I used to like M&S but I'm not surprised they are struggling to sell womens clothes, WARNING MAY BE UPSETTING

[Behooven]

Says it all...

and I would like to add to ppeatfruit's plea GET THE CUT RIGHT!

Yes Chocolate ! I forgot that

Yes my girls have some great shoes/ boots from m&s

In defence of Lord M&S, I have bought some beautiful Rosie stuff, the bras and pants are gorgeous. And a soft jersey unstructured jacket was a particularly nice find.

I will always go there for undies, socks, slippers, food and they have some very nice candles, but I'm usually left a bit cold by the clothes.

Be fair - the autograph posho bit for boys wedding wear suits and waistcoats are good quality at a good price and I buy them for DD (who has a very boyish figure) when she needs to look smart.
Wouldn't touch the girl's ranges though - they seem to think girls are 2 feet wide and 3 feet high!

I have been annoyed that for years my default shops were M&S and Laura Ashley and now I can't fit into their stuff even if I thought being in baggy orange polyester was a good thing.

As for bras - thank God Bravissimo do a mail order and will let you order 20 and send 17 back.

I've defected to Uniqlo.

If the change was noticed late 90s/2000 I wonder what policy or management change triggered it?

I started the thread in a kind of lighthearted way but look at the amount of responses even from our small community! I know there's been loads of previous threads the same.

M&S could do worse than to come on here and take some ideas and advice from us.

The menswear dept is just as bad. Try buying a decent black belt for a teen age lad to use for school . No chance.

Try buying anything you once liked. Its out of stock or they don't do it anymore. Bought some really great t-shirts for nightwear a few years back. They had a special light stretch cool wear fabric. Great to wear in bed. I want some more. No longer do them.

I want the basics just like everyone else on the thread. Their socks and pants have gone down hill. Socks wear out in no time or shrink. The pants I haven't worn for years. Jeremy Paxman was right!

I went in before Xmas to buy myself some new clothes.
I came out with one pair of jeggings (and I will get more...they are great!)
But couldn't find a single other thing I liked. In the whole womenswear dept.
Although to be fair, It was the same in next!

Perhaps MN HQ could invite one of the directors on for a chat session?

I agree about the late 90's. The quality of the Autograph range was impressive. I had a suit which got admired by a complete stranger and I said "oh, it's only M and S" and he said he was in the business and that it was very high quality Italian suiting fabric, and not to tell anyone else it was only M and S! Zero chance of that happening now.

I worked at m and s as an Xmas temp when the per in a range was introduced to great fanfare.
This would have been 2001?
And it was nice when it was first brought in.
Work wear, good basics in natural fibres and no fucking appliqué!
I had customers come in and spend hundreds of pounds just On the una stuff.
What happened!!?
I really liked that suede Skirt btw, but not enought to £200 for it!

I'd be interested to hear from the most m&s senior buyer for women's wear. What has he/she been told is their top priority? Is it maximising positive comments in fashion magazines or is it finding things that people want to actually buy?
Are the customers just philistines who have the audacity to question the Art, or are we the people whose money they want?

Wasn't it George (of Asda fame) that introduced the first Per Una range or am I mixing that up?

I think you are right. He first worked his magic at Next and it became the go to shop in the 80s and early 90s. Then he introduced clothes to Asda and made it acceptable to buy supermarket clothes.
Then he went to M&S to do per una. Per una did have a good reputation at first. I don't know what happened... maybe he left?

I wonder where he is now.

He had his own designer shop with (iirc) his daughter in Buchanan Street, Glasgow. It had some lovely pieces but didn't last very long. Can't recall the name of it though.

A quick google tells me it was GIVe. "Italian inspired quality ladies wear, it's not about age it's about style"

Oh I wish he'd come back!

Spot on var

I just googled him. His name is George Davies and he is 74 now. He left M&S in 2008, which is probably why per una is in such a dire state now. Apparently, he didn't get along with Stuart Rose the M&S chairman at that time which might explain things.
If George Davies worked for me , I'd do everything he suggested!

After Per Una he started an online venture called give.co.uk that had a few shops. However that venture seems to have folded and now he seems to have retired.

Per Una was created to use up the EU Haberdashery Mountain Cerseirys as soon as all those surplus buttons, ribbons and frills have been haphazardly attached to random items of clothing then it will no longer be required.

^This made me laugh.

Then another PP wrote that her 2015 pants were falling apart whilst 2010 pants still going strong. That made me really angry because it's true for me too. The quality has nosedived. I will pay a premium for quality, maybe not double, but I DO NOT WANT CHEAP TAT. if I wanted that, I'd go to primark or similar.

I bought some nightwear about 5 years that was really very flattering & comfortable for my rotund 40 something self. I've checked through each winter in case they had some more but continued happily enough with those 3. Then the style reappeared this winter & I bought 2 sets. Big mistake. Cuts into my upper arms, which is not ideal when trying to sleep & honestly more black than purple as described. Far less fabric and not nearly as soft and flowing as the original.
Their bras are no longer fit well.
Their socks disintegrate quickly.
Their tshirts' seams twist & fabrics shrink on first wash.

The quality has nosedived.

As a disabled shopper, I relied on buying baby clothes, my clothes, furniture, housewares online for years, but now it's food & homewares only. They don't provide superior quality, so why should I pay their superior prices?

Cross posted!

On of my pet hates is how their t shirts now shrink in length and twist seams. Gives me the rage

OH dear, just listening to Graham Norton and he's interviewing Deborah Meaden who has just said that one of the new dragons is an M&S designer, they also mentioned that M&S are a "forward thinking company, If not they're crazy".

I'm not a great fan of Primark but I do get my pjs in there, and leggings ( as I wear them like tights under tunics) because I can find there leggings in there.

I do order online from M&S but order for store collection so I can try on and return in one go. They don't seem to do free delivery offers like Debenhams do. Or maybe I just don't notice it if they do?

I walked into Asda today and in 5 minutes, bought a lovely jumper (£18), a top (on sale £3) and a new neutral bra (£4). Effortless.

AT Christmas, I bought a party dress which I got loads of compliments on.

I buy my university DD some of their basic stuff because it wears and washes well and its affordable.

I also stopped myself buying some cute kids stuff for the liittle one because she has more than she could wear!

If Asda can get it right with their George range, why cant M&S?

I see it like this. If M&S did all the basics that lots of us are asking for with the price range I am guessing for each item being £15-50, and stopped doing things like the £99 suede skirt (which I thought was hideous) and random odd dresses and coats at £80 and £hundreds, they would actually make more money. We went less, not more, stop trying to do everything and failing at it all. Less choice but of what we want. And yes, all jeans together, all jumpers together. I go in with money, can't see what I want, can't find anyone to help, if I do they randomly point "it's over there" and then carry on talking to colleagues.

I.e. The lottery ticket sales were falling. So instead of dropping the price to 50p which would have made more people buy, they raise to to £2 making even less people want to buy one.

Basics at a cheaper price = higher unit of sales against higher priced items were people buy less.

Good basis model that days out places would benefit from. Charge less to entry and more people would go.

And STOP apologising to another member of staff you have asked to help me as they have to stop what they are doing.

Even their multi packs of knickers are awful now. They're some kind of awful polyester mix
Why should men have cotton and women have sweaty fanjo polyester!
Even my DM who is 76 won't shop there, says its frumpy and old fashioned.
The beauty range is great. When they have it in stock, I recently went in for some pixi glow and was told in a very off hand manner as if it were my own fault that 'tut, that range sells out the day it comes in' she may as well have added 'you silly girl' on the end
The PJ range is awful, why do they think grown women want fucking teddy bears on their pyjamas!? Or dressing gowns made of 'fleece'
I won't go in their cafe as all the table buzzers do not make for a relaxing time.