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Marks & Spencer unveils its most durable, "hand-me-downable" and sustainable Back to School range to date

Lauretta Roberts
06 July 2021

Marks & Spencer Kids has unveiled a new campaign highlighting the sustainable credentials of its new Back to School collection, which is also currently on offer at 20% off.

The campaign follows last week's news that the retailer had partnered with Clarks – many parents go-to brand for school shoes – offering its products in select stores and on its website.

M&S was one of the first UK retailers to create kids clothes made from organic Fairtrade cotton back in 2006 an it is upping the ante with its 2021 Back to School offer with organic cotton used across all knitwear, jersey, and sweats.  

The retailer is also introducing both sustainably sourced viscose, sustainably sourced trims (including sewing thread, buttons, and interlining) and more recycled polyester than previous years.

Marks & Spencer

M&S sells 2m polos a year so has selected this as the hero item of the range, creating its most sustainable polo ever using organic cotton fabric with interlining, threads and buttons containing recycled material.

In addition, the entire range has been created to pass the “hand-me-down” test including coats that have space for three names in the label so a 2021 purchase can be used by siblings or friends in years to come.

With Back to School being the third biggest retail event of the year, M&S has made the experience easier to shop both online and in-store.

Later this month the retailer will launch new visual category filters on M&S.com making it even easier for customers to shop the entire range, while in-store customers will benefit from helpful “checklists” as well as M&S’s expert clothing colleagues. All M&S uniform, including the new Clarks school shoe offer, will be available online for free next day click & collect to over 600 M&S stores. 

Alice Duggan, Head of M&S Kids said: “We’re really proud to serve little ones who we know care about the big things, and as a major uniform retailer, we have a responsibility to keep working on making our offer more sustainable and kinder to the planet. This year we’ve got more recycled items than ever before, and we’re really pleased to be moving to organic cotton. With so much for parents to think about, we want to give them the confidence that our offer is more sustainable than ever, whilst making it even easier for them to shop both in-store and online.”

Marks & Spencer

Back to School 2021 is part of M&S’s ongoing focus on kidswear as part of a strategic shift from “special occasion” to "everyday style & value" encompassing both uniform and casual daywear for after-school and weekends. M&S says its efforts have led to an increase in market share of +0.5% on pre-pandemic levels.

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