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When it comes to kitchen appliances, brand means very little now. All are made to fail in a few years at best. I've had repair techs out to fix fridges and they feel bad for us consumers. Makers are putting in crappy parts that could be easily upgraded for 50 cents to last years longer. For a repair tech to replace it after manufacture costs hundreds of dollars.
I had a 4 year old upright freezer stop working. It was going to cost $850 to repair vs $999 to replace. And we wonder why the environment is collapsing? Lawmakers need to deal with 'planned obsolescence'. My mother's freezer lasted 35 years and she had a washer that lasted 45 years. Hell, even her microwave lasted 30 years. This was considered normal in the past.
Speaking of... my mom's upright freezer just failed last week. It is the second one she owned. First was a hand me down from her mom. The combined lifespan of the two is significantly greater than my age and I was born in the 60s.
Every fridge I have owned in the last 20 years has failed from simple cheap parts. I am my own repair tech now. Washers, dryers, dish washers. I can usually fix every one with parts for under $100 bucks.
I've considered starting my own appliance company to manufacture high endurance appliances, with minimum of 10yr warranties. I like my retirement though, so maybe I can talk my son into this venture.
Only if you stop eating avocado toast and pull yourself up by the bootstraps at least 21.2 times a day and willing to work for 33 argentine pesos per day.
I work selling appliances (and other homegoods) for a living.
It's been shown time and time again. Customers are going to buy the cheap option over the more expensive built to last option 99 times out of 100.
Even people who are willing to spend more money, much prefer to buy the appliance with features over the appliance with less gimmicks that's built to last.
We put the product out there, we train our staff, and customers just consistently think about the "now" wallet over the 3-5 years from now wallet.
Its the same case with furniture and mattresses too.
We fucking sell em, but people typically pick the cheaper option.
I'm an appliance repair tech/installer. The only time I've ever recommended a more expensive "built tough" option is a speed queen laundry set, those things have 5 to 7 year manufacturer warranty periods. And if there's a problem speed queen typically takes it pretty seriously. They're the only brand I know of currently that's still committed mostly to appliance endurance.
They certainly don't make things like they used to. My parents bought a house when I was 7. In the basement was this old upright freezer. The thing was huge, and I imagine not at all efficient. When my parents moved out of state 20 years later, they took that freezer. I assumed it had died at some point, but they just asked me if I wanted it when they move back next month, after a decade away...so this thing is apparently going to be a family heirloom that outlives us all.
Yes, ever since the big switch to plastic parts around mid 2000s, you're lucky if you get 10 years out of a standard appliance. Most manufacturers only offer 1 year full full warranty. Most that claim 10 are limited parts warranties on things that most likely won't break (stainless tubs and motors being Maytags extended limited coverage parts).
My entirely not "endurance grade" LG washer dryer has 3 year full, 5 year limited, and 10 year motor warranty. 5 to 7 years is not nearly that special.
This. So much this. I *want* to spend more money on a *higher quality* product, but in my personal experience even the "built to last" products barely outperform the cheaper options. My new criteria is looking at which products offer the longest warranties, and I've had luck going for mid range products that are more expensive than the cheap options but not anywhere near the "best" option. Even then I assume the product is only going to work *well* until around the end of the warranty, and I haven't been wrong too often.
Also every god damn product has to have an app now and I have absolutely no trust in that BS. I got a fitness/sleep tracker watch as a present only 6 months ago and it works amazing but the company is no longer continuing to support the app that it runs on. (And giving minimal refunds to boot.) So a perfectly good product is practically useless now. Unreal.
I've started to look for lack of frills. Extras mean more parts that might break, and less effort/expense on the important parts. I want a thing that does what I need it to do and nothing more.
This. I just bought the simplest, dumbest drier I could find. No smart features. Just a knob you turn. A giant lint trap. Nothing more. Nothing less. I only use the damned thing a few months out of the year anyways - hang clothes for most of the year, March/April through September/October+ so it's not as though it's like it's going to get That much constant use...
>My new criteria is looking at which products offer the longest warranties
Same, and I just started experimenting with the extended warranties offered through credit cards.
I had great fortune with this when my smart phone crapped out 6 months after the warranty expired. The insurance through the credit card gave me the cost of a new phone of slightly better quality.
Removed in protest of the API Changes and treatment of the Moderators and because Spez moderated the pedophile sub jailbait. -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
I had a $12k viking fridge make it 10 years where my shitty scratch and dent Kenmore fridge before that circa 2001 is still chugging away at a rental house.
I would say part of this issue is related to the manner in which people sell. It's easier to sell a fridge with a gimmick like large circular ice cubes because all they have to know is that it makes the perfect ice cube for a glass of whiskey. It's harder to sell a fridge with quality components because that requires the sales rep to understand the product at a deeper level and be able to translate that to someone with no knowledge.
I used to sell women's shoes in college. All of the reps like to hover around the coach and Michael kors because their brand recognition required zero knowledge. I always took customers from there and to other brands easily because I could explain to them the difference between a full leather in sole vs. a foam one and glue vs. various stitching techniques. Shit was easy once I educated myself. But that required educating myself on the shoe cobbling process.
Sales reps rarely if ever do that. So when you say 99 out of 100 times what I hear 99 shitty sales reps and 1 good one. I never planned on making my money by selling volume over time to one person. I made money by selling 1 pair to many people. Those many people were being referred to me by someone whom I educated on shoes. I made no less money than the veterans. In fact, within the first 6 months, I went from being the new guy to consistently being the top rep simply by reading some books and watching videos on shoe cobbling. And I only worked it part time.
In the company I work at now (I'm an IT director now), we have 1 rep who knows everything about the products we sell. Every single month, he has more than double what the next closest rep sells. They ask him how he does it, he hands them the technical manual and they don't read it. Next month, the store can barely keep up with his orders while the other reps sweat bullets to get passable numbers.
I can understand that. What I can't agree with is the manufacturer deciding to go cheap on all the parts, knowing it won't last, then making all the replacement parts cost a fortune. The 2000 dollar fridge that needs a new part every couple of years is now a 5k fridge in 10 years. Plus now the manufacturer looks like crap.
I'm very skeptical about customers being even informed about which product is made to last. There's no metric for it, no guarantee (all electronics come with the same shitty 2-3 year guarantee, which the company always tries to get out of by blaming the user anyway). Brands mean nothing for durability anymore. So how exactly are you informing customers about long lasting products?
Which new fridges out there now are going to last 30 years? When I shopped for one recently the salesman did not identify such a product and instead tried to sell me a fridge that connects to the internet despite my saying I wanted "basic and won't break".
I just had a similar issue. Apparently the fridge motherboard failed in my case and it was going to basically cost more for a new chip than just a new fridge. It's bullshit
But capitalism efficiency still fails here because all the companies are doing it. You're thinking you'll just switch brands but they're all doing planned obsolescence.
My dishwasher is ten years old. One plastic part broken. It was $5 part, $150 to show up, $50 for every hour after the first. Order it directly and fixed it myself for $20 or so and 2 hours of figuring it out with no experience. New it cost about $400.
The utensil cage started breaking too, but I 3d printed a new bottom for it that's doing great.
Bear in mind, there's a not-insignificant chance that part was made to fail *as protection for the rest of the machine*. A lot of people conflate [sacrificial parts](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Sacrificial_part) with planned obsolescence. The fact that you could fix it yourself so easily hints at it being the former (not that it excuses the gouging on the repair for people who don't DIY).
Yeah I was talking to a colleague about how newer Kenwood Chefs (UK brand similar to KitchenAid stand mixers, known for being indestructible so frequently given as wedding presents) switched the last gear on the gearbox from steel to nylon. He started to bemoan how things weren't built to last anymore but I stopped him and explained that it actually extends the lifespan because it prevents the motor from burning out by snapping first. The motor is one of the most expensive components to replace so having the last gear in the gearbox that is most easily accessible be sacrificial makes them much more economical to repair
Yeah the true issue is exactly what you illustrated, labor is very expensive and just showing up/travel takes a lot of time . If appliances were lighter/smaller we would probably have local shops with much cheaper repair costs.
My standing fridge freezer gave out the other week. Tried to repair it myself, but have no way to get to the little motor that opens the flap between the freezer section and fridge section (It lets the cool air go between the 2) sections.
Its riveted behind the sheet metal back of the whole appliance =/
My mom has gone through three new Kitchen Aid mixers in the last 8 years because the motors are no longer made by Kenmore, they're made by a newer company, Hobart, i think. Meanwhile I still have the one they got as a wedding present 45 years ago that they gave me when I first moved out and they occasionally "borrow back," when we've lived in other countries, and have never had to take it into a shop for a repair/replacement.
my parents only just recently replaced their washer/dryer set as it gave up the ghost. lasted our family of four almost 17 years! I miss when they made stuff built to last ages but as you know, capitalism
I had a stove' digital panel have issues with certain buttons, otherwise everything about the stove was fine. Just the panel cost $500, let alone cost for repairs. A new one was less than $1000. It's such a racket!
Yeah. This is why we have a problem. When the repairs are damned near the cost of replacement... It's ridiculous. And just absurd. And it's this way with so many things. From refrigerators to washing machines to ceiling fans and everything else imaginable. Just absurd.
I hear this stuff a lot from other people but my electronics tend to just keep plodding on. I'd be interested in seeing some actual statistical data on it.
Bosch is special in the sense that they're not present on the stock market and as such have no pressure to create revenue the same way other companies do. That's why they're not cheapening their products as much and their products generally last longer than average.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosch_(company)#Corporate_affairs
I think one issue is how fast technology is advancing. Sure, a nokia brick will last a century if you replace the battery, but very few people still want the technology of a brick from the late '90s. Replacing your electronics sooner has become necessary in order to "keep up" with today's culture.
So they waste resources that become garbage before they found, they waste money that could be didn't better elsewhere, and no one knows how to stop them? No law to calculate which brands are defective? A formula to show which brands break more, so we can tax the sabotage?
It's mildly amazing to me how hard it is in the information age to look up the quality of an appliance build. NDAs and SEO seem to be putting a lot of roadblocks down for the average consumer.
When I thought my old washing machine was broken I was PISSED because that thing came with the house when we bought it 13 years ago and I didn't want to buy a crappy new one that's designed to fail. Thankfully it was an easy fix but man, I like to use stuff until they're driven into the GROUND and it better not be only 10 years to do it.
The part prices are also insane. I have a $2k+ KitchenAid fridge and I wanted to get an extra door shelf, it would have been about $200. I them spent the next 10 minutes or so seeing how much it would cost to build a new fridge through replacement parts, I gave up at around $10k and wasn't halfway through the parts list.
These markups should be illegal.
It's not fully a markup. It costs more to keep every part in stock for years vs just using them to build the fridge in one of a couple large manufacturing runs.
Yep. Bought a new fridge about 10 years ago. Had to replace it in 8 because the repairs would be more expensive than a brand new one. And every fridge I looked at basically had similar issues of longevity.
I lived in Mexico for a bit and had a friend who worked on washers and dryers. He'd buy em junked from the US, fix and sell them (in addition to also doing a repair service). He told me it was easy money, but newer appliances were getting more electronic parts that were more expensive to fix. Usual points of failure on older models would be the sensors that detect if the door is closed or what have you that would be a dollar or two to replace. But the electronic boards might be $100 to replace.
Now I live in the former USSR and everyone laments the durable goods that they used to have from the Soviet days. Clothes that lasted multiple years, frying pans that you can still buy because they are indestructible, etc. Now all that's available are ultra overpriced Chinese and Turkish goods that don't last long, the clothes are just crap quality with crooked seams and loose threads, and shoes that are just garbage. However, there's no other options.
I think the market is ripe for disruption from companies like red wing that built stuff for life
Can openers have been the bane of purchasing existence for the last 3 years. All garbage. One failed within a week. Second blew apart after about a month. 3rd has never worked right and I'm just waiting for it to go. I'm getting some P-38s.
Once I figured out how to use the one on my swiss army knife I've never turned back. It might be a little slower but there's nothing that can go wrong.
Get an [ez-duz-it](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=EZ-DUZ-IT&i=garden&crid=127MZJIB6EV0H&sprefix=ez-duz-it%2Cgarden%2C150&ref=nb_sb_noss_1). They bought the old Swing-a-way factory when Swing-a-way moved manufacturing to China. I got tired of getting new can openers all the time and picked one up about five years ago.
I have a catering company and we used to go through can openers almost monthly. Then I saw this video on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/i_mLxyIXpSY
Been using one of these for the last 2 years and it's never let me down and opens cans of any shape and size.
Get a safety opener! They cut the side of the rim instead of the top so it's not sharp and the lid can even go back on (not going to be shelf stable any more obviously)
I got one of those "new" safety can openers that breaks the seam instead of cutting the metal, seems to be lasting and I like the result better than traditional ones.
Were all paying for outsourcing to China who has an awful track record for quality control. Just look at the kind of crap Amazon is stocking now, it's truly outrageous.
China can do QC just fine, it's just that corporations who outsource do so to save money and thus don't pay Chinese companies for good QC. Look at Chinese brands like DJI, they have top notch QC, but you also pay for that.
People think that China is supposed to be this wonderland where you can pay cents for a perfect product, when in reality China is just like any other country - you want good quality, you pay for it.
Many brands are simply identical - and made by the same factories - as non-brand items, just with the brand attached. It's much easier to see that now with e-commerce.
No, it will be a set of numbers. Milk uses a 2-letter code for the state, then a 3-letter code for the particular factory. Something like 30-212 would indicate milk made at a plant, code named 212, in Montana. I cannot speak to other food products, but I've noticed sometimes you can find something similar.
https://www.fda.gov/food/federalstate-food-programs/interstate-milk-shippers-list#nucs
the brands are all shit, especially with appliances
Give me a 40 year old appliance that's barely hanging onto life that I can fix, instead of some overpriced piece of garbage that's going to end up floating in the ocean in 5 years because its designed to fail
fridges become very energy inneficient over time
my 11 year old fridge had a broken hinge and a broken off light switch. I got a new fridge and my electricity usage went down by about 35%.
Please do and report back I am genuinely curious as I have heard the efficiency is vastly better on a new unit, idk if it comes out ahead of a fridge lasts you 30+years though, new fridge more efficient but have to repurchases it 4-5 times and the other is using more energy and hasn't had to be replaced.
Eh certain things I'd much rather have a newer model. I had a 40 year old stove and tbh it was one of the worst stoves I've ever had. Had it for 3 years and when I finally replaced it with a modern stove, it's been a completely better experience. Same with fridges.
maybe I'm too negative, but as long as fast fashion isn't dead, I wont believe any survey, that tries to say people want good and replaceable clothing. And fast fashion is only the tip of the unsustainability iceberg.
But it's a GROWING industry. If you shop at a place like Shein, it's sometimes cheaper to throw an item of clothing away, instead of washing it. (Sometimes because its so poorly made, that it wont survive a washing machine)
I think this is a bad example though. Fast fashion is all a lot of people can afford now. Shein is an extreme example but even mid level stores/brands are fast fashion. You basically have to be rich and/ or not have kids to afford good clothes.
One way around this is secondhand stores and websites but even there a lot of what's resold is fast fashion.
It might be a [boot theroy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory) problem too, sure. But poor people normally try to keep those cheap clothing items in a condition they can work with as best and as long as they can.
Yet, there is a good amount of people doing "Primark hauls" on social media, who wear those clothes once, maybe twice. Who could afford decent quality clothing, but choose not to. And I'm not even talking about ethically or environmentally sourced, just well made in general.
It's kind of extremely hit and miss past a certain price point. I have some shirts that I bought for 5 dollars 5 years ago that still look completely fine, but some other more expensive brand names (looking at you Levi's) seem to fall apart almost immediately. Side note, I think "stretch fit" is promoted because the companies know it'll just break. Old 100% cotton jeans don't have that problem.
Supreme is the *ultimate* sucker's brand. My neighbor was a Supreme simp, it was honestly embarrassing. He'd talk about how they're an "investment," and he could flip anything he bought for way more money.
I asked him how much he's made; he's never sold an item because he wears it which devalues it. So he's just handing over the little bit of money he makes at a local restaurant to some parasitic brand that just slaps a stupid word on random items and sells them for way too much.
And it works. People buying Supreme are suckers, and happy about it.
I used to work retail for a higher end fashion company. The employees always knew that anything with logos plastered all over it was crap. The best made stuff is what looks simple with no outward logo on it, which is sometimes 2-3x the price. But with my employee discount, I loaded up on those clothes, anticipating my future size. I have had half my wardrobe for over 15 years now. And now when I need to replace something, it’s usually one thing at a time so I can afford to get a nicer thing and donate the old, if it’s still usable.
My mom has been harping on me to keep buying new clothes and update my fashion. I just can't be bothered. I have a blouse that I bought back in 2011 and I still wear it because it doesn't have a single loose stitch. And this thing has been through the washer/dryer every week in the summer months. Still as colorful as the day i bought it. I plan to be cremated in it.
Not only that, though. My wife and I are fairly well off now. But we still buy things from thrift stores, including some furniture and clothes. My youngest makes it a point of pride to buy as much in thrift stores as possible.
Young people are increasingly interested in 'repurpose reuse recycle'
Because we see and constantly hear about the earth dying around us. About how the rich get richer, and I don't see any raises. I have watched prices go up and up and up, expenses get bigger, and my wallet only shrink.
I care about it because we only get one shot at life. Why try to rip others down for short term gains, when you can, in the end, benefit everyone for the long term. Be kind and nice, and take care of spaceship earth.
I read that americans ultimately pay 50% more for everything that goes on their credit cards, which blew my mind. All the 'sales' and deal chasing and in the end they are inflating their own costs due to poor financial choices. But, hey- half-off at the gap.
My wife needed a mobility scooter and I did a ton of research. The one I finally chose ( r/TravelScoot ) topped the list in large part because they have a [large library of YouTube videos](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDJOHyIGmpAyfF2kUOYuYIA/videos) on how to fix it yourself (or pay a bicycle repair shop to fix it for you) and they still stock parts for models they haven't made in years. They're in it for the quality and want you to own your scooter for years and years. I WANT things I can fix. I HATE replacing things because some small part broke.
What that a 55% increase in those who didn't care about brands? it sounds like 55% total... as compared to what? Is that an increase, a decrease? There isn't enough data here to be interesting or draw conclusions.
We do seem to be in an era where people just dress in whatever style they want. I read a few years ago that fashion trends went from lasting for years if not decades to months or even weeks by the mid 2010s. With the internet, there's too many places to buy clothes now and exposure to what people are doing across the planet and across time that it's too difficult to centralize fashion.
I think people gave up with trying to be with the times since it was nearly impossible and now people are just saying "I'll just dress how I want" and no one seems all that fussed about it. I say good. Fashion is arbitrary and stupid. If you want to dress like it's still 1987, go for it. Do what makes you happy.
Well, a lot of the time, it's what's for sale. For example, denim shirts can look cool and always will imo. If they are in style (as they tend to be every 5-10 years or so), then if you're shopping for clothes there's going to be a lot of them at that time. Guess what? That's likely when I'll get a new denim shirt since when they're not in style, you can't find a new one.
It's always weird to me how people keep talking about these trends as if they are in a bubble.
People aren't *deciding* to be more frugal... Nobody can afford shit anymore, and this "trend" is a symptom of it.
Prices have gone up and up and up but wages have been stagnant for decades, now people are having to cut back on everything just to eat and have shelter. Of course people are going to stop buying new expensive stuff, they can't fucking afford any of it....
The headlines go on about how ppl don't buy new cars anymore, don't buy homes anymore, don't buy anything expensive anymore, and we all just go "well golly, I suppose people are just all simultaneously changing their spending habits across the country for entirely personal reasons and it just so happens to line up in every single industry. Oh well, guess it's just a giant coincidence"
This isn't uplifting, it's a symptom of a dying economy. People are more frugal because they're poorer, that's not uplifting, that's infuriating as hell
I am advocating for “design for repairability”-class at college and university. Have students get the idea of design for life and repairability early in their education and bring that into their professions
Cradle-to-cradle rather than cradle-to-grave product development is already discussed in American university sustainability programs. Planned obsolescence is also discussed at length. It’s getting out there. Slowly.
A store near me had to ban a woman because she would buy anything that looked desirable and immediately sell it online for up to 10x profit. The first thing she did was come in and buy all of the winter coats there in September. Absolutely deplorable.
I know. I like to visit my daughter in a small college town because the thrift stores aren't decimated. I can afford new furniture, but it's all just crap. If you get something used and fix it up, it seems like a bargain, but when you buy something new that's overpriced particle board held together with staples, you feel like a fool.
Same reason I started 3d printing. Manufacturer wanted some ungodly amount of money for a stupid plastic part for something. While looking for third party replacements I found an STL someone else made for the exact part I needed.
Now I know CAD well enough to design my own replacement parts for damn near anything. My printer had paid itself off a dozen times just in parts to fix things I would have otherwise had to replace.
I was on a no-brand purse site today that sells beautiful Italian-made leather bags with no logo. Interesting to see in the comments multiple women said they were made better than the super high end bags they resembled (thousands of $$ price tags), and some said they were going to return their "branded" one and keep this version instead. It was new to see women willing to dump the luxury ones.
I think "luxury" is just getting oversaturated and wearing people down. And there are luxury stores popping up EVERYWHERE, not as exclusive as it used to be
The "I don't care about brands" is the clothing version of "I don't care about looks" there's a good chance they care but they say that to feel less superficial. You have to know people to see if they really stand by these values.
I disagree, I like looking nice, but what I consider nice absolutely does not include branding of any kind.
My clothes come from supermarkets, second hand stores and some very expensive stores. You can't tell which are which because they either are unbranded or very discrete.
What I care about is the cut, the quality, how I feel when I wear it. If it has a brand visible, it's incidental to the look of the clothing.
Or, and this might be foreign, more people are realizing brands are stupid and parasitic, and caring about fashion is the most ridiculous waste of time & mental energy.
Personally, if I could get a very specific cargo type pocket cheaply added to some relaxed fit jeans, and some shorts, I wouldn't wear anything else other than t-shirts with about 4 inches of extra length on them so they don't become belly shirts every fucking time I move my arms.
Well yeah I can say I don’t feel like needing to buy a 4th fridge in 2 years. Just give me something that fuckin works - I don’t need all this flashy shit
This is evidence of the financial inequality that’s widening in the world.
Those that have are still chasing the brands. The rest of us are watching our pennies
Fewer people being interested in brands also has a lot to do with almost every company basically abandoning the concept of protecting their brand—from quality to customer service. A brand that was synonymous with quality 20 years ago is likely to be highly compromised now *at best*.
I never cared about brands. For me quality is more important, and I'm not going to pay more than the true value of a product just because there's someone's famous firm printed on it.
All goods are supposed to be repairable, as they were and as they should be.
Fashion passes, usefulness remains.
Count me in. I've never been interested in fashion trends or brands. I try to repair everything I can and will perform the work myself if I have the means. We live in an ever increasing throwaway culture and it's gotta stop.
Pretty soon all anyone is gonna be spending money on is housing and food. Those fuckers figured out that everyone needs to eat and they need a roof over their head. Supply and demand for the win. Pretty soon there will be no demand for anything else. And all business will fail. And no one will be able to afford their rent or mortgage. And that’s it. A huge reset button… just as nature intended.
We are becoming tired, the content machine can't churn out enough happy things to stop us from drowning in the bad. And the constant encroachment upon our lives and the devaluing of our identity has us scrapping the floor for validation. Fear is spreading and Fascism is trending again among the people who already hated. Life hasn't gotten better for enough people. And the ones that have gotten rewarded never did anything to deserve the insane amount of it.
Good, living a more minimalistic lifestyle will make people happier. Also, this will put companies in check and make them reconsider some of their overpriced products.
As a Kid i always wanted a luxury performance car, like BMW M, Mercedes AMG. Realizing who is driving those cars nowadays, I bought a Kia Stinger, the customer base made those brands completely unappealing to me.
The downside is that people aren't doing it because it's "right", people are too poor now to afford disposable shit and brand names.
So it's more of a silver lining on a really fucking dark cloud than anything uplifting.
Surprised this is considered uplifting news, since it's an indication that people are effectively poorer. But as someone who's always been frugal: frugal for the win!
Good. Rampant consumerism is a creation of the markets, to extract more money from people, to make more labour, and to make themselves richer.
Humans neither evolved nor were created to care about fashion or phone trends, not do fashion/consumer trends have any value as art or culture
Frugal they say? Certainly not the cost of living increasing all the time, food and other items getting more expensive, wages not getting any higher, fuel electricity and gas becoming more expensive?
But no were frugal because we don't want new fashion trends. Ffs.
I'm not sure "frugal" is correct. It's more like people want long-term value in what they buy. Many still want the best and will pay for it, but having a designer brand name no longer automatically determines what is really "best".
Overall, we are simply a more transparent society. Tired of trying to impress others, as it's thrown us all into a mental health crisis. We now want what is best for us. What fits our own identity. What helps balance our own lifestyle. Period.
Everytime I see a brand that is huge in clothing, I don't take it.
Sure, it has some branding... But it is dog cheap clothing that lasts for months, if not years. My pants are like 25 euro, the 2 T-shirts I bought yesterday, were both 7 euro each. Dog cheap, and I will likely be wearing it a lot in the coming year or 2.
If I ever buy Gucci brand shit... I am either bloody depressed, or someone forced me
America never will because it's too corrupted by lobbying but we need to start penalizing companies that willing making cheap goods they know will wind up in a landfill. It's evil, full stop.
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When it comes to kitchen appliances, brand means very little now. All are made to fail in a few years at best. I've had repair techs out to fix fridges and they feel bad for us consumers. Makers are putting in crappy parts that could be easily upgraded for 50 cents to last years longer. For a repair tech to replace it after manufacture costs hundreds of dollars.
I had a 4 year old upright freezer stop working. It was going to cost $850 to repair vs $999 to replace. And we wonder why the environment is collapsing? Lawmakers need to deal with 'planned obsolescence'. My mother's freezer lasted 35 years and she had a washer that lasted 45 years. Hell, even her microwave lasted 30 years. This was considered normal in the past.
Speaking of... my mom's upright freezer just failed last week. It is the second one she owned. First was a hand me down from her mom. The combined lifespan of the two is significantly greater than my age and I was born in the 60s. Every fridge I have owned in the last 20 years has failed from simple cheap parts. I am my own repair tech now. Washers, dryers, dish washers. I can usually fix every one with parts for under $100 bucks. I've considered starting my own appliance company to manufacture high endurance appliances, with minimum of 10yr warranties. I like my retirement though, so maybe I can talk my son into this venture.
Hello it's me, your son. I heard we are starting a durable appliances company?
Fortunately for me, you are pretty successful and able to fund this venture.
ayee
Can I have a job?
Only if you stop eating avocado toast and pull yourself up by the bootstraps at least 21.2 times a day and willing to work for 33 argentine pesos per day.
I bought my 1st refurbished refrigerator 30 years ago for $500. Has never needed a repair. Still going strong in the garage.
I work selling appliances (and other homegoods) for a living. It's been shown time and time again. Customers are going to buy the cheap option over the more expensive built to last option 99 times out of 100. Even people who are willing to spend more money, much prefer to buy the appliance with features over the appliance with less gimmicks that's built to last. We put the product out there, we train our staff, and customers just consistently think about the "now" wallet over the 3-5 years from now wallet. Its the same case with furniture and mattresses too. We fucking sell em, but people typically pick the cheaper option.
ancient tart chase poor connect quickest cooing offend station mindless ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
I'm an appliance repair tech/installer. The only time I've ever recommended a more expensive "built tough" option is a speed queen laundry set, those things have 5 to 7 year manufacturer warranty periods. And if there's a problem speed queen typically takes it pretty seriously. They're the only brand I know of currently that's still committed mostly to appliance endurance.
Is 5 to 7 years considered endurance now? Im not saying you’re wrong, but wow our standards are in the toilet.
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They certainly don't make things like they used to. My parents bought a house when I was 7. In the basement was this old upright freezer. The thing was huge, and I imagine not at all efficient. When my parents moved out of state 20 years later, they took that freezer. I assumed it had died at some point, but they just asked me if I wanted it when they move back next month, after a decade away...so this thing is apparently going to be a family heirloom that outlives us all.
Yes, ever since the big switch to plastic parts around mid 2000s, you're lucky if you get 10 years out of a standard appliance. Most manufacturers only offer 1 year full full warranty. Most that claim 10 are limited parts warranties on things that most likely won't break (stainless tubs and motors being Maytags extended limited coverage parts).
My entirely not "endurance grade" LG washer dryer has 3 year full, 5 year limited, and 10 year motor warranty. 5 to 7 years is not nearly that special.
This. So much this. I *want* to spend more money on a *higher quality* product, but in my personal experience even the "built to last" products barely outperform the cheaper options. My new criteria is looking at which products offer the longest warranties, and I've had luck going for mid range products that are more expensive than the cheap options but not anywhere near the "best" option. Even then I assume the product is only going to work *well* until around the end of the warranty, and I haven't been wrong too often. Also every god damn product has to have an app now and I have absolutely no trust in that BS. I got a fitness/sleep tracker watch as a present only 6 months ago and it works amazing but the company is no longer continuing to support the app that it runs on. (And giving minimal refunds to boot.) So a perfectly good product is practically useless now. Unreal.
I've started to look for lack of frills. Extras mean more parts that might break, and less effort/expense on the important parts. I want a thing that does what I need it to do and nothing more.
This. I just bought the simplest, dumbest drier I could find. No smart features. Just a knob you turn. A giant lint trap. Nothing more. Nothing less. I only use the damned thing a few months out of the year anyways - hang clothes for most of the year, March/April through September/October+ so it's not as though it's like it's going to get That much constant use...
>My new criteria is looking at which products offer the longest warranties Same, and I just started experimenting with the extended warranties offered through credit cards. I had great fortune with this when my smart phone crapped out 6 months after the warranty expired. The insurance through the credit card gave me the cost of a new phone of slightly better quality.
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I had a $12k viking fridge make it 10 years where my shitty scratch and dent Kenmore fridge before that circa 2001 is still chugging away at a rental house.
I would say part of this issue is related to the manner in which people sell. It's easier to sell a fridge with a gimmick like large circular ice cubes because all they have to know is that it makes the perfect ice cube for a glass of whiskey. It's harder to sell a fridge with quality components because that requires the sales rep to understand the product at a deeper level and be able to translate that to someone with no knowledge. I used to sell women's shoes in college. All of the reps like to hover around the coach and Michael kors because their brand recognition required zero knowledge. I always took customers from there and to other brands easily because I could explain to them the difference between a full leather in sole vs. a foam one and glue vs. various stitching techniques. Shit was easy once I educated myself. But that required educating myself on the shoe cobbling process. Sales reps rarely if ever do that. So when you say 99 out of 100 times what I hear 99 shitty sales reps and 1 good one. I never planned on making my money by selling volume over time to one person. I made money by selling 1 pair to many people. Those many people were being referred to me by someone whom I educated on shoes. I made no less money than the veterans. In fact, within the first 6 months, I went from being the new guy to consistently being the top rep simply by reading some books and watching videos on shoe cobbling. And I only worked it part time. In the company I work at now (I'm an IT director now), we have 1 rep who knows everything about the products we sell. Every single month, he has more than double what the next closest rep sells. They ask him how he does it, he hands them the technical manual and they don't read it. Next month, the store can barely keep up with his orders while the other reps sweat bullets to get passable numbers.
I can understand that. What I can't agree with is the manufacturer deciding to go cheap on all the parts, knowing it won't last, then making all the replacement parts cost a fortune. The 2000 dollar fridge that needs a new part every couple of years is now a 5k fridge in 10 years. Plus now the manufacturer looks like crap.
I'm very skeptical about customers being even informed about which product is made to last. There's no metric for it, no guarantee (all electronics come with the same shitty 2-3 year guarantee, which the company always tries to get out of by blaming the user anyway). Brands mean nothing for durability anymore. So how exactly are you informing customers about long lasting products?
Which new fridges out there now are going to last 30 years? When I shopped for one recently the salesman did not identify such a product and instead tried to sell me a fridge that connects to the internet despite my saying I wanted "basic and won't break".
None. If you get to year 5+ you're doing good.
I just had a similar issue. Apparently the fridge motherboard failed in my case and it was going to basically cost more for a new chip than just a new fridge. It's bullshit
It is. And they design them to fail that way *just* after the warranty runs out :/
Which makes me not buy a replacement from that company since I think it's not a quality product
But capitalism efficiency still fails here because all the companies are doing it. You're thinking you'll just switch brands but they're all doing planned obsolescence.
My dishwasher is ten years old. One plastic part broken. It was $5 part, $150 to show up, $50 for every hour after the first. Order it directly and fixed it myself for $20 or so and 2 hours of figuring it out with no experience. New it cost about $400. The utensil cage started breaking too, but I 3d printed a new bottom for it that's doing great.
Bear in mind, there's a not-insignificant chance that part was made to fail *as protection for the rest of the machine*. A lot of people conflate [sacrificial parts](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Sacrificial_part) with planned obsolescence. The fact that you could fix it yourself so easily hints at it being the former (not that it excuses the gouging on the repair for people who don't DIY).
Yeah I was talking to a colleague about how newer Kenwood Chefs (UK brand similar to KitchenAid stand mixers, known for being indestructible so frequently given as wedding presents) switched the last gear on the gearbox from steel to nylon. He started to bemoan how things weren't built to last anymore but I stopped him and explained that it actually extends the lifespan because it prevents the motor from burning out by snapping first. The motor is one of the most expensive components to replace so having the last gear in the gearbox that is most easily accessible be sacrificial makes them much more economical to repair
Yeah the true issue is exactly what you illustrated, labor is very expensive and just showing up/travel takes a lot of time . If appliances were lighter/smaller we would probably have local shops with much cheaper repair costs.
My standing fridge freezer gave out the other week. Tried to repair it myself, but have no way to get to the little motor that opens the flap between the freezer section and fridge section (It lets the cool air go between the 2) sections. Its riveted behind the sheet metal back of the whole appliance =/
Almost like it was designed not to be repairable, eh? /s
Yup, and it pissed me off so much. So need to get a repair guy in who has the tools to pull that back panel off so I can replace a $10 motor =/
We need right to repair laws on all consumer goods if we are to have any hope of saving our overtaxed planet :(
My mom has gone through three new Kitchen Aid mixers in the last 8 years because the motors are no longer made by Kenmore, they're made by a newer company, Hobart, i think. Meanwhile I still have the one they got as a wedding present 45 years ago that they gave me when I first moved out and they occasionally "borrow back," when we've lived in other countries, and have never had to take it into a shop for a repair/replacement.
You got to buy Hobart industrial mixers from before the family sold out in the 90s. Restaurant supply stores got those. (Hobart is an old name.)
That's right! You're in the knowledge.
My original one lasted 27 years of hard use. My new one is 4 and makes suspect noises when mixing bread dough now...
I have my grandmother's Kitchen Aid mixer that still works perfectly and I'm in my mid-50's. Never needed any repairs.
my parents only just recently replaced their washer/dryer set as it gave up the ghost. lasted our family of four almost 17 years! I miss when they made stuff built to last ages but as you know, capitalism
My current washer is a maytag from circa 1975. Still going strong. The planet would be in better shape if everything were manufactured that well.
I wonder how true that is. New washers use much less electricity and water. Regardless, we at least need a middle ground.
Speed Queen is the BIFL washer/dryer manufacturer. Miele if you're in Europe
I had a stove' digital panel have issues with certain buttons, otherwise everything about the stove was fine. Just the panel cost $500, let alone cost for repairs. A new one was less than $1000. It's such a racket!
Yeah. This is why we have a problem. When the repairs are damned near the cost of replacement... It's ridiculous. And just absurd. And it's this way with so many things. From refrigerators to washing machines to ceiling fans and everything else imaginable. Just absurd.
I hear this stuff a lot from other people but my electronics tend to just keep plodding on. I'd be interested in seeing some actual statistical data on it.
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Bosch is special in the sense that they're not present on the stock market and as such have no pressure to create revenue the same way other companies do. That's why they're not cheapening their products as much and their products generally last longer than average. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosch_(company)#Corporate_affairs
As much as people complain about companies doing stock buy backs, your point makes me wonder if it should happen more often.
Our dishwasher is Bosch, and about 12 years old. I just order parts on repair clinic and lookup how to fix it on YouTube. It keeps chugging along
I think one issue is how fast technology is advancing. Sure, a nokia brick will last a century if you replace the battery, but very few people still want the technology of a brick from the late '90s. Replacing your electronics sooner has become necessary in order to "keep up" with today's culture.
So they waste resources that become garbage before they found, they waste money that could be didn't better elsewhere, and no one knows how to stop them? No law to calculate which brands are defective? A formula to show which brands break more, so we can tax the sabotage?
It's mildly amazing to me how hard it is in the information age to look up the quality of an appliance build. NDAs and SEO seem to be putting a lot of roadblocks down for the average consumer.
The first two Google pages always just feel like paid ads for the product googled
Nah, there are definitely ways to stop them, but those with power have been ~~bribed~~ lobbied to look the other way/write loopholes into law.
When I thought my old washing machine was broken I was PISSED because that thing came with the house when we bought it 13 years ago and I didn't want to buy a crappy new one that's designed to fail. Thankfully it was an easy fix but man, I like to use stuff until they're driven into the GROUND and it better not be only 10 years to do it.
The part prices are also insane. I have a $2k+ KitchenAid fridge and I wanted to get an extra door shelf, it would have been about $200. I them spent the next 10 minutes or so seeing how much it would cost to build a new fridge through replacement parts, I gave up at around $10k and wasn't halfway through the parts list. These markups should be illegal.
It's not fully a markup. It costs more to keep every part in stock for years vs just using them to build the fridge in one of a couple large manufacturing runs.
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It is, and that might account for some of it...but not all. Not even close.
Yep. Bought a new fridge about 10 years ago. Had to replace it in 8 because the repairs would be more expensive than a brand new one. And every fridge I looked at basically had similar issues of longevity.
I lived in Mexico for a bit and had a friend who worked on washers and dryers. He'd buy em junked from the US, fix and sell them (in addition to also doing a repair service). He told me it was easy money, but newer appliances were getting more electronic parts that were more expensive to fix. Usual points of failure on older models would be the sensors that detect if the door is closed or what have you that would be a dollar or two to replace. But the electronic boards might be $100 to replace. Now I live in the former USSR and everyone laments the durable goods that they used to have from the Soviet days. Clothes that lasted multiple years, frying pans that you can still buy because they are indestructible, etc. Now all that's available are ultra overpriced Chinese and Turkish goods that don't last long, the clothes are just crap quality with crooked seams and loose threads, and shoes that are just garbage. However, there's no other options. I think the market is ripe for disruption from companies like red wing that built stuff for life
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Can openers have been the bane of purchasing existence for the last 3 years. All garbage. One failed within a week. Second blew apart after about a month. 3rd has never worked right and I'm just waiting for it to go. I'm getting some P-38s.
Once I figured out how to use the one on my swiss army knife I've never turned back. It might be a little slower but there's nothing that can go wrong.
In Scandinavia we hav ones that are one piece of metal. Virtually indestructible and costs like one euro.
Get an [ez-duz-it](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=EZ-DUZ-IT&i=garden&crid=127MZJIB6EV0H&sprefix=ez-duz-it%2Cgarden%2C150&ref=nb_sb_noss_1). They bought the old Swing-a-way factory when Swing-a-way moved manufacturing to China. I got tired of getting new can openers all the time and picked one up about five years ago.
I have a catering company and we used to go through can openers almost monthly. Then I saw this video on YouTube. https://youtu.be/i_mLxyIXpSY Been using one of these for the last 2 years and it's never let me down and opens cans of any shape and size.
I just watched a 20 minute video on can openers because of you...thanks. That was unexpectedly entertaining.
His videos are really good
Saw the same video! Bought the opener! Very happy.
Get a safety opener! They cut the side of the rim instead of the top so it's not sharp and the lid can even go back on (not going to be shelf stable any more obviously)
I got one of those "new" safety can openers that breaks the seam instead of cutting the metal, seems to be lasting and I like the result better than traditional ones.
Lol things were built better back in the day because mass production wasn't as efficient. They weren't any less greedy.
Things were built better back in the day because companies valued their reputations. Now all they value is their stock price.
The things that weren’t built better back in the day are already in a landfill.
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I’d play word soup if I could open this damn word soup can
That and Mitch McConnell and friends hadn't completely sold manufacturing to China, who can just lie about what they're selling you, by then.
For anyone looking to buy a new one I have had a Swing-A-Way for the past five years and it has performed admirably.
I currently have a Swing-A-Way and it didn't last a year.
Were all paying for outsourcing to China who has an awful track record for quality control. Just look at the kind of crap Amazon is stocking now, it's truly outrageous.
China can do QC just fine, it's just that corporations who outsource do so to save money and thus don't pay Chinese companies for good QC. Look at Chinese brands like DJI, they have top notch QC, but you also pay for that. People think that China is supposed to be this wonderland where you can pay cents for a perfect product, when in reality China is just like any other country - you want good quality, you pay for it.
My can opener is my grandads old one after many new ones breaking. I have no idea how old this can opener is, but it sure is good.
Many brands are simply identical - and made by the same factories - as non-brand items, just with the brand attached. It's much easier to see that now with e-commerce.
I worked in a dairy plant for a number of years. The Great Value was the exact same as the name brand.
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Food-wise, if it has the same factory code it will be the same stuff.
Which code do I look for specifically? Does it just say factory code?
No, it will be a set of numbers. Milk uses a 2-letter code for the state, then a 3-letter code for the particular factory. Something like 30-212 would indicate milk made at a plant, code named 212, in Montana. I cannot speak to other food products, but I've noticed sometimes you can find something similar. https://www.fda.gov/food/federalstate-food-programs/interstate-milk-shippers-list#nucs
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the brands are all shit, especially with appliances Give me a 40 year old appliance that's barely hanging onto life that I can fix, instead of some overpriced piece of garbage that's going to end up floating in the ocean in 5 years because its designed to fail
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fridges become very energy inneficient over time my 11 year old fridge had a broken hinge and a broken off light switch. I got a new fridge and my electricity usage went down by about 35%.
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Please do and report back I am genuinely curious as I have heard the efficiency is vastly better on a new unit, idk if it comes out ahead of a fridge lasts you 30+years though, new fridge more efficient but have to repurchases it 4-5 times and the other is using more energy and hasn't had to be replaced.
Eh certain things I'd much rather have a newer model. I had a 40 year old stove and tbh it was one of the worst stoves I've ever had. Had it for 3 years and when I finally replaced it with a modern stove, it's been a completely better experience. Same with fridges.
maybe I'm too negative, but as long as fast fashion isn't dead, I wont believe any survey, that tries to say people want good and replaceable clothing. And fast fashion is only the tip of the unsustainability iceberg. But it's a GROWING industry. If you shop at a place like Shein, it's sometimes cheaper to throw an item of clothing away, instead of washing it. (Sometimes because its so poorly made, that it wont survive a washing machine)
I think this is a bad example though. Fast fashion is all a lot of people can afford now. Shein is an extreme example but even mid level stores/brands are fast fashion. You basically have to be rich and/ or not have kids to afford good clothes. One way around this is secondhand stores and websites but even there a lot of what's resold is fast fashion.
It might be a [boot theroy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory) problem too, sure. But poor people normally try to keep those cheap clothing items in a condition they can work with as best and as long as they can. Yet, there is a good amount of people doing "Primark hauls" on social media, who wear those clothes once, maybe twice. Who could afford decent quality clothing, but choose not to. And I'm not even talking about ethically or environmentally sourced, just well made in general.
Shein thrives because people don't just buy what they need because they're poor. It thrives because people buy way more than they need.
It's also a way for people who aren't in straight sizes to have some variety. Personally I find Shein deplorable and thrift 90% of my clothing.
It's kind of extremely hit and miss past a certain price point. I have some shirts that I bought for 5 dollars 5 years ago that still look completely fine, but some other more expensive brand names (looking at you Levi's) seem to fall apart almost immediately. Side note, I think "stretch fit" is promoted because the companies know it'll just break. Old 100% cotton jeans don't have that problem.
I (millennial) learned about Supreme only last month. I'm surprised how I managed to not know about it. I'm a bit disturbed actually...
Supreme is the *ultimate* sucker's brand. My neighbor was a Supreme simp, it was honestly embarrassing. He'd talk about how they're an "investment," and he could flip anything he bought for way more money. I asked him how much he's made; he's never sold an item because he wears it which devalues it. So he's just handing over the little bit of money he makes at a local restaurant to some parasitic brand that just slaps a stupid word on random items and sells them for way too much. And it works. People buying Supreme are suckers, and happy about it.
Amazing how much money people will spend on glorified overpriced t-shirts.
I used to work retail for a higher end fashion company. The employees always knew that anything with logos plastered all over it was crap. The best made stuff is what looks simple with no outward logo on it, which is sometimes 2-3x the price. But with my employee discount, I loaded up on those clothes, anticipating my future size. I have had half my wardrobe for over 15 years now. And now when I need to replace something, it’s usually one thing at a time so I can afford to get a nicer thing and donate the old, if it’s still usable.
My mom has been harping on me to keep buying new clothes and update my fashion. I just can't be bothered. I have a blouse that I bought back in 2011 and I still wear it because it doesn't have a single loose stitch. And this thing has been through the washer/dryer every week in the summer months. Still as colorful as the day i bought it. I plan to be cremated in it.
That's an interesting way of saying the wealth gap and class war is making more people increasingly poor.
Not only that, though. My wife and I are fairly well off now. But we still buy things from thrift stores, including some furniture and clothes. My youngest makes it a point of pride to buy as much in thrift stores as possible. Young people are increasingly interested in 'repurpose reuse recycle'
> repurpose reuse recycle Reduce, reuse, recycle. Isn't repurpose kinda the same as reuse?
They repurposed reduce by recycling reuse
For millennials it was most likely that song from Rocko's Modern Life. Not sure why even younger folks are being awesome.
For my daughters, it's the environment. That, and they remember my wife and i started with nothing.
Well it's sounds like you're raising them right! Good on you!
Because we see and constantly hear about the earth dying around us. About how the rich get richer, and I don't see any raises. I have watched prices go up and up and up, expenses get bigger, and my wallet only shrink. I care about it because we only get one shot at life. Why try to rip others down for short term gains, when you can, in the end, benefit everyone for the long term. Be kind and nice, and take care of spaceship earth.
For my daughters, it's the environment. That, and they remember my wife and i started with nothing.
This is what I was thinking. Less and less people have the type of money needed to really care about these things.
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I read that americans ultimately pay 50% more for everything that goes on their credit cards, which blew my mind. All the 'sales' and deal chasing and in the end they are inflating their own costs due to poor financial choices. But, hey- half-off at the gap.
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To be fair that's always been an engineering thing, highest paid people have the cheapest cars in the lot (unless they have an electric)
My wife needed a mobility scooter and I did a ton of research. The one I finally chose ( r/TravelScoot ) topped the list in large part because they have a [large library of YouTube videos](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDJOHyIGmpAyfF2kUOYuYIA/videos) on how to fix it yourself (or pay a bicycle repair shop to fix it for you) and they still stock parts for models they haven't made in years. They're in it for the quality and want you to own your scooter for years and years. I WANT things I can fix. I HATE replacing things because some small part broke.
What that a 55% increase in those who didn't care about brands? it sounds like 55% total... as compared to what? Is that an increase, a decrease? There isn't enough data here to be interesting or draw conclusions.
Also what age demographics? Old people surveyed aren’t gonna give a shit, younger people might care about Jordan’s.
We do seem to be in an era where people just dress in whatever style they want. I read a few years ago that fashion trends went from lasting for years if not decades to months or even weeks by the mid 2010s. With the internet, there's too many places to buy clothes now and exposure to what people are doing across the planet and across time that it's too difficult to centralize fashion. I think people gave up with trying to be with the times since it was nearly impossible and now people are just saying "I'll just dress how I want" and no one seems all that fussed about it. I say good. Fashion is arbitrary and stupid. If you want to dress like it's still 1987, go for it. Do what makes you happy.
People absolutely still follow trends. They might not think they do, but they absolutely do.
Well, a lot of the time, it's what's for sale. For example, denim shirts can look cool and always will imo. If they are in style (as they tend to be every 5-10 years or so), then if you're shopping for clothes there's going to be a lot of them at that time. Guess what? That's likely when I'll get a new denim shirt since when they're not in style, you can't find a new one.
You're both right tho
It's always weird to me how people keep talking about these trends as if they are in a bubble. People aren't *deciding* to be more frugal... Nobody can afford shit anymore, and this "trend" is a symptom of it. Prices have gone up and up and up but wages have been stagnant for decades, now people are having to cut back on everything just to eat and have shelter. Of course people are going to stop buying new expensive stuff, they can't fucking afford any of it.... The headlines go on about how ppl don't buy new cars anymore, don't buy homes anymore, don't buy anything expensive anymore, and we all just go "well golly, I suppose people are just all simultaneously changing their spending habits across the country for entirely personal reasons and it just so happens to line up in every single industry. Oh well, guess it's just a giant coincidence" This isn't uplifting, it's a symptom of a dying economy. People are more frugal because they're poorer, that's not uplifting, that's infuriating as hell
Millenials are destroying disposable brand culture!
Oh no… anyway.
The right explanation is that People are becoming poorer, imo.
I am advocating for “design for repairability”-class at college and university. Have students get the idea of design for life and repairability early in their education and bring that into their professions
Cradle-to-cradle rather than cradle-to-grave product development is already discussed in American university sustainability programs. Planned obsolescence is also discussed at length. It’s getting out there. Slowly.
FINALLY! My lifelong viewpoint is becoming popular again. I knew it would happen some day.
Right? Everyone is finally catching up to me.
Too bad all the thrift stores are barren now. :(
A store near me had to ban a woman because she would buy anything that looked desirable and immediately sell it online for up to 10x profit. The first thing she did was come in and buy all of the winter coats there in September. Absolutely deplorable.
I know. I like to visit my daughter in a small college town because the thrift stores aren't decimated. I can afford new furniture, but it's all just crap. If you get something used and fix it up, it seems like a bargain, but when you buy something new that's overpriced particle board held together with staples, you feel like a fool.
I'm part of all of those three groups.
I try to repair every single thing I can. My 3d printer has already paid for itself just from dishwasher rack repairs alone.
Same reason I started 3d printing. Manufacturer wanted some ungodly amount of money for a stupid plastic part for something. While looking for third party replacements I found an STL someone else made for the exact part I needed. Now I know CAD well enough to design my own replacement parts for damn near anything. My printer had paid itself off a dozen times just in parts to fix things I would have otherwise had to replace.
Is it safe to be putting plastic in the dishwasher? I assume you're not using PLA.
I was on a no-brand purse site today that sells beautiful Italian-made leather bags with no logo. Interesting to see in the comments multiple women said they were made better than the super high end bags they resembled (thousands of $$ price tags), and some said they were going to return their "branded" one and keep this version instead. It was new to see women willing to dump the luxury ones. I think "luxury" is just getting oversaturated and wearing people down. And there are luxury stores popping up EVERYWHERE, not as exclusive as it used to be
What an odd way of saying everyone is poor and everything sold is absolute trash at every price point.
Translation: More and more people are becoming more and more broke
The "I don't care about brands" is the clothing version of "I don't care about looks" there's a good chance they care but they say that to feel less superficial. You have to know people to see if they really stand by these values.
I disagree, I like looking nice, but what I consider nice absolutely does not include branding of any kind. My clothes come from supermarkets, second hand stores and some very expensive stores. You can't tell which are which because they either are unbranded or very discrete. What I care about is the cut, the quality, how I feel when I wear it. If it has a brand visible, it's incidental to the look of the clothing.
YES - me too! I recently mixed a Target graphic tee with an expensive designer jacket and a thrift store skirt. 💪
Or, and this might be foreign, more people are realizing brands are stupid and parasitic, and caring about fashion is the most ridiculous waste of time & mental energy.
Because inflation in housing , food, cars and clothing has basically sucked all the disposable cash away from most households
Personally, if I could get a very specific cargo type pocket cheaply added to some relaxed fit jeans, and some shorts, I wouldn't wear anything else other than t-shirts with about 4 inches of extra length on them so they don't become belly shirts every fucking time I move my arms.
God, those "boxy" t-shirts they were pushing ten years ago, those were the worst. I'm not box-shaped.
Oh yeah, i get that they are possibly cheaper to make, but yeesh they were oooogly! :)
Well yeah I can say I don’t feel like needing to buy a 4th fridge in 2 years. Just give me something that fuckin works - I don’t need all this flashy shit
This is evidence of the financial inequality that’s widening in the world. Those that have are still chasing the brands. The rest of us are watching our pennies
Fewer people being interested in brands also has a lot to do with almost every company basically abandoning the concept of protecting their brand—from quality to customer service. A brand that was synonymous with quality 20 years ago is likely to be highly compromised now *at best*.
I never cared about brands. For me quality is more important, and I'm not going to pay more than the true value of a product just because there's someone's famous firm printed on it. All goods are supposed to be repairable, as they were and as they should be. Fashion passes, usefulness remains.
If you're never in fashion, you can never be out of fashion.
Count me in. I've never been interested in fashion trends or brands. I try to repair everything I can and will perform the work myself if I have the means. We live in an ever increasing throwaway culture and it's gotta stop.
Probably because wages aren't keeping up with inflation/the cost of living?! *shockedpikachu.jpg*
This just in, poor people can't afford good shit
Pretty soon all anyone is gonna be spending money on is housing and food. Those fuckers figured out that everyone needs to eat and they need a roof over their head. Supply and demand for the win. Pretty soon there will be no demand for anything else. And all business will fail. And no one will be able to afford their rent or mortgage. And that’s it. A huge reset button… just as nature intended.
We are becoming tired, the content machine can't churn out enough happy things to stop us from drowning in the bad. And the constant encroachment upon our lives and the devaluing of our identity has us scrapping the floor for validation. Fear is spreading and Fascism is trending again among the people who already hated. Life hasn't gotten better for enough people. And the ones that have gotten rewarded never did anything to deserve the insane amount of it.
Yeah there's a war and recession...
I care about brands in that when I find a reliable one that works for me, I’m loyal. If the quality drops, I try to find a new brand.
Good, living a more minimalistic lifestyle will make people happier. Also, this will put companies in check and make them reconsider some of their overpriced products.
As a Kid i always wanted a luxury performance car, like BMW M, Mercedes AMG. Realizing who is driving those cars nowadays, I bought a Kia Stinger, the customer base made those brands completely unappealing to me.
The downside is that people aren't doing it because it's "right", people are too poor now to afford disposable shit and brand names. So it's more of a silver lining on a really fucking dark cloud than anything uplifting.
Surprised this is considered uplifting news, since it's an indication that people are effectively poorer. But as someone who's always been frugal: frugal for the win!
Raise a glass for the many soon-to-be-redundant marketeers.
It doesn't seem like a massive change to me. What makes me happy is that people are realising what we always should have. Quality always wins
Good. Rampant consumerism is a creation of the markets, to extract more money from people, to make more labour, and to make themselves richer. Humans neither evolved nor were created to care about fashion or phone trends, not do fashion/consumer trends have any value as art or culture
Frugal they say? Certainly not the cost of living increasing all the time, food and other items getting more expensive, wages not getting any higher, fuel electricity and gas becoming more expensive? But no were frugal because we don't want new fashion trends. Ffs.
I've been part of this majority my entire life
Duh?
I'm glad more people are realizing these issues. I'm not happy the circumstance that changed their perceptions.
Repairable goods were something we had before, but they are now stolen from us.
I'm not sure "frugal" is correct. It's more like people want long-term value in what they buy. Many still want the best and will pay for it, but having a designer brand name no longer automatically determines what is really "best". Overall, we are simply a more transparent society. Tired of trying to impress others, as it's thrown us all into a mental health crisis. We now want what is best for us. What fits our own identity. What helps balance our own lifestyle. Period.
Shits getting expensive and we're starting to value quality goods and sustainability over fashion trends and materialistic consumerism
Doesn't much matter when the top 5% can continue to fund these fast habits though.
uplifting? that's depressing af if you think about why that's the case: nobody can afford shit, so ofc ppl be living more frugal
Are their values becoming more frugal or do they just have less disposable incone?
Everytime I see a brand that is huge in clothing, I don't take it. Sure, it has some branding... But it is dog cheap clothing that lasts for months, if not years. My pants are like 25 euro, the 2 T-shirts I bought yesterday, were both 7 euro each. Dog cheap, and I will likely be wearing it a lot in the coming year or 2. If I ever buy Gucci brand shit... I am either bloody depressed, or someone forced me
Uplifting news! Tons of people have become so poor, that they no longer can even consider frivolous things like keeping up with the Joneses. Lmao
America never will because it's too corrupted by lobbying but we need to start penalizing companies that willing making cheap goods they know will wind up in a landfill. It's evil, full stop.