Page 9 | Me + Em. £350 for something that is 62% polyester!!

pomeglamate · 2026-07-27T20:39:09+00:00

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

FredaMountfitchet · 28/07/2026 22:24

Bought an M&S coat last winter on vinted . Their Italian’ collection so at least 2000 ish
Beautiful quality wool .
I paid £20 think it retailed originally for £160 .
I miss quality ….so much
My friend whose handy at sewing often comments how badly finished off ‘higher end’ high st stuff is .
Depressing if you love clothes .

SuperGinger · 28/07/2026 23:45

I had some super Me & Em wool trousers from a few years ago, and as a brand they seemed to have lots of natural fibres available. I suspect what's happened is some private equity people now have a hand on the business as they seem to be more mainstream and they are trying to maximise returns. It certainly feels more "fast fashion" than 10 years ago and the prevalence of more polyester would support that argument

As a fashionable brand, I think it was curtains for Me & Em after Angela Rayner wore it a few times. Sorry Ange!

SapphireSeptember · 29/07/2026 00:02

Thebigarsedbitch · 28/07/2026 13:12

I'm not sure that people realize that there are many different grades of polyester just as there are with cotton, wool, linen and silk. The highest grade of polyester will, to the uninitiated, be virtually indistinguishable from a natural fabric with the same appearance characteristics. It's all to do with the width and fineness of the yarn and the weave. And since the advances in digital printing, most clothing manufacturers now select fabrics that contain either a percentage of polyester, or have a polyester coating,so that they can use dye sublimation inks, which enable them to cut out several steps in the printing process. I think your Me & Em jacket will look and feel just as you would expect a fine wool tweed to look and feel, but will offer the added advantage of being more hard wearing and far less creasing.
I do get really tired of people bleating about only wearing 'natural fabrics' like some middle class bage of honour. In truth, cotton, silk and linen are all bastard fabrics to wear, as they crease terribly and are often a costly nightmare to launder.
IMO no one wearing a linen dress or trousers can ever afford to sit down, if they want to remain neat and fresh looking. And if you are in any way a sweaty person, linen in particular, becomes horribly damp and makes a point of creasing around any area of female fat in a most unattractive way.
I used to travel a lot and my expensive business suits were invariably polyester mixed with a natural fabric. This meant they came out of my suitcase looking as good as they went into it and ensured that I always looked smart and professional. And, as someone who is what a friend unkindly described as 'swarthy' I always felt very cool and dry regardless of the temperature.

So buy your jacket OP and enjoy wearing it because I can guarantee that no one will ever know that it's made from polyester unless you show them the label!

Edited

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I'm not middle class, far from it. I prefer natural fibres. I don't care if they crease, I can chuck them in the washing machine (yes, even silk or wool if you use the right setting and detergent) and as our ancestors wore linen and wool (unless they were rich enough to afford silk or cotton) and managed, I think I'll be fine. Linen especially has incredible moisture wicking properties and gets softer the more you wash it.

I watched a video the other day of some women doing a Bronze Age historical reenactment, wearing linen and wool. They were in Belgium during a heatwave, and were reasonably comfortable. If they'd been wearing polyester it would have been unbearable.

knitnerd90 · 29/07/2026 01:14

I adore linen but I’ll be the first person to tell you it can turn into a creased nightmare.

wool is actually my favorite fibre — so versatile depending on if it’s woven or knit, at what weight, etc. Wears well, packs well, doesn’t crease if it’s knit, breathable, and doesn’t need to be laundered after every wear unless you have spilt something on it. In the US I picked up 80% wool knit tops that were basically T-shirt weight but better than cotton.

EleanorMc67 · 29/07/2026 02:09

I love good-quality natural fibres. And yes, a small percentage of synthetics (such as polyester or nylon) can make them a bit more hard wearing, more resistant to creasing, & increase longevity. Larger percentages, though, are usually to reduce costs ...

However, semi-synthetics (rayon - ie viscose/lyocell/modal), when mixed with natural fibres, also confer strength, resistance to creasing etc - & unlike natural/synthetic blends they remain fully biodegradable.

In fact, that's what Me+Em have done with their "Creaseless Linen" range - it's 53% linen & 47% viscose. There are, however, plenty of linen/viscose blends used by other clothing retailers, which will also be more resilient & resistant to wrinkling etc.

2O26 · 29/07/2026 05:05

Polyester clothes are bad in fires because the fabric melts, drips hot plastic, and sticks to the skin. It also releases thick black smoke. Polyester clothes do not breathe, making you feel sweaty. They absorb oils and sweat from your skin and retain them—even after washing, your clothes still smell. They retain bacteria that get trapped in the synthetic fibers. Manufacturers add silver-coated threads directly into synthetic fabrics to combat the strong smells caused by sweat.

I convinced my DH to switch to wearing merino wool t-shirts instead of synthetic workout wear and he much prefers it. His t-shirts don't stink anymore!

minnowonthesay · 29/07/2026 06:18

I think the polyester revolution also suits the new generation of non ironers, some twenty and thirty somethings I know do not iron anything, they don’t even own irons 😱

Nanda66 · 29/07/2026 06:44

minnowonthesay · 29/07/2026 06:18

I think the polyester revolution also suits the new generation of non ironers, some twenty and thirty somethings I know do not iron anything, they don’t even own irons 😱

I think that’s a fairly sweeping generalisation. I’m late 50s and although I don’t mind ironing I love clothes that don’t need to be ironed every time I wear them. Linen always makes me look like a crumpled mess, I can’t carry off the Judi Dench look, so a linen blend with polyester works well for me. I love Me and Em clothes, but Next do some good linen blends.

I’ve just bought some lovely Me and Em tops in the sale. One is 100% cotton, the other 95% cotton.

TheRealGoose · 29/07/2026 06:51

Floisme · 28/07/2026 18:39

I might have added to the Tweed confusion because I posted about how the thread reminded me of another Me and Em jacket I'd seen a couple of years ago that was described as tweed but contained about 13% wool. That was a different jacket entirely though so sorry for that.

And yes, as a previous poster pointed out, I understand that tweeds (aside from the likes of Harris Tweed that are legally protected) aren't required to be wool. But I think they're using that word quite deliberately because they know it's normally associated with wool. That's what pisses me off.

I do like the cut of Me and Em clothes and I do think the tailoring is good. I really disagree with anyone saying a £50 jacket from somewhere like Next would look just the same. But I object to the sleight of hand. Even if they're not out and out lying, I think it's sly and it puts me off them.

(Typo edit)

Edited

But they don’t use the word, only the op did? I’m unsure why you’re pissed off when they didn’t even claim it to be tweed, I mean I get there are some real tweed lovers on here, and I’d get it if they claimed the jacket to be tweed, but they don’t

and if you want natural fibres just click on the other colour.

Floisme · 29/07/2026 07:15

TheRealGoose · 29/07/2026 06:51

But they don’t use the word, only the op did? I’m unsure why you’re pissed off when they didn’t even claim it to be tweed, I mean I get there are some real tweed lovers on here, and I’d get it if they claimed the jacket to be tweed, but they don’t

and if you want natural fibres just click on the other colour.

Show quote history

I think you must be unsure because you’ve not read my post properly.

LisaD76 · 29/07/2026 07:24

This is why I order most of my clothes from SHEIN I have found the quality and materials no different to the high street, was in Tenerife a month ago and bought a dress for €50-60 which the woman said was a silk Italian made dress, realised when washing was mostly polyester, then purchased a €20 dress on the market and realised it was 80% Indian silk, shows how much profit these retailers are making by charging premium for synthetic materials.

YellowSpade · 29/07/2026 07:53

2O26 · 29/07/2026 05:05

Polyester clothes are bad in fires because the fabric melts, drips hot plastic, and sticks to the skin. It also releases thick black smoke. Polyester clothes do not breathe, making you feel sweaty. They absorb oils and sweat from your skin and retain them—even after washing, your clothes still smell. They retain bacteria that get trapped in the synthetic fibers. Manufacturers add silver-coated threads directly into synthetic fabrics to combat the strong smells caused by sweat.

I convinced my DH to switch to wearing merino wool t-shirts instead of synthetic workout wear and he much prefers it. His t-shirts don't stink anymore!

Edited

Any particular brand? I bought my husband a community clothing sports training top but he hated the shape, the weight and everything about it. His Nike plastic stuff stinks. I would love a recommendation!

TheRealGoose · 29/07/2026 08:02

Floisme · 29/07/2026 07:15

I think you must be unsure because you’ve not read my post properly.

Show quote history

Ok,

so you wrote this I understand that tweeds (aside from the likes of Harris Tweed that are legally protected) aren't required to be wool. But I think they're using that word quite deliberately because they know it's normally associated with wool. That's what pisses me off.

I pointed out they didn’t use the word. Now you say I’ve not read it properly. Colour me stupid but you need to explain what I misread.

Floisme · 29/07/2026 08:41

TheRealGoose · 29/07/2026 08:02

Ok,

so you wrote this I understand that tweeds (aside from the likes of Harris Tweed that are legally protected) aren't required to be wool. But I think they're using that word quite deliberately because they know it's normally associated with wool. That's what pisses me off.

I pointed out they didn’t use the word. Now you say I’ve not read it properly. Colour me stupid but you need to explain what I misread.

Show quote history

I don't think I need to explain anything to you but I will do so out of courtesy.

The sentences you have lifted follow on from the first paragraph. Read that paragraph again and you'll see that I'm talking about another Me and Em jacket. I even acknowledge that I might have added to the tweed confusion in doing so, but the point I was making is that this practice - using words associated with high quality to draw you in - isn't a one-off.

I actually like the design and cut of a lot of Me and Em clothes and I've said so more than once but, when they do this, I think it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Waitinggame42023 · 29/07/2026 08:44

I mostly avoid polyester like the plague as I have stubborn eczema under one of my arms that's aggravated by sweat and heat. But it's getting harder to avoid, to the point most of my clothes are bought through Vinted. It was only in the last few years I realised that if I'm browsing clothes in a shop, I explore by touch- I'm assessing the fabric instinctively and like most I can tell the plastic crap immediately.

I also realised how short-changed we are- look at men's clothing, lots of children's clothing, maternity wear- all superior fabrics. High Street brands have clearly realised women are suckers falling for the Emperors New Clothes and the greenwashing all these brands do in the name of higher profits.

You can tell me it's 'high end' polyester and acrylic all you like, you can claim it drapes better and has a better cut and finish (which is highly debatable at best)- but expensive polyester is still polyester. And as a result, will NEVER perform like a natural fibre in terms of breathability and skin feel etc.

So please stop making out like people only value natural fibres out of some sort of archaic stubbornness or misunderstanding. It is you that's misunderstanding the qualities that matter to people.

knitnerd90 · 29/07/2026 09:23

I’m sorry but SHEIN is literal garbage made in slave labour factories. Companies like Me + Em may be cutting corners using polyester (not even better quality rayons) but one touch will show there is a difference between their fabrics and SHEIN. Not to mention the manufacture. Fast fashion is designed to minimize cutting and sewing and to use no complex sewing techniques. The seams won’t be properly finished. They’ll avoid using shaped sleeve caps. Linings will be nonexistent. They’ll use cuts that avoid darts and curved seams. Everything will be made to use straight seams with a minimum of shaping and pleating that requires experienced sewists (by the way, China is now relatively experienced and more expensive for western outsourcing).

This is why inexpensive clothing (not quite SHEIN level polyester) loves knits. You can use the properties of the fabric to avoid the complexities of woven fabric garment construction. You can tell the difference between well made and cheaply made knits because while a well made one may look like a bag on the hanger it will magically develop a shape when you put it on while the cheap one just hangs there.

TheRealGoose · 29/07/2026 11:23

Waitinggame42023 · 29/07/2026 08:44

I mostly avoid polyester like the plague as I have stubborn eczema under one of my arms that's aggravated by sweat and heat. But it's getting harder to avoid, to the point most of my clothes are bought through Vinted. It was only in the last few years I realised that if I'm browsing clothes in a shop, I explore by touch- I'm assessing the fabric instinctively and like most I can tell the plastic crap immediately.

I also realised how short-changed we are- look at men's clothing, lots of children's clothing, maternity wear- all superior fabrics. High Street brands have clearly realised women are suckers falling for the Emperors New Clothes and the greenwashing all these brands do in the name of higher profits.

You can tell me it's 'high end' polyester and acrylic all you like, you can claim it drapes better and has a better cut and finish (which is highly debatable at best)- but expensive polyester is still polyester. And as a result, will NEVER perform like a natural fibre in terms of breathability and skin feel etc.

So please stop making out like people only value natural fibres out of some sort of archaic stubbornness or misunderstanding. It is you that's misunderstanding the qualities that matter to people.

Edited

Who are you talking too. 😂

I find this thread v odd, people have for the right arse over the fact a brand sells a poly mix jacket. The fact they also sell jackets in a mix of other materials. The fact no one is forced to buy from them, the fact there are thousands of retailers selling any type of matieral and quality one may wish is irrelevant.

utterly bizzare. It’s like people think there is only one jacket available in the world.

www.meandem.com/intelligently-oversized-tux-jacket-black

BigSkies2022 · 29/07/2026 11:55

I like Me &Em designs, and they do sell plenty in ‘pure, natural’ fibres. But adding polyester/viscose/lyocell will help with drape and fit and crease resistance. I have a lovely dress and a great pair of trousers in a mix which I bought for those benefits. I could have spent four or five times as much on similar from MaxMara or some haute de gamme brand on Net a Porter and got the same mix. I like natural fibres as much as the next person (and I would want wool for a jacket at £350! And I’d pay for some tailoring post- purchase if need be).

But I do dislike the misleading marketing and I would also point to Ganni for this. I’m not going to be troubled much with their stuff because it’s generally not my style, but I did see a nice shirt dress in a sale a few years ago which fitted the bill. Described on the site as ‘cotton seersucker’, I imagined a lovely airy cool experience. Wasn’t until I wore it and it became a smelly tent that I checked the label and it was half polyester! Cheek of it! I wrote to point out the misleading description on the website, acknowledging that I could have checked it more thoroughly before wearing it, (and binning the bugger) and they were apologetic and said it was all about price points for customers.

I would like to understand what difference it makes in the cost of manufacture because this does seem to be the go-to reason. I used to buy Adidas sports wear because it was ‘recycled’, but the fabric doesn’t bear up well, so you can end up replacing it faster.

TheRealGoose · 29/07/2026 12:10

BigSkies2022 · 29/07/2026 11:55

I like Me &Em designs, and they do sell plenty in ‘pure, natural’ fibres. But adding polyester/viscose/lyocell will help with drape and fit and crease resistance. I have a lovely dress and a great pair of trousers in a mix which I bought for those benefits. I could have spent four or five times as much on similar from MaxMara or some haute de gamme brand on Net a Porter and got the same mix. I like natural fibres as much as the next person (and I would want wool for a jacket at £350! And I’d pay for some tailoring post- purchase if need be).

But I do dislike the misleading marketing and I would also point to Ganni for this. I’m not going to be troubled much with their stuff because it’s generally not my style, but I did see a nice shirt dress in a sale a few years ago which fitted the bill. Described on the site as ‘cotton seersucker’, I imagined a lovely airy cool experience. Wasn’t until I wore it and it became a smelly tent that I checked the label and it was half polyester! Cheek of it! I wrote to point out the misleading description on the website, acknowledging that I could have checked it more thoroughly before wearing it, (and binning the bugger) and they were apologetic and said it was all about price points for customers.

I would like to understand what difference it makes in the cost of manufacture because this does seem to be the go-to reason. I used to buy Adidas sports wear because it was ‘recycled’, but the fabric doesn’t bear up well, so you can end up replacing it faster.

To be fair though they didn’t mislead. Their description is clear. It’s the op who wrote tweedy and for some bizzare reason many folks decided that’s what me and em must say.

recycled polyester can cost anything form a few percentage points more expensive up to 35 percent , but the higher end can be up to 100 percent more expensive due to the quality of the material requirement.

ClaudiaCasswell · 29/07/2026 12:45

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Beingseenisneedy · 29/07/2026 12:47

Thebigarsedbitch · 28/07/2026 13:12

I'm not sure that people realize that there are many different grades of polyester just as there are with cotton, wool, linen and silk. The highest grade of polyester will, to the uninitiated, be virtually indistinguishable from a natural fabric with the same appearance characteristics. It's all to do with the width and fineness of the yarn and the weave. And since the advances in digital printing, most clothing manufacturers now select fabrics that contain either a percentage of polyester, or have a polyester coating,so that they can use dye sublimation inks, which enable them to cut out several steps in the printing process. I think your Me & Em jacket will look and feel just as you would expect a fine wool tweed to look and feel, but will offer the added advantage of being more hard wearing and far less creasing.
I do get really tired of people bleating about only wearing 'natural fabrics' like some middle class bage of honour. In truth, cotton, silk and linen are all bastard fabrics to wear, as they crease terribly and are often a costly nightmare to launder.
IMO no one wearing a linen dress or trousers can ever afford to sit down, if they want to remain neat and fresh looking. And if you are in any way a sweaty person, linen in particular, becomes horribly damp and makes a point of creasing around any area of female fat in a most unattractive way.
I used to travel a lot and my expensive business suits were invariably polyester mixed with a natural fabric. This meant they came out of my suitcase looking as good as they went into it and ensured that I always looked smart and professional. And, as someone who is what a friend unkindly described as 'swarthy' I always felt very cool and dry regardless of the temperature.

So buy your jacket OP and enjoy wearing it because I can guarantee that no one will ever know that it's made from polyester unless you show them the label!

Edited

Show quote history

There are levels of quality with all fabrics.
I've sent back 100% cotton dresses as they were so thin and cheaply made, but sold at a premium.

EM+EM have used cheap polyester for some items, the jacket I ordered was clearly polyester from just the look and feel. I checked the label just to confirm.

It's a case of charging top dollar for cheap materials that's the issue.

TheRealGoose · 29/07/2026 12:48

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Look personal attacks aren’t allowed on here and I’m allowed to join the thread as I see fit. You font get to attack people and try to stop them posting.

CousinBette · 29/07/2026 13:53

SuperGinger · 28/07/2026 23:45

I had some super Me & Em wool trousers from a few years ago, and as a brand they seemed to have lots of natural fibres available. I suspect what's happened is some private equity people now have a hand on the business as they seem to be more mainstream and they are trying to maximise returns. It certainly feels more "fast fashion" than 10 years ago and the prevalence of more polyester would support that argument

As a fashionable brand, I think it was curtains for Me & Em after Angela Rayner wore it a few times. Sorry Ange!

Edited

Nasty and unnecessary comment about Angela Rayner.

Private equity ruins everything it touches. I expect a socialist like Rayner would appreciate this.

2O26 · 29/07/2026 13:56

YellowSpade · 29/07/2026 07:53

Any particular brand? I bought my husband a community clothing sports training top but he hated the shape, the weight and everything about it. His Nike plastic stuff stinks. I would love a recommendation!

Show quote history

Small companies
https://unboundmerino.com Canadian
https://www.simplymerino.ca Canadian
https://www.ridgemerino.com American
https://ibex.com American
https://www.woolx.com American

Big companies
https://www.smartwool.com
https://na.icebreaker.com

They may have UK websites for the above companies.

ClaudiaCasswell · 29/07/2026 13:59

TheRealGoose · 29/07/2026 12:48

Look personal attacks aren’t allowed on here and I’m allowed to join the thread as I see fit. You font get to attack people and try to stop them posting.

Show quote history

🙄