Why are M&S clothes so cheap and nasty?

[tootootired]

I'm not that old but back when I was in my early twenties and just starting work, M&S clothes cost quite a bit and you could find wool trousers and skirts, merino knitwear, lovely cotton shirts and it all lasted for ever. Now they are full of shiny polyester £9.50 trousers - the cheapest thinnest fabric - and acrylic/viscose knitwear.

I just wanted some black bootcut trousers for work and ended up buying nearly the most expensive ones (Autograph) at £29.50, I'm sure they were more than that in 1992. And they are still polyviscose.

Should I have stopped going there ages ago? I just felt the need for this old-lady rant. So disappointing!

Guess it's about profit. They use cheap companies in China and Eastern Europe to mass produce, so they can buy as cheaply as possible in bulk and then mark up several times, making a killing. I think the quality is ok for what it is.

Agree. Very occasionally you can get quality products such as Autograph.
Whatever you say about M&S the same thing applies to Next. Used to be middle to-up market-now it's all tat. wall to wall polyester or T shirts with motifs.

I've given up on all of them and pay a bit more at Jigsaw.

isnt marks nostalgia a bit like MN nostalgia

Pointless you mean? Probalby.

Nearly all brands manufacture in asia even the very upmarket brands.I lived next to china and I could get designer clothes for a fraction of the uk price in the "market" and some small independant shops.I think M&S is ok for the money.I have got some good things there this year.But i think if you go in looking for something specific - maybe there isn't much choice.I know what you mean about the synthetic fabrics .Next has been horrible for the last 2 years.The manager of my local shop says they are selling to the younger kids![but are they the ones with money?]

I agree. M&S and Next are deffo downmarket now

Yes - M&S used to do good wardrobe staples like silk knitted-jersey t-shirts and jumpers in plain wearable colours which looked great and washed brilliantly. And really good cotton stuff.

Now it seems to be mainly old lady clothes, Per Una , cheap nasty t-shirts and boring polyester shite. The Autograph section in our local one is miniscule (and hard to find) and I haven't yet been tempted by anything.

totally agree, the quality of the fabric and the cut is no better than in much cheaper shops. Sometimes I have seen something in an advert/ online which has tempted me but invariably on closer inspection it turns out to be rubbish.

I used to work for M&S in 2004/5 when they were having a real bad time of it. They used to say that their nearest competitor was BHS because they both only do own brand, but have the same departments, eg mens, womens, kids, home, lingerie... so I suppose that shows what they are aiming for!!

They also started doing 'value' ranges to compete with the supermarkets, and it sold really well as people thought 'Oh, I'm getting M&S jeans for £9 instead of £40!'

They're trying to give the people what they want. Unfortunately, they're forgetting about their loyal customers in the process! Those who went to M&S for that bit better quality and cut.

M&S maternity range is appalling this year - when I was pregnant with DS 3 years ago I got some lovely things but this year it's all polyester trousers and tracksuits.

Back in the mid-90s the vast majority of M&S clothing was made in the UK (around 90%). It was the place to go for classic stuff - cotton shirts/wool pullovers/jackets etc although they were always useless with colours. Then they stopped purchasing from the UK and put lots of UK garment workers out of work and bought in cheap stuff from all over the world. I now go into M&S and look at much of the shoddy stuff there and think that it isn't expensive enough for me now - there is a lack of quality merchandise.
The food is still OK as it doesn't come by container from China ... yet.

I absolutely agree. M and S children's dept looks like a stall from the open air market.

I looked on the website, out of 300+ womens trousers, only 2 were over £40, a handful over £35, none had any wool content (although many of the mens suit trousers did).

It's just like, the sort of person who is buying ready chopped vegetables for £1.99 and posh ready meals is hardly going to pick up some £9.50 trousers at the same time. Throwaway society .

I had a £65 M&S voucher in 1994 for a wedding present - I bought a merino cardigan and a wool tartan skirt with it. Now they have one 50% wool skirt, a handful of woolmix cardigans (mostly ridiculous cashmere) and I'd struggle to spend my voucher on only 2 items.

I don't see why they have such a large range but not a wide choice. They have indeed excluded a large part of the market.

Yes the kids clothing is mostly naff and a lot of it is logo'd up with Thomas and his evil ilk.

You'd think they would be the ideal place to get reasonable quality plainish stuff in nice (non-pink) colours, stripes etc, but no.

ttt - you'd be surprised at who actually shops in M&S! We found that most of the food shoppers were pensioners! (Who moaned if they couldn't get their tinned stewing steak!)

But, even though they will spend loads on food shopping,they all wanted the cheaper value clothing, so in a way, they have got it spot on!

But, pensioners will not want the other ranges such as autograph, portfolio, per una etc, so I don't know who they are aimed at!!

Actually I think their men's range is better than the women's, eg the Blue Harbour stuff is quite wearable (by men of a certain age), and seems reasonable quality and fabrics.