M&S faces backlash for selling Ann Summers crotchless knickers online

The items are not an M&S own-brand launch. They are produced by Ann Summers and sold through the retailer’s online marketplace, which has hosted third-party clothing and underwear brands for roughly five years. M&S framed the addition as routine in a statement: “Our ‘brands at M&S’ strategy is all about giving customers greater choice through carefully selected third-party brands that complement our existing M&S offer. Ann Summers is one of the latest brands to join [M&S online], helping broaden our underwear and nightwear offer.” Catherine Shuttleworth, chief executive of retail consultancy Savvy, told The Guardian that the partnership fits a wider effort to pull in younger shoppers.

“They’ve started introducing brands to bring them into sectors that probably isn’t their core,” she said. “And this is another one. It’s just a little bit more eye-catching.” In 2024, people under 30 accounted for a third of M&S underwear sales, double the share in 2023. Shuttleworth also noted the publicity value. “It doesn’t really matter whether they sell any crotchless pants or not, we’re all going to be talking about it,” she said. “You might also go online to look. You might not buy those, but you’ll think: ‘I could do with replacing my pants.’”

Lorraine Topper, a researcher at The Underpinnings Museum, told The Guardian the outrage is disproportionate. “M&S have always followed fashion with regard to their lingerie designs,” she said. “For some reason, it’s the multipack of full briefs that sticks in people’s heads when you talk about their underwear, rather than, for example, the beautiful lace designs from the Rosie Exclusively range.” She described the reaction as “a fuss over nothing,” adding that open-crotch underwear was normal for women before the 1920s.

The controversy also obscures the breadth of M&S’s underwear offer. Its current bestseller is a five-pack of white full briefs. The retailer has sold underwear since the 1920s, fitted bras since 1947, and was the first to sell pre-shrunk cotton underwear in 1965. By 2016 it was selling 60 million pairs of knickers a year, and styles have ranged from hip-huggers in the 1960s to thongs, Brazilians, and period knickers.

The Ann Summers items are sold only online, not in physical aisles.