Me + Em. £350 for something that is 62% polyester!!

[pomeglamate]

I’ve been on the lookout for one of their oversized blazers in a colour/material I like and was foaming at the mouth when I clicked on this but then looked at the garment composition… 62% polyester! £350 for something that is 62% polyester!! Luxury heritage-inspired tweedy 62% polyester!! Deranged. Not sure what my point is with this thread really but I mean… wow.

www.meandem.com/intelligently-oversized-jacket-pecan-brown-multi

Half my wardrobe is Me and Em. I still wear stuff I bought 10 years ago. I’m happy to pay more because it washes well, is tailored and it bloody looks amazing on me. I have never bought an item full price though, I don’t earn that much.
You get what you pay for. But I buy from them knowing the quality is very good and it’s cut properly. The fact that it’s polyester and £350 … I see your side of the argument, but…it’ll look amazing when you put it on, so that’s what I’m going for. I don’t have tonnes of clothes, but I can open my wardrobe and pick any garment, at random, and I know it’ll look really good.

$895 AUD!! Just nope!

They do seem keen on polyester. I looked at this skirt in there after seeing Amanda Wakeley rave about it on a You Tube video. It’s a nice enough skirt but felt unpleasant to the touch and when I looked at the label my jaw dropped.

www.meandem.com/dramatic-maxi-length-skirt-black

I wouldn’t buy polyester for a blazer, and I hate the cheaper blends some brands have been using, but there’s a vast range of quality in synthetics (and I have a fairly good background in textiles). In knits especially, synthetics and semi-synthetics can have desirable qualities that cannot be replicated in natural fibres. They can drape better, and there’s a wide variety of weights. Even the highest end designers will do this in knits. It’s why Tencel is so popular.

linings are usually synthetic. Some varieties of rayon, like cupro, are considered premium lining fabrics, especially Bemberg cupro from Japan. I hate when cupro is sold as “vegan silk” as it’s greenwashing, but it’s a lovely lining and not cheap.

Is this the sort of clothes that no one is expected to buy at full price maybe they have the price like that so you can buy it at 70% off. Agree it’s outrageous inflated rrp. The pleated skirt I think they are all polyester to keep the pleats although the rrp also too high.

I used to really like Me&Em but they have gone down hill of late imo. Higher prices and lower quality. Not uncommon these days but still disappointing. My older pieces from them are still great but I haven’t bought anything from them in a while.

Me and Em was heavily pushed in the Times fashion columns for months and months. Every week there would be a recommendation. I assume there was someone with a vested interest working there.

I expect that prices began to rise when it was known that Angela Rayner shops there and other MP's apparently. Quite a few of her trouser suits are from there .Personally I get most of my things from charity shops and I can check the fabric of clothes and try them on.

You’ve just said exactly what I was going to say. I have lovely clothes from Me and Em, they hang beautifully and wash well. I mostly buy in the sales, with the occasional full price item. Well worth the money.

https://www.meandem.com/textured-stripe-bias-cut-maxi-dress-ivory
Italian tweed dress.

Can this material be called tweed?

*Main Fabric: 40% Recycled Polyester, 26% Linen, 25% Recycled Cotton, 7% Polyester, 2% Viscose
Piping: 40% Recycled Polyester, 26% Linen, 25% Recycled Cotton, 7% Polyester, 2% Viscose

Made from an Italian tweed that includes a blend of linen, cotton and recycled fibres. This fabric has a softly textured weave, which gives a soft yet structured feel.*

I remember getting slated on here in the early days of me+em for saying I wasn’t going to spend hundreds on polyester trousers! Perfectly prepared to believe there are different grades of polyester, but the difference between Primark and Me+Em polyester is not hundreds of pounds…

Yes! Apart from their t-shirts when they've got a 20% off offer, I no longer really buy from them. A lot of polyester now.

It's a very average high street brand so to be expected.

I think people see polyester and think it’s all the same crap, it is not, there is huge variation , me and em use the most luxurious version , which will behave better than a natural fabric and feel like a very high end material,

I wear a lot of me and em, snd none of their clothes feel or behave like cheap material

I am guessing you’re not a customer of theirs, as you’d know this.

But I buy from them knowing the quality is very good and it’s cut properly. The fact that it’s polyester and £350 … I see your side of the argument, but…it’ll look amazing when you put it on, so that’s what I’m going for.

I think that's a fair point. I've not seen the jacket but, if I did, I bet I'd love the shape and the way it hangs and I bet it nails how to get the oversized-without-looking-too-big effect. Me and Em have clever PR and friends in the media and achingly minimalist boutiques but they also spend on design and clever cutting and, I think it's delusional to think you could get the same look and shape at M&S or wherever.

I like Walker Slater and, if I wanted a new, good quality classic, tweed jacket, I'd look there but, if I wanted a more modern cut, I'd look elsewhere. Horses for courses.

But what does annoy me about Me and Em is the way they throw around words like 'tweed' and 'heritage' for fabrics that are nothing of the sort. That's cheeky fuckery.

I'm getting sick to death of everything in the shops being predominantly polyester. It's awful. It's getting harder and harder to find anything with natural fibres in it at all, let alone 100% natural. I don't object to an element of manmade fibre, I realise it can be beneficial in small quantities but as soon as something becomes predominantly man made it changes the feel and the look of the fabric significantly.

I just don’t ‘get’ Me & M. As so many have said, it’s full of manmade ‘clicky’ fabrics.

I think people would be surprised at how poor quality expensive clothes can be - there was a YouTuber or tiktoker that took apart expensive shirts and pointed out which ones used proper tailoring techniques and which ones were knocked up any old how.

“Clicky”?

So many overpriced plastic clothes at the moment. Supermarkets and cheaper stores often sell cotton clothes so these so called names aren’t worth it

It's not the fact that it feels high end, or behaves better, it's still synthetic and a lot of us prefer to give it a miss.

I do still buy quite a lot of Me+Em (too much) as the cuts of the trousers suit me so well - better than any others on the high street. But like everyone else I'm so disappointed at the overuse of polyester (you have to be especially careful with the £350 100% poly dresses but they're not my style anyway).

Unfortunately, private equity involvement plus expansion into America generally spells the end for what might start out as a small privately owned quality brand. I've seen it so many times before.

Thanks for whoever recommended Colenimo - I'll definitely be looking there in future. I'm in Edinburgh a lot and can go to Walker Slater but it's a bit country-set for me - I wish they did some more modern relaxed blazers. It's the holy grail especially as I'm petite which makes it even harder!

I don't even want to talk about Reiss - I've got 100% wool coats from there from decades ago that no longer fit me (keeping for my daughter).

BTW they are not cheap but the Curated make beautiful pure wool and cashmere coats - I finally splurged on a navy one last year. Another thing that's so difficult to find now when you don't have a MaxMara budget.

It’s worse than 62%. The entire lining is polyester as well. That fine - but don’t try to charge more than £50 for it.

You can get 100% cotton t shirts and trousers in Primark (usually “The Edit”) - you just need to look carefully. For £7-10 - better quality than the Me&Em poly mix ones

yes Me&Em have different cuts & colours (and a lot easier to find/get different sizes)

but Primark is certainly upping its game

and yes - there is the “who has made your clothes” question - but unless it’s made in the UK, I’d hazard a guess that they are all coming from the same factories

They are all at it though. Clothes that cost thousands 100% polyester. As I have aged I look more at fabric composition and walk away if not natural or made in China. My money to do as I please with.