AIBU to think that M&S have lots the plot?

[justkeepongoing]

Just looking on the sale website. Despite being a loyal fan to M&S over the years I really think that the range on offer would come second best to a sale rail in a charity shop (which I'm equally a fan of)!

I think M&S, for a department type store, is one of the best. Of course you are not going to like everything as different sections are aimed at different people. Personally I like the Autograph and Limited ranges. My mum likes the Indigo range, and there are ranges aimed at older women which most Mumsnetters are going to find hideous, but they aren't aimed at us. The kids clothes are one of the better ranges on the highstreet, and the school uniform is fabulous, lasts and washes well. My dad and my DH buy all their pants,PJs and socks there. Their home stuff is far superior to Next or Debenhams, their food is nice, if expensive, and they can be relied upon for cards, gift wrap, flowers, and other gifts. The toiletry section is also great now they stock popular brands. I even buy perfume there.

I can't think of another shop where the whole family can shop and find something they like at reasonable prices. Next and Debenhams are their nearest competitors, but next doesn't cater for such a wide demographic, mainly families with children, and Debenhams is expensive and too hot.

I bought far more clothes in M&S 20 years ago than I do now.

Nice linen pieces in summer, good skirts and jackets for work, a lovely silk dressing gown once, swimwear, coats, even shoes.

Now they are only good for tights, socks, pants. Oh and cheap 'first' suits & shirts for teenage ds. Maybe a plain cashmere sweater although these are often over-embellished or nasty colours.

I've noticed a really steep decline in quality of the fabrics. Used to be pure wool or cotton, now it's all horrid polyester.

And food, obviously, still fantastic.

Great minds 00A0ML

Ours has a particularly large per una section in proportion to the rest of the shop. I don't know anyone who buys per una...

I wish the jumpers were less boxy. The natural fibre stuff can be good but you have to hunt.

But I can wander through of a lunchtime and nothing will catch my eye.

as someone who used to design for M and S (in 80s and early 90s) - I can tell you whats going on ....the fabrics that they are using are cheaper - synthetic....and they patronise their shoppers by designing what they think a 53 year old woman wants - by the way Ma and S I run and do yoga have a great figure and think I am 28 - so no I dont want to wear grandma swimsuits or T shirts made of plastic (I have just been on eBay to buy Margaret Howell)......I also shop online as I think Boden and Hush are brilliant online places to shop - Boden is having a moment actually - lovely jewelry and shoes

Thats interesting Roselover
about them using cheaper materials.

I also agree that they seem to have a set view of what people in their 50's should be wearing.
All their clothes are very boxy in shape, probably because they have an outdated view that all women over a certain age have middle age spread and therefore have no waist, so why bother shaping the clothes too much.
The reality is that women of this age are really into fitness and looking after their figures.
They need to keep up with the times.

I agree with them not knowing who they're aiming clothes at. It's just very antiquated. I wouldn't think, when clothes shopping as a twenty-something, to go in M&S, ever.

I do go in there for school uniform and some food bits which are undeniably good but clothes for me, never.

I used to shop there when I was in my 20s (25-ish years ago) - not necessarily for fashion pieces but for stuff like underwear, nightwear, leggings, t-shirts, jumpers, workwear - it was one of my most-used shops. It seemed pricey then (I was always skint) but you knew that if you bought something there it would be really wearable and good quality.

That doesn't seem to be the case now - I went in looking for leggings the other day, first of all I couldn't find them (in our not-particularly-large branch), even the shop assistant had to ask another assistant where they were. Then I left without buying any because the choice was rubbish, and they were overpriced for the rather thin quality.

The men's clothes seem a lot better, maybe because they do less of the 'collectioning' and focus more on simple ok-quality, easy-to-shop-for clothes.

Roselover do you remember the stretch jeans in half sizes they used to do in the 80s?
I have a pair of those worn once in a "proper" size 15 in the wardrobe upstairs and I'm going to get into them again, come hell or high water. Still in vanity-size 18 from Matalan but have just started weights again after a 30-year gap due to a broken bone in my neck - so where there's life there"s hope.

I fell out of love with M&S when they moved the size label in the knickers from the right side to the left. And, even me, with my hypothyroid feeble fingernails could puncture the cotton without even looking at them.

18 months ago, I was on a course and one evening after dinner there was a talk by a man who used to be a knitwear supplier to M&S, back in the day where you wouldn't buy a wool jumper from anyone else. He showed us the difference in the quality of the yarns used, the length of the fibres in the yarns, the changes in making techniques going from "proper" knitted garments with fully-fashioned decreases, going by cheaper and cheaper techniques, to cut and sew from a piece of fabric with a knitted rib and then the body to the current technique of a ribbed welt overlocked on to a body overlocked on to a neck etc etc All made in different factories and cobbled together in yet another.

The reason they pill is that the fibres are shorter in cheaper yarns. Longer fibres are more expensive, but they don't pill - a bugger when you're in an FF bra and have short arms compared with the "norm". I have an arm length for a standard 34-24-36 size 12 but an 16" back. Never mind my boobs, my body is 2" longer than the norm for my height - 5'4" and maybe a half, and in heels my legs need a 31" jean, or 29" in flat shoes.

M&S used to cater for me, they haven't done for many years, but these days their leggings are half the price of Evans (who've doubled the price since they started their Euro site). At least the Marks site has leggings at a cheaper price, and it's good to know the quality's ok - I was wondering.

If all else fails, there's always the Jaeger outlet sale site - got a gorgeous cashmere dress for £45 a month ago. It was £250 before, but the anorexic model they used just looked silly in a v-neck dress......same for the navy basketweave shirt that's really tempting me at the moment......

....but I'm skint, and our income has dropped by 25% this year, and up to the vote on the Brexit will get even lower.

Still, must do some work - tax return deadline looms for the end of May or the impôts will have my guts on a skewer.

I only use the food hall in my local M&S department store, or one of their Simply Food branches.

Maybe it is an age thing, but being in my early 30s, I wouldn't be seen dead, let alone alive in any of their clothing. And Next has gone downhill as far as I'm concerned over the last ten years or so too.

My mother says M&S went downhill from the mid-90s and when they dropped the St. Michael branding. She said that my grandmother used to buy clothes from there in the 60s under a label called, St. Margaret's or something. British made clothing anyway.

Are there any more senior MNetters out there who remember these sub-brands at M&S?

They need to sort out their stock. I live in a largish city, not affluent but with lots of women looking for work appropriate, budget friendly clothes and yet they have just 4 rails of Autograph, hidden away upstairs.

If I wade through the website I can usually see things I like, although I frequently lose the will to live before I get to the end. But they never have any of it in my local store. I can't be arsed ordering online - I concede that's probably irrational when I'll order from say Hush or Boden but it rankles when there's a store on my doorstep.

I have not bought myself anything in M&S for years. I never see anything I like and the quality is so poor. Somewhere like Uniqlo do basics so much better. A friend of mine, in a moment of madness, bought online some of the Alexa Chung stuff, she is a trendy woman in her early 40s with a good figure. The clothes looked appalling, she returned them and the customer services lady said most of their returns are from the Alexa Chung range, totally unwearable unless you are Alexa Chung.

This top says it all. I saw it the other day in per una and thought how excellent it would be for a mumsnet thread about the demise of M&S. Truly hideous.

What's frustrating is, I've actually had some great buys from m&s over the last year: a fitted winter jacket, flat ankle boots (that hit at the ankle, not the calf) and two pairs of jeans that fit me perfectly.

I really do believe there is nice stuff in there but it's lost under piles of tat, in fact half the time they don't even bother putting it out.

And when I - a TK Maxx and H&M veteran - can't be arsed to rummage then they really are in trouble.

Why why why do they do stuff like that top???

How many people do they really think are going to pick it up and go 'I must have it!'

Surely, given that they presumably aiming at mass market, it's better to go for a range of much plainer stuff in a range of colours so that people can pick out colours that suit them and their wardrobe?

Used to be the only place I'd buy basic bras but I stopped when they did the two packs of one nude/one white or one nude/one black. I want 2 white or 2 black. I don't want any nude beyond having one in the chest of drawers in case it's needed.

Don't buy pants or socks from there now. Bought DS socks there last about 5 years ago - he made a hole in all 5 pairs in a term, never done that with any other socks.

I buy packs of the plain black knickers. The M&S ones I have have unravelled at the waist seam and have floating bits of thread all over. Terrible quality. Sainsbury and Tesco are proving better quality for knickers and socks respectively - something I'd never thought I'd say.

I buy quite a lot of food from there though. Don't bother looking at the clothes any more. Used to get basic T shirts, lambswool jumpers in every style and colour (going back a few years) - don't bother any more.

Even if you like quirky clothing (and that is a massively charitable description of that top) - you're not going to go looking for it in M&S, or admit to M&S being the source of your 'alternative and funky' wardrobe.

I should be M&S's target market - a 40yo woman, size 16, not very interested in clothes, wants to buy basic stuff that fits.
Every few years I actually find a bunch of stuff in M&S that I like. And every time, a few weeks later, they issue a profits warning.

In between, I find myself swearing at their jeans selection (you have 50 styles, none of which accommodate postnatal tummy? Oh, I need the Classic range, advertised by a 70yo? Cheers...), wanting to tantrum like my 4yo at the lack of trousers with pockets, finding no bras in a 34GG, can't find 100% cotton pants, no brushed cotton pyjamas even in the men's section (OK, 1 very boring plain blue pair my dad would have said was too old for him) - only pyjama bottoms and T-shirts were available.

I've been told if you want size 16+, don't go to Oxford St where they are catering for tourists, go to Croydon. Which helps a little. Actually for work basics the branch next to Victoria is quite good - their buyer there clearly understands about only selecting clothes for middle-aged civil servants! So I often get some tops, and I admit I did get a great suspender belt for only £6 recently, but on the whole I end up getting more clothes from Sainsburys than anywhere else.

The only consolation to M&S should be that Next is even worse!

Whilst I agree that so much of their stock is , I have bought some things from there recently.
These trousers are fab.
I have the best pair of skinny jeans ever from there-can't remember which ones they are off top of my head.
Got a lovely top from autograph too, but doesn't seem to be on the website.
Shame so much of it is shite fabrics, and why is so much bloody see through??

I buy black and nude bras, I never buy white bras, they are just unnecessary!

I went in today and pretty much bypassed the dire clothing section. Although I did see a nice pair of wedge sandals.

I quite like the Indigo stuff, in fact all my jeans are from there.
Food is fab, if anyone is a fahita lover their kit is a million times better than old el paso

I bought a plain black maxi dress in there last week, and I still find the odd thing I like but it's getting increasingly difficult. I really want to shop there - I think the prices are generally reasonably and the quality generally still decent, but the fabrics are invariably awful and they rarely seem to get the styles right. When I find the v rare item that gets it right on style, colour and fabric simultaneously, I am a v happy lady.

I went in today to test my theory.

Plain t-shirts in Autograph range - £29.00. Leather skirt ( admittedly very nice) £129. Pleasant enough linen mix dress £55.00.

Not designer range prices, but when you're competing with the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury, not Hobbs or Whistles, just feel too high for what they are.

I noticed that the things people were looking at and actually buying were their basic t-shirt ranges, no one was picking anything up from the Autograph section.

Next may be a bit rubbish but at least it's generally easy to navigate the shop and I do find the odd nice thing, particularly in summer range - got a couple of lovely linen mix dresses for hardly anything. I'm just out of the habit of going to M&S as it's such a chore to trek round all the different sections just to track down one item. Why don't they just have all their jeans together like a normal shop?

I went in today to test my theory.

Plain t-shirts in Autograph range - £29.00. Leather skirt ( admittedly very nice) £129. Pleasant enough linen mix dress £55.00.

Not designer range prices, but when you're competing with the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury, not Hobbs or Whistles, just feel too high for what they are.

I noticed that the things people were looking at and actually buying were their basic t-shirt ranges, no one was picking anything up from the Autograph section.

Next may be a bit rubbish but at least it's generally easy to navigate the shop and I do find the odd nice thing, particularly in summer range - got a couple of lovely linen mix dresses for hardly anything. I'm just out of the habit of going to M&S as it's such a chore to trek round all the different sections just to track down one item. Why don't they just have all their jeans together like a normal shop?

Whoops sorry didn't mean to post that twice.