The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
M&S shortens trousers after complaints from older customers
Long-standing shoppers feel let down by the brand, complaining it is ‘difficult to find clothes to fit’
MARKS & SPENCER has reduced the length of its trousers after older customers complained that they were too long.
The brand has been praised for its new and updated offering which has appealed to Generation Z, with day dresses and wide-legged trousers targeting younger shoppers.
But long-standing customers complained that they felt “let down” by the chain’s new fashion strategy.
Last week, Marks & Spencer reported a 4.8 per cent increase in clothing and home sales in the 13 weeks to Dec 30, having regained its crown as the UK’s leading womenswear retailer in November after four years trailing Next.
But customers complained that staple trousers and skirts are too long, and that there is a shortage of neutral tones.
A Marks & Spencer spokesman said almost all of its trousers and jeans come in shorter lengths and that more than half of dresses are available in smaller sizes online.
The length of bottoms on wide and straight leg trousers has been reduced, the spokesman continued, following feedback from customers.
The spokesman said: “Throughout the design process, our technical experts follow a robust fitting process and set of standards which is based on extensive UK sizing data – with a key focus on fit and comfort. For example, we’ve recently reduced the length of all our bottoms following feedback from customers.”
The adjusted lengths began arriving in stores and online in November and December with the full range expected to be updated by spring. The measurements will vary depending on the style, fit and feedback for each product.
Lisa Howarth said in a letter to The Telegraph, published on Jan 13, that she had been a customer of Marks &
Spencer for more than six decades, but had stopped buying clothes there as she needed shorter lengths. Mrs Howarth wrote that Marks & Spencer’s “new way forward has abandoned older shoppers”.
Joanna Owens, 79, from Hertfordshire, wrote that she had been told by store assistants at the chain that there was little demand for shorter lengths as she struggled to find clothes to fit.
She said: “I hastened to remind the assistant that people of my vintage tend to shrink, and it is an ongoing frustration that we find it so difficult to obtain clothes that fit.”
Barbara Solomons wrote that, at age 84 and with a height of less than 5ft, she had decided that she had enough clothes to see her out, after “giving up” on shopping at Marks & Spencer.
In 2019, the retailer abandoned its Classic Collection, a range which was launched in 2001 to appeal to its “core” over-55 customers.
This reflected efforts which began as far back as 2013, when John Dixon, then executive director of general merchandise, admitted that the brand’s “customers are increasingly fashion literate”. In the past decade, Marks & Spencer has aimed its designs at a younger, more fashion-driven audience, also ending a long-running collaboration with 60s supermodel Twiggy.
In September, Sienna Miller, the 42-year-old actress and model, was unveiled as the face of the autumn collection, modelling looks including a pair of “flood-length” wide-legged cream trousers.
Last summer, it partnered with the Lionesses, dressing the female footballers in what the brand called “slouchy wide-leg trousers, cut to give a flowing silhouette”.
Jan Riches, 72, said: “It’s not the quality, it is just the availability of the classic styles that suit an older lady. I understand them trying to appeal to the younger shoppers but the classic knitwear and cashmere jumpers and trousers, I just don’t think they are available anymore.”
She explained: “Most of the cardigans these days seem to be short-crop cardigans. They don’t suit me.”
Ms Riches said she felt “let down” by Marks & Spencer’s colour choices. She said: “I look on their website and think, ‘I like that item but I don’t like that colour’. I don’t like these luminous yellows and blues that they have.
“I prefer muted colours, and so I find it difficult to find something that I like that fits me.”