M&S has tortured itself and its customers for years with its efforts to develop in-house brands
Marks & Spencer is committing heresy daily this week. First, it summoned a demolition squad to go to work on the fabled Marble Arch store in central London. Now it will sell other people’s clothing brands, including in lingerie, the one part of the non-food operation where market share has remained strong over the years.
The venture into third-party labels is not quite an overnight revolution, it should be said. It is online-only and there has been some small-scale dabbling already. But the introduction of 10 outside brands in one go, including Hobbs, Jules, Sloggi and Triumph, is billed as the first of many waves.
