M&S a shop for very tall people now!

[Seahorsesfly]

Bloody hell- I was in a store today and it felt like an alternative universe where M&S think their customers are all thin and super tall but in reality the majority of customers are average or short and more likely to not be skinny as they are a bit older.

I used to be a regular or long in trousers, but they are cut for giants now. What on earth has happened to the sizing? Who is going to buy all this stock!? How can a shop not design clothes for its actual customers.

EntertainingandFactual, yes, I thought it would be odd if they just stopped doing shorter lengths - thanks for the info - rather like your username

I didn't see any extra short clothes in store yesterday aka the 'old' short.

Given that short is now what regular was, it means that based on my very unscientific assessment of customers yesterday (and average being 5'4), about half of the people shopping in the store might struggle to buy trousers that fit them now.

As pp said it is great they cater for tall people now but to have done so at the expensive of a large % of their shoppers is a bizarre business strategy.

I live between a city and a town, the city one only seems to stock short or regular, the town one stocks long or regular.

At 5'9 I can only shop in the town one which is a little bit further away.

Their 'long' is just the right length (in [kitten] heels) and seems to be the equivalent of extra long in Next.

Just happy to longer be confined to limited and ill fitting options in LTS tbh.

I'm 5ft 11 and have been desperate for more shops to stock longer lengths my whole life (late 40s now.) However, the M&S extra long is insanely long, I tried a pair of wide leg trousers and they puddled on the floor.
You'd need to be at least 6ft 2 for them to fit and I can't think there are that many women that height.

I think he meant between mum and dad’s percentile. Otherwise all the boys would be shorter and the girls taller.

Thank goodness. I’m 5’9 and it’s so difficult to get tall clothes. Loads of places do petite and regular but not tall. I’m going to m and s to buy all the stock!!

DH is 6ft 2
DS is 6ft and at 13 still growing
I am 5ft 4
DD is 5ft 3 and won’t grown any more now
Not sure that formula works

Anyway, glad the taller ladies have more options now but the short really should BE short - I need a 29 leg

Well that's not encouraging for us short arses if they are also too long for taller people.

Im not sure there are many women over 6ft shopping in M&S let's be honest all those super tall teens that are about these days wouldn't be seen dead in there so I'd love to see the rationale behind the change.

It's good that they are doing longer length but as people pointed out not so great for the shorter customers.

As an aside my legs are longer than DH and he's 2" taller than me. I'm not massively tall at 5ft8 but often struggled as a teen to get leg length long enough especially in jeans it has got a lot better.
DD who is 15 describes her legs as similar to baby giraffe 🦒 she is a 30" leg and only 5ft4"

I don't think that retailers can win as we are all such variable proportions.

I recently bought men's trousers (sold by measurements so I knew they would fit) in M&S as the version of them they had in the women's range only came in one length 😡

I just knew they would be 29" inside leg and I need 31".

Just wish they would sell everything by measurement. At least M&S do short, regular and long in a lot of things. Unlike a lot of shops where every woman buying trousers apparently is 29" inside leg.

Also what gets me is men's stuff is sturdier and better quality cotton where as women get to choose from an ocean of overpriced polyester.

I'm 4ft 11 so that's yet another shop off the very tiny list of places I can actually buy things without chopping the legs off.

I stopped trying on M&S trousers and skirts many years ago as they all seemed to be designed for pear shaped women so very baggy round the hips on me. And I’m short so it sounds like I’m a doubly unwanted customer now.
I just bought some school trousers though (age 5-6 size for my 8 year old).

Yes! I agree so much with this. If they just put the actual measurements on then it would be fine.

Glad I saw this - I tried trousers on in M&S yesterday and though I must have started shrinking. I'm 5'9" and the regular length now fits.

They should sell by leg length, not ‘short’, ‘regular’, ‘long’ - as they do for men.

I hope their skirts get longer too, if they I'll be laughing! My bank account won't be though.

This thread has made me want to hot foot it down to my local store. I am 5' 9" with particularly long legs and I have always struggled to find trousers long enough. I agree with others that there is a real gap in the market for tall people.

This is clearly nonsense too - for couples that are close together in height, the estimated height of a girl child ends up being a fair bit shorter than both parents!

It only maybe works for couples where the parents have a certain differential between their heights.

I agree. Some biological women are tall - it doesn't make us men underneath!

It's an appalling comment to make. Would you say that about flat chested women, or women who are more straight-bodied than hourglass?

I read this as much more a dig at M&S - particularly their changing room policy - than how it factually is written.

Really? More than one post claiming that clothes for tall women must be for transwomen?

It doesn't read like that

Well honestly if people can’t see this for what it is a very thinly veiled attempt to tap into the 6 foot four built like a brick shit house market for floral dresses that appears to have flourished over the last two years then I give up on you all.

I don’t think that was what that person meant

Yes, agree, there would be none of this angst if Marks - and other retailers - simply followed the Menswear practice of labelling trousers with the inside leg measurement. Their own sales figures would then clearly show what sells in what styles and they could stock accordingly.
It could all be so easy.

I'm 4ft 11 so that's yet another shop off the very tiny list of places I can actually buy things without chopping the legs off

Theres hardly anywhere with properly petite lengths now. Why offer a petite range that isn’t petite. If some people of 5’4 are saying that M&S petite is too long then they need to change something. I’m left with Fatface petite, Seasalt (which look shit on me) Boden ( too expensive) and ASOS to teenagery for a 61 year old. I know we are probably a minority but we still need clothes.