Just noticed this from a SF post.
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Mens-Best-of-British-Mens/b/3341016031
£600 coats, £300 boots, double monks & £500 Donegal jackets.
M&S used to do 90% British made - but at more affordable prices.
If The Bishop was still posting he would have checked all this stuff out by now in the Kingston branch.
Shame he called it a day.
The Bish aside, I can't see this flying.
The M&S customer is surely not this demographic ?
^ I agree.
If you are going to spend that sort of dosh you will not do it at Marks. I suppose Marks cannot put the clock back. Many of their suppliers folded when Marks sourced cheaper goods abroad. British Home Stores no longer offer cheap Shetland jumpers.
Still, there might be some heavily discounted items in the January sale.
I'm loving that top coat, however at £599 its £51 under the cost of a cut & trim bespoke jobbie by my tailor. If it was £300 I'd check it out in store. This range though will get me into M&S the next time I'm over in Blighty. I've not bothered with it since they stopped doing their Italian stuff of a few years ago.
M&S good ready made food, but the rest: ideal christmas gifts to be taken back for the no questions asked refund.
^ I would never buy food at Marks. My sisters had Saturday jobs at Marks when we were kids so we had a fair amount of knocked down Marks grub back in the day.
I like Prince of Wales check - but in a suit or a jacket - rather than a coat. If I was interested in any of their upmarket kit I would try it on for size and get it in the sale. I have a pal who used to buy the stuff full price before Christmas, then return it on Christmas Eve so that he could could be sure to get it in his size in the January sale.
On your behalf I popped into M&S today (It was raining and I wanted a wee) and barely recognised the old place. The new clothes are good quality and well put together I think, but they just seem to be in the wrong shop. Maybe this is some attempt by M&S to re-brand and reposition themselves in the market place?
This topic is getting me quite excited, as the new M&S store in the Hague is coming along quite nicely, the opening is very soon.
As I've said previously.
M&S have upped the quality on quite a lot of their stuff.
Not bad stuff for knocking abaht in.
So the killer question remains: Would one spend this kind of money in M&S ?
Depends what the fit, cut and quality is like.
If its up to snuff, I don't see why not.
Are we stylists or label hunters?
A valid point. Personally, I'd need a major re-think of all my preconceptions to get my head around the idea. I did buy a lambswool plaid scarf whilst in the shop today: £15. That's my conception of M&S.
Back in 1986/87, M&S tried to rebrand themselves as something other than what the OAPs and lower management shopped at for their clothes, I fell for it and purchased a zip-up jacket. To my dismay, every other OAP I passed seemingly had purchased the same jacket! You can get with many things, but that M&S silhouette is not one of them.
Their loos are nice and clean though.
I should say that I have a Tee from M&S that has to be over ten years old and is still fighting fit. I for one would spend the money if the product is good enough. My problem is that for not that much more I can get the top coat in a cut & trim. Thats the cut off point for me with RTW, when you can get it bespoke for the same dosh its a non starter. The travel bag looks fantastic though.
I used to look after the boss of Marks so he was a Savile row man, I can see where this is coming from. I remember him talking about a £100 suit they were doing and I thought oh my god, he's not really going to seriously plug this himself? I think in the interview he said something like "I'm wearing the suit and it's not that bad"!
Hang on, sorry, I was talking about Stuart Rose, didn't realize he had moved on from Marks, not been back to England in 5 years.
I came across a slightly used Marks & Sparks mid grey linen single vent suit today. I might try it on tomorrow. Italian cloth it said. My size too. $20aud.
"Harvey's Bristol Cream : You'll have tasted worse."