M&S Back on Fashion Track

Today's Marks & Spencer is more confident and fashionable because it has listened to its customers, according to Steve Longdon, M&S director womenswear.

Longdon states: "Customers told us three years ago that M&S wasn't fashionable enough and wasn't fast enough, so we had to build fashionability back into the supply chain." He further says "We were late getting into offshore production - perhaps 10 to 15 years late - but today we can go from cutting floor to the shopfloor in four weeks."

Speaking to delegates at the Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing Industry (ASBCI) conference last week, Mr. Longdon conceded that Marks & Spencer has allowed itself to be "distracted in the late 1990s." However, "we prided ourselves on our strong relationships with suppliers and although those relationships have been stained, they are still strong."