M&S bringing back St Michael

[winterwonder1]

Here's hoping they bring back St Michael quality - I still have a stack of vintage stuff from the 80s that's been washed hundreds of times but looks barely worn M&S brings back iconic St Michael label in new Aries collab | Oxford Mail

They slapped a St Michael label on a sandwich the other month. Tikka I think it was? Weirds. I don’t expect anything other than the using the label/bale tbh, clothes are not suddenly about it go back to the quality they once were.

Oooh, if only they'd bring back classic 1970s styles - paisley nylon blouses and long pointed collars - I spend hours hunting for that kind of thing in vintage shops.

Agree with this.

We spend loads more as a % on housing now vastly more. We spend less on white goods computers printers as a %. But its more that the prices we once spent in normal high street shops would now feel outrageously expensive.

I really, really liked the idea of the Best Of British collection, but some of the design choices they made were questionable - a lot of ‘editorial’ fugliness that really appealed to fashion editors but was less wearable for your average M&S shopper. I’ve got a nice tweed blazer from that collection, and wanted to buy more but most of it just looked weird on me. (Massive jangly prints, clumpy shoes, huge cricket jumpers, etc)

What I WANTED from that project was a plain cashmere jumper from Hawick that I could wear for years, a classic black tailored skirt cut by some Savile Row tailor, a sea island cotton white shirt… I still wish they’d do something like that, under the St Michael brand.

I don't think it's even about prices. I very much doubt it would be physically possible now to bring clothing manufacturing back to this country on the kind of scale M&S would need. It would take unprecedented levels of investment and training and I just can't see it happening.

I had it down as being mid to late 90s - when the St. M brand was being phased out. When garments have this particular label in them, take a look at the care/composition label. There'll be a year on the reverse side.

Well other shops have manufactured small quantities in the UK before & there are factories about but the prices are prohibitive so not suitable for the scale of production M&S would need so it’s a bit chicken & egg.

Price is a massive constraint, the cost price of a garment manufactured here will be a lot higher than the selling price in high street shops.

Wasn’t St Michael the patron saint of underpants ? From a comedian back in the day.

I hope so! I have a gorgeous burgundy velvet strappy cami from the 90s that used to be my mums, with a jewel embelihm on the should where the strap joins the top that is still like new. Would be great if they brought that quality back now. No way something dark coloured, in a delicate fabric with such detailed embellishments would last 30 years now without the colour fading, or the jewels falling off or something

You could be right , I looked on the back of the label and there is a 94 on it so maybe 1994 so just a mere 32 years old !

The womenswear director is from Topshop & you can see it, this collab makes sense with the whole trying to attract a younger shopper aim.

Just so excited to see St Michael logo back - fingers crossed they’ve realised people value it.

Good. As long as it means something of course. It used to be a byword for reliable quality and not cheap things but value for money.

If that bizarre, photo-shopped/AI generated, anorexic image that accompanies the announcement is anything to go by then I am not hopeful.

There's loads of women in their late 40s onwards who used to work at the M&S factory in Sunderland. I reckon they'd pick it straight back up again if they were rebuilt.

As long as they go back to the values

Ive still crewneck fine knit jumpers from the 80's and twin sets - Im 6o's now , bought in my teens , and been put away and bought out for years

Used to wait for each season to see the new colours and if wanting dark colours in the summer - just bought the mens range

It’s all over Vinted

I bought a pure wool Guernsey jumper, which is very vintage St Michael, for £10 on Vinted. It’s my best ever purchase - and my 23 yo Dd covets it too. The quality is superb. If the new St M. quality is half as good, then it will be great.

I have some lovely vintage St. Michael pieces, which I have bought from Ebay and Vinted. I have been complimented on them by others. The clothes are mostly from the nineties but I have a patent box style St. Michael handbag from the sixties. The difference between these and modern items is quality. Everything is stitched properly and the fitting and attention to detail is what makes them stand out. They were almost all made in the UK. As others have said, if M & S can bring back the same quality, then it could work. Otherwise, it is simply a gimmick.
It is not only vintage St. Michael. I have a silky dressing gown that my mother bought from BHS for a birthday or Christmas present for me around thirty years ago. I had not worn it for a long time as it had become too small for me but I have recently lost a lot of weight and am able to wear it again. The fit and quality are luxurious. If we could get it right in the twentieth century, where did it all go so very wrong in the twenty-first century?

Wouldn’t that be amazing?

Retail has changed drastically in that time.