I don’t get the M&S hatred here, but I wonder whether it is resentment that M&S don’t provide the same quality they used to, 30 years ago, at Primark prices?
I regularly read that eg T shirts are “too expensive” in M&S at £12 when the poster can buy a T shirt for £6 in Primark or H&M. However, when M&S produce a cheaper range to meet that demand, everybody complains about the quality going down.
I too would prefer to pay more for better fabrics and cuts, but I’m in a minority. A big shift happened in the late nineties and early 2000s. Primark, New Look and similar shops started offering really cheap clothes, and a high proportion of shoppers rushed out and rejoiced in buying armloads of clothes for not much money. I remember Primark opening in Manchester in the old Lewis’s department store building. It was mayhem.
Next had to completely change its offer - look at it now, compared to what it was in the 80s and 90s, it’s an entirely different business - and so did M&S. If they had stuck to only making quality stuff in the U.K., they would have been dead in the water fifteen years ago. Just like Austin Reed and other quality retailers.
We get the retailers we deserve. If enough people had bought what M&S were offering after the market tipped towards Primark and other value retailers, we’d still have high quality, British made clothes in lovely fabrics. The runaway success of Boohoo.com - cheap clothes in crap fabrics, made in sweatshops and designed only to be worn a few times - tells you what most shoppers really value.