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...

That lovely pyjama dress s in the sale now, just in case anyone feels the need

Dear M & S,

I am 41. This is what I currently buy at M&S:
Children's clothes in the sale only
Children's shoes - will pay full price
Handbags - limited collection ones in the sale
Some shoes - I bought loafers in the sale last summer
Some homeware in the sale
Home fragrance, will pay full price
Christmas decorations on 3 for 2
Toys and gifts when 70% off in sale
Cards when on 3 for 2.
Jeggings at full price

And no other clothes whatsoever. I used to. I used to particularly like limited collection and the weekend range.

But now it is weird. Cheap feeling, frumpy designs and ill fitting.

My mum is 70. She is fashionable. She buys all your Jeggings. In ever colour. But that's all.

I find your food hall hard work so I don't bother with that.

But your staff are fantastic, facilities and stores are nice and I quite like your cafe.

I do just tend to go online at sale time now though and collect in store. I never pop in just for a browse. There's no point.

Regards,
Hopeful Shopper

www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/07/steve-rowe-new-m-and-s-marks-and-spencer-boss-profile

Acording to this article, someone called John Dixon has been in charge of M&S clothing for 30 years (but left last Summer when he realised he wouldn't be promoted again). He must have been in charge throughout the long decline!

Why is polyester used for making clothes ?

Just contributing my feedback in case M&S are reading this.
I am 36, with enough disposable income for a treat or 2 every month.
What I buy from M&S:
Tights and socks
Pyjamas (sometimes)
Accessories : hats, scarves, sunglasses. Never found shoes or bags that I like.
Food but not regularly (too expensive for it to be my main shop for food)
Beauty (great brands being stocked at the moment, especially Nuxe which I had been sorely missing since leaving France)
School uniforms (also use Sainsbury's)
Underwear for DD
Menswear for DH. The menswear is great, lots of smart classics and good quality.

What I don't buy:
Womenswear. I see clothes that look quite nice in adverts / magazines, but when I see them in reality they look frumpy and mumsy. I am not advocating bodycon everything, but at 36 I am not ready to hide in dresses with "clever draping" and "slimming" cuts/prints
Childrenswear ; I used to buy baby clothes for DD, but I don't like the styling for the 3-10 range. It's either babyish or too grown up (I am not ready to deck out 4yo DD in a mini fur coat and glittery shorts)

Hope it helps!

There is something a bit Victorian about M&S' fashion sensibility - all about concealing and hiding your womanliness. I've just shuddered thinking about the M&S minimiser bra I bought in the 90s, which squished my baps round under my armpits. As Gok would say, what's wrong with having your bangers out front loud & proud? That kind of thinking seems to permeate a lot of their ladieswear. And how come the men get cotton shirts and lambswool sweaters and we're stuck with polyester and cashmillion?

I'm not an M&S shareholder so I'm not sure why their department style shops exist. I only ever buy food at there because I can find all the other stuff better and usually cheaper elsewhere. I overheard an M&S executive chatting with a commercial estate agent over future policy and he said' basically we are a food retailer'. Too right, IMO.

I think they should keep concentrating on food, as with the service stations and forget trying to reinvent themselves with all the other offerings which they can't get right and just nip at their profits.

More of you are M&S shareholders than you think. Its in a very high % of UK pension funds which you are the owners of. And unit trusts etc.

Oh god I had forgotten about cashmillon I can feel the static just thinking about it.

Actually I do have a couple of nice M&S ribbed polo neck jumpers (mainly viscose) which are comfortable and stretchy, though I did have to size up. Bought a couple of years ago though, so I hope the current stock is as good.

Viscose or cotton in plain colours is my jumper / cardigan fabric of choice, don't do acrylic, nylon or wool.

CASHMILLON! Ugh. Sets my teeth on edge.

It's a very good point about the difference between men's and womenswear. The menswear seems to be classics executed fairly well, in natural fabrics.

We get violently patterned polyester and CASHMILLON. It's like New Look, but much more spenny and incredibly difficult to find what you're looking for.

Give me the perfect pencil skirt. A black rollneck that doesn't lose its colour or shape. Button-to-the-neck cardis in a range of neutral and seasonal colours. Elegant trousers. Cotton and elastane fitted T-shirts that reach just past the hipbone, with 4-way stretch, not that diagonal shit that rides up. The definitive shift dress. The perfect wrap dress. A classic evening jumpsuit. A wool kilt skirt. A classic leather biker jacket, and a leather blazer. A long wool coat. The perfect parka. A knee-length belted puffa. Get the basics right. Walk before you run.

Use decent fabrics. Step away from the patterns until you have someone with a better eye. Don't let anyone add beads or sequins to knitwear until further notice. Until you have a better grasp of their ironic deployment (talk to Boden and Joules first), don't let anyone put an animal face on anything. Especially not pyjamas for grown women.

Walk before you run.

Please let me add to this...I hate clothes shopping and have always gravitated towards M&S because it was a known quantity with good quality. It didn't even occur to me to shop elsewhere until I bought pants and vests of shockingly poor fabric and design which lasted hardly any time at all. I went back again last month to give them a final chance and to buy some nice tights for an evening out.

Went up to Lingerie, decided that I could go elsewhere for cheap "2 for whatever" pants, looked for the tights, asked for the tights, was told tights were now way off downstairs beside shoes, left shop, went to Debenham's for the very first time, bought nice pants and tights in a nicely laid out lingerie department.
Feel a bit flummoxed that a customer as easily contented as I am could be put off by what used to be such an easy option!
I would like plain lambswool polo necks with a nice fit, nice work trousers in good quality fabric, cotton shirts again of good plain quality and cut. Plain t -shirts long and short sleeves, those nice vests with the ribbon binding, good quality nightwear. I value durability over price every time. Surely that's what M&S is FOR?

And think of the saving in production costs not having to pay to have glittery shit sewn on to all the clothes!

hated cashmillion btw! just the thought of it.....

I now buy cashmere jumpers and cardigans (nice colours), long sleeve t-shirts and thermal underwear (Heattech) in Uniqlo (online) as well as some other bits and pieces. I'm 5'10" and don't have a problem with length of tops (which I do at M&S).

With this thread in mind I wandered through M&S yesterday to see if I could find the exception to the rule - nothing ... so dreary - even the Roma jeans I used to buy (because they fitted) were so baggy and weirdly cut.

The thing is everyone has been telling M&S for years what they'd like to see but they arrogantly keep on ignoring us. TBH I think the time is almost here when we'll give up and go elsewhere (and there are plenty of good options)

See, I think they have consulted people before making their design changes. I don't see how they can have continued to steer so far off course blindly or arrogantly. I reckon the bright polyester prints are no accident. So maybe they're aiming at a different demographic than their old one. People who want more disposable fashion.

Sorry. 'Fashion'. Those trousers. THOSE PAGE 1 TROUSERS.

See, I think they have consulted people before making their design changes. I don't see how they can have continued to steer so far off course blindly or arrogantly.

I think its probably true that what people say they want from a retailer to researchers is not what they will actually buy. Were the last UK general election polls an example of that mindset?

Yes I think it may well be that they are after a different demographic - which isn't the people on this thread. The people that DO want glitter on everything, tons of embellishment, flounces, cartoon characters, disposable fashion.
And also people that don't have waists or hips.

I'm 46, earn a good wage and used to buy a fair amount at M&S, usually lingerie norky.
I now buy my knickers at Sainsburys and bras usually online.

All I really buy at M&S these days is opaque tights and the odd jegging or cardigan.

I prefer Boden, Joules and Monsoon for most of my clothes these days. Their styling and quality is far better whilst pricing is fairly similar to M&S.

Disposable fashion (M&S definition): buy, try on and see that it looks hideous, drop in bin.

I'd love know what demographic they are aiming for. I know its not my one.

Focus groups pop up in my job from time to time. Absolute bane of my life. No matter how much of a representative sample you seek to recruit, there's always one dominant nutter, and it is unfortunately human nature to find fault with things rather than build them up, especially when you feel you are being 'paid' to give an opinion, so they're inevitably vile and quite negative. I can see if you put a capsule collection of well-made basics in there, there would be whinges of 'boring', 'not ready to die yet' etc etc.

Which leads us to polyester.

I think so far on this thread we have had commenters from ages 20s to 70s, sahms, office workers, retired people, different budgets and different lifestyles.
If they read this thread they will have access to a free broad representation of women who want to spend money in M&S and who despite everything hold them in positive regard.

M&S need to learn that there is a difference between style and fashion and that most of the crap they sell is neither fashionable nor stylish.

And as someone who does sweat a bit () I do like clothes in natural fabrics and patterns which don't resemble a test card and make my hurt to look at.

M&S shouldn't need focus groups to tell them that multiple indistinguishable sub-brands, random bright polyester prints, poor store layout and appalling distribution is not the way to run a large women's clothing business.

You all said the C word!

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/feb/04/alexa-chung-to-collaborate-with-marks-spencer-stylewatch

Alexa Chung is designing a range for M&S. Not sure what to think.