When did M&S clothing get bad?

[DisappointedDolly]

Just ordered over £200 of ‘autumny’ clothing from M&S website.

Crikey, the styling & quality is crap! I’m sooo disappointed with about 90% of it!

Ive ordered 2 black thermal vests… despite being XL ( I’m not, but I wanted to tuck them in) they are skimpy, thin and barely tuck in, straps are really thin as well, I wouldn’t describe them as XL at all. I’d be surprised if they last the winter. My original one from M&S is around 19 years old… & still good.☹️

A dk brown long sleeve top - the best thing! Lovely fit, long enough in the body, good strong colour. Come in lots of colours so will be getting some more.🙂

A mid brown 2in1 top.. hells bells… it’s tiny! Weirdly wide at the shoulders, far too short in the body, just horrible. Thing is, made properly to fit a human, it would be great.☹️

A cotton sweatshirt, with some sort of tie-neck 🤷‍♀️ hmmm… really thick material, but again, short in the body. I’ve washed it and shook it out but I’ve a feeling it’ll be ruching up when dry. ☹️ £36!

Is this how it is now with M&S, I’ve always thought highly of them, but I’ve had better stuff off Amazon!
Even their knickers are thinner than ever, and barely last 12 months.

Im just really disappointed. Anyone else find this with them?

Short in the body will presumably be the style, not a flaw. Colleagues in the office wear tops noticeably shorter than I would choose.

It's best to shop in person really, although garment length should be on the website.

M&S has been getting great reviews recently, but that doesn't mean you have to agree of course.

I still buy their bras and knickers.

The majority of their fashion is what I term 'old lady' fashion. Though being an 'old lady' myself and seldom seeing anything I would be tempted to buy, I think I term it wrongly.
A for the length of some of their trousers and dresses, I am 5'8'', which is quite tall, and they are way too long on me.

I was planning a trip to M & S this weekend as I've seen a lot of nice looking stuff on Instagram where posters try on the new season clothes

So i can't speak to that just yet but nothing I've bought recently hs been as bad as you've described. Maybe you've been unlucky in your choices, i never buy online so no issue if i take something i don't like to the changing room

The decline started around 2000, when the majority of clothing ceased to be made in the UK.
Undoubtedly it’s kept prices down, but I’m old enough to remember when the M & S brand was synonymous with quality.
There are some lovely items in store now but you cannot depend on the fit - varies hugely across the range - and many of the fabrics aren’t great.
Thankfully they seem to have ditched the “add some lace and embroidery “ policy that so many of their clothes featured a while back !
Grumpy old woman here …..

Thanks for your replies!🌸

I, too, am old and grumpy😉
I’d expect not to love the ‘fashion’ aspect of their stuff, but these were basics really. Just real poor quality and skimpy.
I can’t really try anything on in store as there’s only a Simply Food by me, so it’s online or not at all.

I agree. We used to buy most of our clothes from M&S in the 80s and 90s. In fact we still both have clothes in our wardrobe from that era with the "St Michael" label. We never struggled to find things whether underwear, smart work clothes, "party" clothes or casual clothes. It was our "go to" clothing store. The only let down back in the 90s was when they stopped their range of "light control" front fastening bras which I'd been buying since the early 80s when I first started needing a bra, but that is a personal thing.

Since around 2000, we've barely bought anything from M&S and usually come away disappointed from store visits and send most things back ordered online. It's not just lack of consistent sizing across different ranges, it's lack of consistency on the same range, i.e. a pair of black jeans fits being 32 regular, but go back and buy the brown ones of the same range and it's either too tight, too short, too long, or whatever - that's happened so many times to both me and OH as when we find something we like, we often go and get the same in a different colour, but with M&S it's a random lottery. We've even ordered two different colours of the same item online and both have arrived visibly different sized when you lay one over the other.

As for quality, yes, it's awful. As I say, we've got clothes from the 90s that we still wear, but nothing from the noughties, in fact, nothing from the 2010 decade either - things barely last a year in regular use. We've started buying "basics" from supermarkets such as Asda or Sainsbury as the quality/sizing/range is far better.

I know they are getting a lot of good write ups for the style but I am not sure about the quality either. I ordered a top a couple of months back that looked like it would drape nicely, I thought maybe a cotton/viscose type fabric - it was the thinnest cheapest feeling polyester, the kind of thing I would have expected from Shein or similar. The childrens stuff still seems good though.

I’d say that the deterioration started about a decade ago.

I wonder if the current range of sizes has caused quality to plummet.

Now they have to produce clothing up to size 24. Large sizes obviously cost more to manufacture, yet a size 8 is priced the same as size 24. You either price according to size (unpopular) or raise prices (unpopular)… they’ve gone for a reduction in quality.

Personally I’ve had some great stuff from M&S recently. Love their jeans and knitwear.

Everything's too bloody short in the body, wherever you get it from. I'm not that tall at 5'7 but it is driving me potty. Tops and t-shirts only just reach the waistband and cannot be tucked in at all. Older items I have are several inches longer. Some of my new tops look wider than they are long after a couple of washes. If you look at clothes on a rail in a shop, the size 6 looks fine and in proportion, but the larger sizes aren't any longer, just wider. They might give you an extra centimetre or so but that's it.

M&S is no better than anywhere else for this.

The quality and fabrics are CRAP on the whole. The website is slick & stylish and makes the clothes look good when in reality they are terrible, it’s almost a trading standards breach it’s so bad.

I’ve given up looking online or instore, it’s pointless. Try Uniqlo or John Lewis own brand instead.

I’ve bought their straight leg joggers for as long as I can remember but the last 2 pairs have been very thin and way too long.
I had £30 remaining on a gift card last month and ended up buying pyjamas ( also too long in the leg and sleeve) because nearly all the clothes were hideous and the nicer stuff had maybe a couple of sizes in the shop.
Their wide leg pull-on trousers are now like clown trousers from 1973.

I despaired this Summer trying to buy some simple T shirts. There was literally nothing, despite us going to several stores. They either had scoopy neck lines, or silly/short sleeves that barely went past the shoulder. No "normal" T shirt necks, no "normal" length sleeves (i.e. say half way between shoulder and elbow). M&S was always the "place to go" for the basics, but not anymore.

Yes, what is is about tops with short bodies and stupidly long arms. Are they designed for Gorillas? Arm length hanging over your hands but body length doesn't even cover your naval. What fool thought that was a good design?

Awful fabrics (e.g., air-yarn) and random sizing are the main reasons I rarely set foot in M&S these days.

I think they do some good styles, but the clothes are usually VERY badly cut and cheaply made unfortunately.

M&S used to be better quality, but nobody shopped there as they couldn’t compete on price with fast fashion brands like Zara. Unfortunately, shoppers have got what they voted for - cheap clothes. This means that M&S have had to cut costs elsewhere (i.e. in the construction).

The rest of the order has arrived… knickers ok, bras excellent to be fair… but I also got a ‘ secret support’ vest with cups in it ( to go under a thin shirt ) Oh dear Lord , it’s cut so low, my nipples will be in my dinner😱
I’ll have to shorten the straps to lift the front up 😡 perfect colour too…
I could weep..

I agree, the quality has massively declined. I bought some school polo shirts, all the threads frayed after one wash - on every polo shirt. Merino wool jumpers are scratchy and shrank after a cold wash (god knows how small they would have been if I had put them on the recommended wash). The linen material is itchy and stiff.

It feels like they’re going for fast fashion, but haven’t quite nailed the fashion part. It’s a shame as they used to be good for quality basics. I still by their pants and tights, mostly because I’m lazy and can’t be bothered to find an alternative!

Yes, I agree with you on them trying to be fast fashion… but it’s certainly not cheap!
Bizarrely, the cheapest items ( the chocolate brown top, the 3 pk of bras and multipack knickers) are by far the better quality of the haul 🤷‍♀️
I’d also ordered 2 zip up fleeces from Board Angels via M&Mdirect. They were £12.99 each and bloody lovely! Plenty big enough and real old-school fleece inside.
This would never have been the case years ago. I think without their food - and what’s left of their reputation, M&S would have been another High Street casualty.

If only people look at their tags. 99% polyester rubbish. Will look fine this year and tatty next year. M&S is also very trend heavy. So what’s in this year will look silly next year.

I don't know - I was in John Lewis the other day - such dark and gloomy clothes - except for some in bright red or bright blue - in fact most people you see in the street are in dark dull colours

Agree they have focused on trends over substance and the quality has taken a nosedive. I was browsing the baby section in store recently and there was nothing I wanted to buy - sooo much polyester and mostly sludge colours. For babies! Just why!

I got a nice white long sleeved cotton blouse/shirt from M&S in August. I don’t often go in there but to be honest I’m not overly impressed with what they offer.

Don’t think they have done ‘ old lady fashion’ for years. They have improved their styling greatly, imo.

I think it’s the price. Costs have gone up and they have tried to not increase the cost of their clothing so they’ve had to reduce the quality.