Is anyone else suprised to be finding Marks and Spencer Really Good?

[MalagaNights]

I've been looking for winter dresses, struggling to find warm everyday styles. Saw a few knitted dresses in places like Arket/ Cos usually about £100 which I was prepared to pay.

Went on the M&S webisite and I've found loads of dressses which fit what I'm looking for an they're around £40!!

This alos happened to me in the summer when I was looking for everyday midi stye dresses. Prepared to spend £100+ and found just wahst I was looking for in M&S for around £40. So git twice as many!!

I've orederd about 7 dresses. A few knitted styes and a a few midi styles with long sleeves. Waiting for them to arrive so will comment on quality, but my summer dresses were a lovely crisp high quality cotton.

I'd really given up on Marks and regarded them as done and out, and never go in the shop.
Anyone else suprised to find they're really good again?

I only wear cotton- or viscose at a push- and have found them at
Uniqlo
Thought
Hush
Whistles
John Lewis Anyday and Kin when it existed
and I buy men's jumpers and knits.
Takes searching.

M&S is very hit and miss, but I still love it, if mostly for the food ! To be fair they are trying to appeal to a wide audience - from the young to older relaxed boho (me!) to conservative elderly.

Things that I think are good

• their skincare beauty department
• some of their jewellery
• odd things that just “work” - have some wide velour trousers from 3 years ago which are simply fantastic and I wear all winter
• Cheap jumpers and cardigans, especially if you haven’t much money
• their jeans are good value
• winter “sales” of hats, gloves can be good too

Things I don’t like

• agree a lot of their tops and blouses and shirts are too boxy and short - rather old fashioned shapes
• some of the designs are actually great but the “cut” can be poor - shapeless on me.
• Cotton nightwear poor quality too rough or ugly or childish designs
• too much synthetic stuff

Some of their stores are beautifully laid out and it’s a joy to waft through on my way to the food department 😆

I just looked at the knitted dresses (thanks to this thread) and they are pretty much all polyester/nylon/viscose/acrylic mixes. I can't bear artificial fibres, so that rules them out.

The shoes used to be better than they are now.

The food is good, though.

There's a lovely 100% wool jumper dress in Jigsaw at the moment but I can't afford it so I'm going to spend yet another winter in my ancient Boden merino dresses (about 15 years old and still going strong!)

I’ve definitely found a few gems over the last year. Mainly very good basics. M&S is definitely a shop I prefer to visit rather than shop online to have a proper look at the fabric, by doing this I’ve found a few really nice things that I’d dismissed online (and the other way round).

I think opinions about M&S are often based on what can be seen in the local branch. If I relied on what’s in my local branch I’d never shop there again but I’ve recently been working close to a bigger store and it’s a totally different shop, much more contemporary stock and better organised.

@peenaction Uniqlo has some pure wool knitted dresses under the Claire Something Something collaboration.

Yes, I'm the same but you still have to sift through a lot of polyester in those stores. M&S does have cotton and viscose. I'm not sure why people are sneering at the man made fabrics in M&S and cheaper shops when the posh ones do just as much of it.

I'll feed back on the quality when they arrive.

I actually don't want a wool dress, I find the addition of some synthetics makes knits softer and easier to wear and wash.

The cotton dresses I had in the summer were beautiful quality.

The prices though are so good. I'd be paying more than that in Zara, where I also buy quite a lot and the quality there isn't great.

I ordered a few midi dresses too. A couple with v necks.

I just found online the range of styles and the prices were so good.

https://www.marksandspencer.com/satin-jacquard-v-neck-midi-tea-dress/p/clp60626289#intid=pid_pg1pip48g2r17c2

I've ordered this.

@Foodorder I agree. I am not loyal to any one high street label these days, as they all need sifting for natural fabrics, and even the most expensive ones are no guarantee of quality. The posh ones are also selling recycled polyester for £400 a dress.

https://www.marksandspencer.com/ribbed-knitted-midi-dress/p/clp60613055?color=BLACK#intid=pid_pg1pip48g2r8c1

And this in white.

And a few other things.

I agree the stores are dismal. Which is what I think led me to believe they're just done.

I like that dress @MalagaNights. If only they did it in cotton or wool because polyester makes me itch all over.

I've just ordered some soft loungewear

That's the dress I've bought in three different colours. I hate polyester usually but the mix for this is so soft and warm, it really surprised me.

All the people saying it’s all synthetic aren’t buying the 100% merino jumpers, the 100% cashmere, the 100% cotton which I find very easy to find in M&S! And at cheaper prices than elsewhere. More for me then!

I love M&S for jeans especially as I'm tall and need long length plus high waist. With M&S you don't have to 'wonder' if something will fit once you know what size you are.

The big stores are amazing and I've even got a few lovely Jaeger bits and bobs off the sale rail for next to nothing.

No, No good for me. They changed their short length trousers so you now have to be 5 6” to wear them and they have virtually nothing to fit short people. I don’t even bother looking anymore.

They are crap (and I say that as someone who gets staff discount through DH).

Nope , can’t agree
Too many synthetic fibres
Im a long skirt , jumper , tights and boots wearer in the winter , only thing I can find to my liking is the black opaque tights

@BHRK the nice wool jumpers are not available in my local store , I know I can order them on line but I want to pick them up and look at them before I pay for them ! #oldfashioned

The wide leg trousers are great

But the local stores aren't going to get any better. Mine's never been that great but at least now I can pick up an online order there, try it on straight away and return it and get my money back before I leave the shop. That's actually a lot better than it was years ago before when I'd have had to travel to a larger branch to find what I wanted.

I'm certainly not sneering at M&S and the cheaper shops. The even worse culprits are the ones who charge 3 x what M&S charge but for basically the same polyester/acrylic mix.

I do buy cashmere and merino jumpers in M&S and love them (the cashmere shrinks a bit, so I always size up a lot). If M&S made reasonably priced merino/cashmere dresses, I'd buy them like a shot.

The Jigsaw merino dress I mentioned is lovely but is £199, so not for me.

The wide leg trousers are terrible on someone very short and skinny, btw. They make me look like a cube.

There’s a lot of dross to wade through, but I usually do well in their Sale. Womenswear is hard work. Menswear & Kidswear are great. I’m converted to their jeans, though (and the cords).

Small details on quality annoy me. I was looking at the Christmas PJs (so I can get the Beauty Advent!) & noticed no cuffs on the sleeves of the tartan ones. My last ones were nicely finished. And lasted ages… The ones in stock now aren’t as good, but still not cheap. I don’t mind paying for good stuff, but it needs to be good value for money!

Their extra-deep cotton fitted sheets are great, btw.