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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Sean Clarke

The M&S pants debate: you decide


Smalls mercy ... Should M&S be forgiven for underwear blunders? Photograph: Graeme Robertson

Marks and Spencer's chief executive gives a spirited response in today's Guardian to a piece by Laura Barton suggesting his store's clothing is "actually a bit duff". Barton herself was responding to a letter of complaint from Jeremy Paxman, asking Rose to restore the gussets of M&S underpants to their former majesty.

As an expert on the matter - I've been wearing underpants on and off now for some 30 years (not the same pair) - I tend to agree with Paxman in as far as he goes. But for me it's more about the weight of the cotton. M&S trunks are now made of such flimsy cotton that you can see through them, which is definitely a quality I seek in other people's underwear rather than my own.

So over to you... Are you appalled by underperforming underwear? Or do you agree with Stuart Rose, who says - surrendering hostages to fortune - that the range and quality of M&S smalls is matched only by that of their cheeses.

(As an aside, I have seen a photograph of Paxman when he was editor of the Cambridge University newspaper which might suggest why he has such trouble with weakened gussets. Does anyone have this picture? And who knew he had a Bebo page? Plus the inevitable spoof.)

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