends in fashion; the mid-1980s was the boom era for the yuppie, a new upmarket cultural movement, and power dressing was a key trend: at the time, the Group's ladies' fashion operations (chiefly Dorothy Perkins) were more mainstream and traditional. Principles was the first newly launched chain from the firm since Topman in 1978, with the majority of the company's growth over the years having come from acquisitions.