Iconic British retailer Marks and Spencer has attracted criticism after taking the decision to sell a bra that can be worn no longer than eight hours.

The stick-on strapless bra, which retails for £20, is marketed as being ideal for backless and strapless dresses or tops, and comes complete with a manufacturer’s tag that states the bra should not be worn any more than the eight hour period.

The warning is thanks to the bra’s high silicone content. While this helps the strapless number stick to the skin, it can also lead to irritation among some users. According to the Marks and Spencer website, the bra is in fact 100% polyester, with the only silicone being a small trim edging. The website also praises the bra for its ability to look invisible under clothes, its ability to provide support and for its smoothly moulded cups.

Further advice on the site confirmed that eight hours was the maximum recommended wear time, though this has been met with a less than favourable reaction by some. Customers have laughed off the suggestion that after eight hours the bra should be removed, with many women pointing to a 12 hour day on the run as over-riding the maker’s label. There was also the notion of a great strip down at the end of the eight hours, though most customers are usually in the workplace, school or supermarket at this time, none the most suitable for undressing.

Britain’s second largest retailer remains bullish as profit forecasts exceed expectations.

Debenhams announced yesterday that its yearly pre-tax profit would likely rise by 20m per cent. The increase comes on the back of designer range performance and online sales.

The company predicted that it would hit the £150 million profit mark, with the recent trends of store expansion and discounting helping to fuel coffers by £3 million over what analysts had previously forecast. However, at stores that had been open to the public for at least one year, overall sales were flat compared with the previous 12 months.

Despite the unsteady consumer environment, which has seen the public sector suffer widespread job cuts, material costs rise and austerity measures hinder spending, Debenhams has been able to produce the upbeat estimate which covers the year until 28 August. Deputy chief executive for Debenhams, Michael Sharp, said the store was well placed to cope with what has been a challenging storm. Mr Sharp said the impending VAT rise was an obvious concern for all retailers, but that his company’s commitment to offering the right products at right prices had served them well in times of financial hardship. Mr Sharp also acknowledged that online sales had seen a significant rise, with many customers trending towards the time and money saving alternative.

With 160 stores across Britain and Ireland, Debenhams is the UK’s second largest sales retailer behind John Lewis, and also features stores in Denmark and over 60 franchised outlets overseas.

Britain’s second largest retailer remains bullish as profit forecasts exceed expectations.

Debenhams announced yesterday that its yearly pre-tax profit would likely rise by 20m per cent. The increase comes on the back of designer range performance and online sales.

The company predicted that it would hit the £150 million profit mark, with the recent trends of store expansion and discounting helping to fuel coffers by £3 million over what analysts had previously forecast. However, at stores that had been open to the public for at least one year, overall sales were flat compared with the previous 12 months.

Despite the unsteady consumer environment, which has seen the public sector suffer widespread job cuts, material costs rise and austerity measures hinder spending, Debenhams has been able to produce the upbeat estimate which covers the year until 28 August. Deputy chief executive for Debenhams, Michael Sharp, said the store was well placed to cope with what has been a challenging storm. Mr Sharp said the impending VAT rise was an obvious concern for all retailers, but that his company’s commitment to offering the right products at right prices had served them well in times of financial hardship. Mr Sharp also acknowledged that online sales had seen a significant rise, with many customers trending towards the time and money saving alternative.

With 160 stores across Britain and Ireland, Debenhams is the UK’s second largest sales retailer behind John Lewis, and also features stores in Denmark and over 60 franchised outlets overseas.

The discount fashion chain store that became a success story on high street has had its bubble burst.

Primark, whose expansion drive has placed them on many British shopping lists, has reported slow summer sales as consumer confidence took a battering.

Shares in Associated British Foods (AB Foods), the firm’s parent group, fell 1.5 per cent as the news became known of marked slowdown in sales growth.

While full-year budgets and profit earnings for the retailer are still on track to beat forecasts, Primark warned that tough times lie ahead as increased living costs and the impending VAT changes would spell trouble times in 2011. The fashion industry is now bracing itself for the next round of sales updates from fellow high street staples Next and Debenhams, due out next week, with analysts anticipating that similar grim outlooks will be commonplace.

The Primark chain, which consists of 204 retail outlets, makes up one-third of the group’s profit at AB Foods. Its like-for-like sales slowed in the three months till mid-September by around 4 per cent, meaning the year now sits at an increase of 6 per cent following the 8 per cent first half performance.

John Bason, AB Foods finance director, said that the previous fourth quarter sales, made longer by an Indian summer in 2009, meant that the last quarter showed a decline of closer to ten per cent. Bason added that Primark would remain cautious in the way it handled the outlook and the UK consumer.

The wealthy are being urged to follow the lead of Lord Sainsbury.

The philanthropic Tory peer has made a £25 million donation to the British Museum, in what could herald a new shift in funding.

The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, called on the rich of Britain to do more to fund the preservation of cultural institutions on Sunday, after the Lord Sainsbury pledge has outstripped government funding on its own. Hunt said that the government did not wish to rely on the generosity of private individuals to fill the funding gap in the culture budget, which has been shaved by 25 per cent, but added that he hoped more like Lord Sainsbury would come forward to help bankroll national institutions.

The donation, which was the largest in Britain since the National Gallery was given £50 million in 1995 by Sir Paul Getty, naturally delighted museum officials who have been anxiously awaiting on news for how to go about managing their own funding cuts.

The money from the donation will go towards a new Lord Rogers-designed £135m exhibition space and conservation centre, which will house temporary, blockbuster shows and play home to specialist conservation laboratories. Popular exhibits, including the soon to be released Book of the Dead show on Egyptian antiquity, are currently displayed in a temporary viewing area inside an old reading room. The government had initially promised to donate 22.5m for the new facility, with around 70 per cent of the funding target now met.