Why everything you buy is worse now
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- čas přidán 8. 02. 2023
- From clothes to tech, why is everything so poorly made?
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Maybe you’ve noticed: In the past 10 years everything we buy from clothes to technology has gotten just a little bit worse. Sweaters are more likely to tear. Phones are more likely to break. Smart toasters and TVs burn out and die after only a few years. It might seem like consumer products just aren’t built to last anymore. What’s going on?
Unfortunately (and fortunately!), part of the problem is us. For decades, we’ve been conditioned to buy, buy, buy, and today it’s normal for many consumers to shop for new clothes at least once a month. In order to keep up, many companies have to prioritize making things in the fastest and least expensive way possible. To do that, they cut corners with materials and labor. In turn, quality suffers, which leaves consumers with a lot of crappy things.
The story with technology is a little different. And the biggest difference is that while no one in fashion is saying you’re not allowed to sew a new button on a shirt, many tech companies have actually made it impossible to repair their products.
The good news is consumers have a surprising amount of control over this situation. Watch the video to learn more.
Check out the original article from Izzie Ramirez on Vox.com: www.vox.com/the-goods/2352958...
Repair.org is Gay Gordon Byrne’s association that’s fighting for your right to repair.
For more on the right to repair bill in New York State there are some articles here:
www.engadget.com/new-york-rig...
www.theverge.com/2022/12/29/2...
While I didn’t spend much time on Fast Fashion for this piece, I did love these articles:
catapult.co/stories/haley-e-d...
www.wired.com/story/fast-chea...
This article from Vogue did a great job breaking down what things actually costs:
www.vogue.com/article/what-is...
I also highly recommend following Cora Harrington (@lingerie_addict) and Derek Guy (@dieworkwear) on twitter for more hot takes on the fashion industry.
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Have you bought something recently that kinda sucks? Tell me about it in the comments below. I love to complain about things.
-Kim
A friend was gifted a PUMA t-shirt - washed it once and well, it looks like it's a year old now. Washed it once. Once.
My smarthphone (Samsung) would break constantly, like every month. And after less than a year, it broke for good.
The young are JUST now getting what My grandparents have been saying for decades.... " They just don't make things the way they used to..." like this is a new concept.... LOL!
My grandparents have an Oster Blender almost as old as themselves, never had to replace it, keeps popping out piña-coladas like a charm. In my house we've had 3 blenders in the span of 10 years. Profit driven production is a mistake and we should stop it.
Almost everything in Indonesia is like this occurence. I do not know why until this video show us about the real thing. My mum always said that old things that they buy is still working well than newer thing. Even our refri is already 20 years old still functioning although had some issues. But the new fridge that we bought in 2018 is not working as good as old one .
Our office replaced a paper cutter because we'd been using the same one for 20 years. The new didn't cut as well as the 20 year old one - even after 20 years of daily use. Needless to say, the new and improved unit was returned, and the original is celebrating its 21st year in faithful service.
You guys should take the blade to a blade sharpening service
@@afatmidget496It sounds to me they replaced it just because. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!
@@gummy5862 Modern Society works like this however: It's not broken? It works? Replace it!
@@NotRenjiro wel it will fail and then sadly no decent product will exsist anymore
@@gummy5862 wel it will fail and then sadly no decent product will exsist anymore
I wish more people were as upset as I am about planned obsolescence
Why be upset about it? "Planned obsolescence" is really just consumer preference. If you want things that last longer, buy them
@@0witw047 It's not "just consumer preference" when all items have planned obsolescence.
@@0witw047 Its not consumer preference at all. Almost every product we buy today has this problem embedded into them.
We have new cars in 5 different models every year from every car manufacturer instead of them selling 1 good quality product.
We have every year a new phone from every mayor brand and almost every year those phones do not bring anything revolutionary. May times they take away features the old models have that didnt meed to be changed. No need to change the cameras, headphone jacks every year when they can just focus on 1 good quality product. Apple now sells you a phone with NO charger. You now have to buy It separately. Before we used to get a charger and a basic pair of headphones. Now we dont.
Fortunately the video game industry doesn’t release 1 new console every year because that would be another chaotic for of waste.
Light bulbs, cars, electronics and clothing are full of planed obsolescence. Therefore, it is not a matter of preference, we have no choice
@@0witw047 moronic take, you are why the top 1% stay there
@@0witw047 Oh you're one of the "pull yourself by your bootstraps" people aren't you?
I *want* to buy expensive things that are *good* and last for *decades*, but the trouble is that most expensive things these days are just as crappily made as the cheap things, and I can't tell how long any given thing will last, so I'm disincented from buying the expensive things. Maybe companies should start offering longer warranties if they want people to believe their products will really last.
This. I m struggling with that too. I don't want to buy cheap, but I want to pay extra for quality and there is no way to find out a lot of times. So much more expensive stuff I bought is cheaply made too
Absolutely. It's almost impossible to tell anymore whether a product is more expensive because it's actually better quality or just because it has better branding and the company's targeting a higher-end market. That's supposed to be what reviews are for, but again it's impossible to know which reviews are paid for by the manufacturer and which are genuine. And even the genuine reviews aren't going to offer a 10 year retrospective. They're going to use the product for a few days and then move on to the next thing.@@tonytonychopper186
This is why we have duck tape & super glue. Don't buy, rebuild.
what your are talking about i wonder ?
You might be interested in "Akerlof's Lemons Market". It's from economics :) I'd read the Tutor2u explanation (after skimming a few). As with all of economics, there's a huge volume of very poorly communicated, misunderstood explanations out there. Wikipedia is particularly bad for this one, the opening paras are not even in grammatically sound English, sigh!
This feels like a lot of "blame consumers" which doesn't feel accurate to my life.
I don't care about my underwear being the latest fashion. I'd much rather have a pair that lasts for years - and I'd use it for years.
But I don't have that option. None of us do.
We're not buying more because we want to, we're buying more because we have to - because our bras aren't lasting as long.
Absolutely right we fell into companys trap and had too much trust in companies and for a time they were run by decent people before others ruined it
You can buy well made/handmade products but they are usually triple the price and very limited in numbers. It's very hard but not impossible.
We also don't save anymore, probably because we constantly buy overpriced junk.
@@s70driver2005ok but it SHOULDN'T be "very hard" to have access to well-made, long-lasting things.
And another thing that really grinds my gears is that we are constantly being scolded about the amount of trash we produce when so many of the things we buy -- from clothing to appliances --- are manufactured to break and fall apart after a short amount of use. I'd like to be able to wear my clothes for more than six months, or use the same toaster for more than two years, but they are built to so that they won't stand up to anything more than light, occasional use.
And there is a great irony in that so many of these changes are being done in the name of being "green," but in the process of making our appliances more energy efficient -- lighter materials, weaker motors -- it all but guarantees they'll need to be replaced sooner than a less energy-efficient model, creating even more trash for our landfills.
As someone who used to do Appliance repair, all I can say is if you want your appliance to last more than 2 years, buy something that isn't "Smart". Your Refrigerator does not need a screen on it, in fact, anything with more buttons/interfaces, just look at it like it's just more buttons that can go bad, and the more there are the chances they go bad increase.
Couldn't agree with you more....too many useless options on appliances....
So seriously true is your comment! If these crony capitalist corporations could get away with it for further profits, I swear they would sell "smart" toothpaste!
yeah. should buy microwave ovens with knobs, rather than touch buttons/panels.
Going to definitely keep this in mind for future reference. My wife and I are huge fans of 1950s aesthetics including appliances. She always talks about how her late grandmother had this hulking ancient RadaRange microwave with knobs instead of buttons, and how that thing lasted nearly three decades, only to be thrown away instead of repaired by the licensed repairmen by her aunt.
That is true. The less moving parts and fancy gadgets an item has, the more it will last.
15 years ago my mom was having work done on our home. She wondered if she should have the original 1950s house fan replaced since it was so old. The contractor said "honestly, I could hook up a brand new one right next to the old one and have them both working and I guarantee you the new one will breakdown before the original fan does." As far as we knew, the original fan is still there and doing its job.
Same thing with washing machines. I bought from scratch n dent as they had non computer models and its so easy fix if it breaks. Can't do that with the newer models
I bought some tools from Bunnings. While buying them, I mentioned that I was using my dad’s tools from the 1930s to the 1960s, and that they were beginning to wear out. “Don’t expect these you’re buying to last that long. “ said the salesman.
The thing is, that old washing machine probably uses 10x the power and 10x the water of the newer one. I know Americans are only very slowly beginning to care about that kind of stuff, but from both a financial as well as an environmental standpoint it would probably make much more sense to go with the newer one, even if it doesn’t last as long. For that same reason, there is not real point designing products that last forever. This doesn’t mean a washing machine should break down after 2 years, obviously
@@qayray enviromentally its worse to have appliances thrown to garbage after 5 years of usage, and new ones bought instead. They need to come from earth soruced materials, energy spent to make all them, shipped across the world.
It makes absolute more sense for the environment to use same product for longer.
Even if that old machine uses more water, that water goes back into ground where it will natuirally be "recycled" and eventually reused.
@@GabrijelPezelj This is their view on planned obsolescence. "I could go in for ever but I hope this gets my point across. Yes, even resource/environmental considerations taken into account, we should not make all products last forever."
What's especially insidious about planned obsolescence is the slavery and child labor that's steeped in the industry. Imagine working 16 hours a day with no hope for the future, for something that might never get worn, and just end up in the trash. How heartbreaking.
who cares when you can make the shareholders BILLIONS!!!! they need more yachts every year... duhhh
@@davemcgowan3224 b-b-b-b--bb-but the ceos!!! think of the ceos!!!
A slaves [work/life role] is work 75% of the time? What if theyre tortured so it only looks like theyre working, or not and other slaves are tortured into…
@@bunk95what are you on about?
I’m 64 and for the last 15 years clothes shopping has become a nightmare. Up to then I had no problem purchasing clothes. Items I buy on repeat were and are no longer available or the design of a perfectly good item changed. What I’ve noticed is once upon a time you could buy well made basics at reasonable prices. Trendy goods were the more expensive items. Now it’s the opposite. Everything is trendy and too something. Attempting to find a sweater or shirt that has actual shoulder seams at the shoulders is near to impossible. I’ve been reminiscing about ‘90’s minimalism. What draws me is that at that time clothes actually fit. I’ve had clothes for years that are wearing out and they are literally irreplaceable believable me I’ve tried.
If you want a good fitting outfit you go to the fabric shop to buy the material. Now all they have is low quality material and charge so much for it to basically make it cheaper to buy badly fitting readymade. I still have bed sheets my mom bought before she got married 60 years ago in good shape. I've had to trash every bedsheet set I bought 20 years ago because they wore out. And just for thr records my mom shopped at places like Kmart, Woolworth, and sears.
Thrift stores for the win. Maybe time to start knitting and make that one wool sweater that'll last the rest of your life. (Well, I'm over 60. Maybe you'll have to knit a second on in 30 years.)
same here! i will be 65 at the end of this month -- just trying to find something that fits decently is next to impossible! i still have clothing from the 90s in way better shape than anything i have gotten more recently -- and was able to wear a lot of my Mom's and Grandma's stuff too, from my teenage years up until the 90s
@@HobbitBroad omg i have bed sheets like that too -- maybe my Mom got them at a department store? but nothing fancy or expensive either
The new '90s clothing I saw back then was oversized and did not fit. However, the stuff was made better.
I remember taking an environmental ethics class in college where I learned that companies carefully calculate the shortest amount of time a product can last for the consumer to have to replace it often while still having faith in the company's products
Ugh, that just makes me feel ill.
Do you know how long that time is? Like an example such as phone, washer/dryer, clothing?
@@EdieRoxUrSox15 don't know if this pings the commenter but i'd like information on this as well
@@EdieRoxUrSox15 I would think they are based on mathematical models with many variants. So I don't think the answer is just a number, it depends on the product and it's variants and on the model they're using
There's a video about this somewhere on here regarding the history of the light bulb and how they reverse-engineered their own product in order to give it a finite life for this very reason. Corporatism is absolutely sickening...
*All of this neglects one of the worst parts of planned obsolescence: the overwhelming waste. We don’t have infinite resources, and even when we recycle the old models and items, we still produce emissions and non-recyclable components. Planned obsolescence only further exaggerates resource depletion and pollution*
Exactly 😢
why are there 2 chinese named accounts writing with bold text
Stuff that lasts a lifetime still exists, for example cast iron cookware, the problem is lazy people prefer nonstick disposable pans because there is less work involved.
i think they avoided this topic because it enhances your feelings of guilt and shame. Those are very poor motivators and nowadays climate activists are taught to avoid them.
@@uggupuggu
Fr lol
Edit: You know something’s wrong with our waste when the Chinese bots are deployed. I mean, 10K likes compared to other top comments which are sub 5K? Those are 100% bots.
Here's an idea that we floated in my sustainable economics class:
Manufacterers are *required* to take back their products when they reach the end of their life span. Would this incentivize them to make thoe products last longer so they didn't have to store them or pay for disposal? Make them easier to reuse? Make them easier to get the parts and components back?
It would lead to practices such as a shell company going out of business, thereby lifting or shifting responsability, while the actual company changes hands to another shell company; all while keeping the profits in the same pockets.
Companies say a lot of greenwashing marketing, but in the background they are doing the opposite. 30 years ago, in school I learned the 3 R's. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Companies will tell you the same thing, but remove the "reduce" part (of course). They even give you a bin to recycle old clothes. Which ends up being just thrown away of course. Decades ago, they already knew how to make light bulbs last forever, but that would hurt the industry, so they made bulbs that would fail much sooner.
Companies are fictional.
Planned obsolescence needs to be illegal. Enough is enough.
Counterpoint - But then companies won't have an incentive to exist?
@@aliasgur3342it wont make companies dirt poor, planned obsolesce is annoying and should be illegal either way
@@aliasgur3342 companies have existed for centuries before the concept of planned obsolescence came around. companies used to sell solid, quality items and they existed because of how good their products were. They kept their customers happy and loyal to their brand
@@aliasgur3342 Counter counterpoint. Companies existed making quality products for centuries. Ban planned obsolencense, companies will have to compete by making a better product, since the old one will still work and there won't be a new sale every 3 years for the same product. What they will lose is the grossly inflated profit margin and 'growth' that planned obsolescence generates.
Especially because of how much extra waste it generates and its impact on the environment as a result, I fully agree.
If you have 20+ year old washing machine, don't throw it away. There is nothing like now to have such a reliability.
I have a Whirlpool washing machine which is around 15 years old and it's working great with the grace of God.
Better yet, learn how to wash by hand like in old days, then there nothing to repair.
@Zaydan Alfariz No.I am from India
exactly what people said 20 yrs ago about their 20 yr old appliances... the example back then was toasters.
@@dm3on that would be a colossal waste of time
The most frustrating item of clothing that has fallen victim to this is the women's basic tee. It's so hard to find a plain tee shirt that isn't made of translucent fabric that feels like it will fall apart in a year. I don't want to layer. Why is it so hard for fashion companies when the men's Fruit of the Loom tees from Walmart are so much more substantial??
By the way, the best women's plain tees I've found that are not see through (not even the white ones!) are the Uniqlo U shirts.
I feel your frustration. My husbands 100% cotton ones don't do this so I am going to buy small men's tshirt take up the arms and take the body in.
Yeah I just buy men’s. Lasts forever.
And those are made is sweatshop like conditions. Look up the brand. But to be fair, I have a few too and they are great.
Target's men's tee shirts are longer, thicker and fit better than their women's tees and still come in pleasing colors so I buy them instead
When I was a kid everything was cotton. Now it's all polyester!
I hate polyester. And it can be hard sometimes finding 100% cotton shirts at your local store. It makes me so angry
It's an expedition. One week to hunt online
It feels like solving the digits of pi sometimes 😭 I’m allergic to polyester, it’s so so difficult
Bingo! I totally agree! Shirts are instead woven with synthetic materials and, if you look up the thread, it looks like Barbie's hair wrapped around a spindle. It's all plastic. There are nylon rollerskate plates, because nylon is plastic. There are polyester water bottlers, because polyester is plastic. These "clothes" cling to you rather than drape over your limbs, they trap in heat to make you too hot and sweaty, and they are not at all biodegradable.
@@Dawn737for real I’ve bought things from SHEIN and other fast fashion places and none of it lasts over 2-3 years of use, sometimes I’ve had things break from SHEIN after 8 months bc it can’t handle the washer and dryer the and even expensive brands are the same for me
Japanese clothing brands are still good quality. Just like their cars
As an electrician it's so frustrating the amount of things I can't fix either because the parts aren't sold, or because the time it takes to fix it will cost more than buying a new one. There's so many fixable appliances I've had to throw away
I agree with you. The possibility of fixing old machines is getting so low. We use to have many repair shops in neighbourhood but they slowly changed businesses over the years.
@@kairav7741 They are pretty rare nowadays. Phone repair shops is ok common here though. We also have some senior shops, which is seniors on pension going together to set up a shop like a hobby, and the customer pay what they feel the repair is worth. They scrap broken machines for parts and from donations. Works ok. People can get a repair and the seniors have something to do in their tempo and still be of use to society. I've donated a couple of old computers to scrap, a drilling machine and a couple of other minors things, instead of throwing it on the junk yard.
So true! There's a computer reuse project here, and we connected with one of the repair shops about using any unwanted inventory. The owner said he supported the project, but it wasn't cost effective for his employees to manage the unused inventory, such as by going through discarded devices for usable components. This past legislative session there was an IT Repair bill, and businesses and IT interests quickly killed it, saying people were not qualified to make repairs and might hurt themselves or ruin the device, among other things. It sounds similar to the mental model shift that needs to happen in healthcare: movement away from billing for treatment to paying for wellness/preventative health. That is, to move from constant consumption (and misguided expectation of eternally increasing profits) to better products and care of products
We have a repair café (monthly events) with an actual repair shop since about 3 years. With the free work time of us who fix the things and our donations paying the rent for the place, we've been able to fix hundreds of devices. If the labour would be paid though no one would get toasters or hairdryers fixed as it would be way cheaper to buy a new one. My favourite thing to repair so far have been retro christmas carousels 🎠.
@@ShadowOfRainbow How about repairing $100 all in one printer?
Someone once said "in the common sense of the word, we're very materialistic, always wanting more material goods, but in the true sense of the word, we aren't materialistic enough, not putting value in the materials goods we have". That resonated with me..
That would've been Allen Watts, that Americans aren't actually materialistic in that they don't truly care for or appreciate material. A painter or sculptor would fit better that description where they truly understand and appreciate the materials they work with.
@@gizmostudios It very well might have been, it was quoted in the Minimalism show on Netflix, I can never remember the woman's name who said it but it's always stuck with me. Your analogy is fairly good one with the painter
that's a great quote! I like that one too :)
That's a very good quote! In a similar sense it always bothers me how people are quick to blame issues like this on "capitalism". In reality it's the other way around, capitalism is a good principle and goal to strive for while stuff like this is actually a major market inefficiency that prevents capitalism from working as it should! In a sense it's a "lack of capitalism" that's the problem.
@@UNNAM3D82 How would more capitalism solve this market inefficiency then?
I actually am having a very hard time finding the clothes I want to wear, because what I used to wear 10 years ago in university are way better than what I see in shops now, in terms of both quality and design. I just went window shopping the other day, and found one item that I genuinely felt I WANT to wear it. But it costs three times more than my budget. This is so bad. I realized, it's either I raise my budget or I don't buy any clothes anymore.
I kinda regret I threw away my clothes from the old days during covid declutter. Because I cant find the same quality clothes anymore today. Oh, I wish I was well aware.
My support threw out all my past clothes left me with nothing but 1 pair of outfit n night now when I buy clothes thyr don't last a month n few may last a year if lucky the only outfits I have now last longer but I've added a few items now but will they last I'm sure they won't
I've noticed that as well. Even quilts for beds are made of stretchy cloths, like you want to wake up with that much static cling in your hair. I wish this video had covered the fact that clothes today are made of synthetic material, which is essentially plastic, when they used to be made of natural materials like cotton. If you look up the thread for polyester or nylon, it looks like Barbie's hair wrapped around a spindle. There are nylon rollerskate plates, because nylon is plastic. There are polyester water bottles, because polyester is plastic. Not only do natural materials have a nice drape over your limbs (while synthetic cloth clings to limbs and looks cheap), but natural materials allow your skin to breathe instead of trapping in heat, plus they are more biodegradable. Natural fibers are better quality in every way but, due to inflation, we are only offered synthetic material.
I too donated a lot of good clothes during Covid that were out of style or “didn’t bring me joy”… but they weren’t falling apart. So well made.
I have decided to solve the problem by being distinctly unfashionable 🤣 i am from India and get my ethnic clothes tailored. 100% cotton. I used to wear only good quality western but it's impossible to find anything good anymore. The mall shops make me embarassed because what are they selling at that price!
@@AchiraDasgupta lol unfashionable! Well fitted clothes that are classics can’t go out of fashion. I like your thinking on sticking with good quality clothes!
I finally did what I'm sure lots of people have done - clear out the "I'm gonna lose weight one day and fit back into it" items taking up space in my closet. Some of these garments were bought back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The difference in quality is astounding. The feel of the materials, the thickness, the stitching, etc.... And these aren't fashion house items - just clothes from mall stores like Lerners NY, American Eagle, Old Navy, and the like. Meanwhile, I'm buying brand new clothes and having the hems drop out of the trouser in a matter of days, the material on blouses is so thin I have to wear a cami under everything, and there's loose thread everywhere or bunching where the material was sewn too quickly and without oversight in quality control. I use to be able to keep an item for a decade or more, now it's amazing if it lasts an entire year or two. You can't even make the statement of "I'd be willing to pay more for better quality" because there's none to be had. Even brands that charge an arm and a leg for the label are being made with cheap materials and inferior skills. You're literally just paying more because it has a fancy name attached. And it seems that if an item IS made well, as soon as it catches on and becomes popular, the inevitable course is that the quality will degrade as the small start up can now outsource and take short cuts to inflate their profits while banking on continued purchasing based on the trend or reputation of the first gen products.
In grad school for materials science and engineering we had a seminar presentation about the business side of a professor's research. He had developed a ceramic that coated metal which strengthened and decreased the wear on mechanical parts. They had a deal lined up to apply this coating to the parts of a washing machine. It would have done something like double the lifetime of a washing machine. The CFO vetoed the deal at the last minute because it would have ended up losing the company more revenue through their repair business than they would gain by selling a better product.
I think our expectations of infinite growth is also to blame. If these companies don’t sell 5-10% more each year, they will be devalued heavily. It’s not in their interest to make something that will keep the consumer happy for 10 years, if their valuation plummets
bruh
I've heard stories of a Water heater company that went out of business because their water heaters lasted too long, and eventually no one needed to buy a new one.
That doesn't make sense. Surely they would gain a bigger market share of the washing machine business by making a more reliable machine.cutting into the competitors business.
Than again I am just a random guy in internet.
Friggin Capitalism
The problem with not buying expensive things instead of cheap ones is that there is no security that the expensive one is better, there is not a clear quality stamp on products and so most consumers just think "I have the same chances of them breaking but at least one is cheap and I can buy a new one later"
👌🏼
if it is expensive because it is well-made it does.
If you buy a $20 pair of headphones with a $130 brand label, you aren't going to get nearly the same use out of it as an ACTUAL $150 pair of headphones from a real audio company.
The same can be said for a jacket.
Does it cost $200 because it has a fashion label on it? Or does it cost that much because it is designed to be worn every day of the winter, and washed twice a week, for 5+ years? (Note that some of that charge might be because they know you will only be buying from them once every 5 years...)
@Zaydan Alfariz Exactly. Even a new high end car like a Tesla. If you feel the materials the interiors are made from, it's all cheap plastics that will be brittle and breaking in 10 years time.
@@Prophes0r The problem is you can't tell if the price is based on quality unless you do an onerous amount of research for each product. Sometimes there isn't even a clearly better quality brand - I recently bought a new washing machine and all the models in my price range had similar bad reviews. And there's no guarantee that a company with a good reputation won't adopt bad practices later.
@@Hashterix Lol everyone knows Teslas are junk, you cannot use that as an example. Fashion doesn't count.
No fast fashion for me. I love going to the thrift store. Quality items cheap. Also don’t care about trends.
Another way to take back some control is the internet. When my washing machine broke, the company wanted $150 to send someone out to look at it. Just look at it. I watched a few CZcams tutorials cuz you couldn't even find the schematics online, and fixed it myself for $25.
Also, yes and no, stuff is made for us, but it's mostly made for companies to make money.
Another thing to note is that care labels on clothes, bed linens, etc. are currently NOT ACCURATE in most cases of "accessible" price points. They will provide misinformation to increase the speed of deterioration. So a sweater will say "warm" but it may really need cold water, cashmere (without embellishments) will say "dry clean only" when those chemicals destroy the fibers over time (hand wash only), "low heat" may actually mean air dry or use low heat to half way dry and then let air dry and so on. Best way is to look up the fabric content and google how to care for that/those specific fibers.
This should be higher! The majority of people simply do not do laundry correctly. I have clothes from H&M from 2004 (an embroidered skirt and an orange chiffon dress) that are still in perfect condition. I have a £5 cotton dress from a cheap chain shop from 2007 which I still wear around the house. Unless it’s underwear or socks or sheets/towels nothing should be washed on hot or stuck in a dryer, but you see people shoving all their clothes and towels into one load and wonder why everything falls apart and needs constant replacing.
People use the tumble dryer too much and not always for the correct type of fabric, it definitely destroys your clothes.
@@danielle8861 you are so right 👍. I have clothes that are well over a decade old and still look great. 👍☺️ But I don't just shove things in the washing machine and seldom ever use the tumble dryer. I also know how to sew on a button, hem items and other basic sewing needs.
@@danielle8861 exactly!! Like you I have cheap items that last me very long. People should just learn how to do laundry properly.
Well how are laundry inept people like me supposed to know how to properly wash our clothes 😢
The right to repair should be a much more strongly debated topic. It blows me a away how blatant politicians are blocking bills because they're being paid by corporations to silence them.
Why is it when we point out that it's politicians, and therefore it's ultimately up to the voters, that people don't respond? It's easier to blame than to accept responsibility. But people don't understand that when we are making the choice (and we are), we can MAKE A DIFFERENT CHOICE. We actually have the power to correct this by choosing to elect politicians who want to work for us instead of the weatlhy.
Politicians are law mercenaries, passing or removing regulations to the highest bidder.
Totally agree, but, have u called, emailed, wrote to ur congressman/woman: This will not stop till we rise up, are u going to rise up?
@@Valaryant. emailing and calling politicians who work for the wealthy doesn't help. Have you done it? You must know by now that it doesn't work. What we need to do is elect people who want to work for the non wealthy majority. Stop electing profit seekers and elect people who are in politics to make all american lives better.
@@franciscogerardohernandezr4788 Gosh, what if we stop electing people who are for sale and instead choose to elect people who want to work for all americans? We have the power and we are choosing the government we have.
I'm still wearing the same nike hoodie I wore in 2007. Still good as new, probably been washed a million times. But If I buy anything form Nike now, it'll last one wash before it's ruined. Glad to know I'm not the only one who was going through this phenomenon.
My ex and I received a Kitchen Aid standing mixer for a wedding present in 1991. I still have it (after both the divorce and after my ex passed away :( ) and have never had a single problem with it. A good friend who got married in 2005 and also received a Kitchen Aid has already replaced it after a plastic part in it broke. When she contacted the manufacturer about a repair, they told her she'd have to ship it to a repair person in Las Vegas (at her own cost, of course) to get it repaired. (She lives in So. Ca.) Just in a decade and a half, the quality went way down. (And let's not even talk about my mother's washing machine, bought in the early 60's, which lasted over 30 years, with the machines we'vve bought .... )
The thing is, even "high end luxury" brands do not necessarily use the best, most lasting materials. A lot of what you pay is for the marketing and branding. So finding well made, quality products is a whole research experience and most people just don't care or have the time to go deep dive into how something is made.
DON'T BE RIDICULOUS ! it all comes done how much you are prepared to pay ! THINGS HAE GOTTEN WAY TOO EXPENSIVE ! if you want good old days quality, then you will have to pay a lot , a lot more !
So true. Was just thinking my Cole Haan shoes should not be peeling inside after a few wears!!
@@TheLavenderLover shoes peeling on the inside is such a pet peeve of mine 🤦♀️
Exactly. I sometimes research to get actually good things, but I can't do that for every product. So basically whenever I just go out and buy the first best thing, I'm just conciously spending a load of money on something that's gonna break way too soon. And then sometimes I do do my research, and it turns out that the first quality option costs 5x and anything below is basically just as bad as the cheapest one. Ugh
@@user-tb7kd3xf3d Yea but brands offer stuff thats made cheaply for giant prices. You dont pay quality you pay image. Also people cant afford to get the best of everything, still I want things to last and not go to waste after a year.
I’m in my 20s and I envy older people who still have clothes that they wore back in their teens and 20s. All my stuff just falls apart after a few years. I thought I just didn’t know how to take care of stuff, but I’m glad I’m not the only one!
My family was teasing (good natured, not being mean), the other day when my grown son visited. He's 26 and I'm still wearing several tees and a sweatshirt from when he was in middle school and in hs marching band. I even wear a shirt from the end of his baseball team from when he was 9 or 10!
I'm SUPER particular about laundry though. Most clothing washed inside out. All buttons and zippers up so doesn't snag anything. I use the laundry bags for anything delicate or with "iron on" type images. Most items go in dryer for short 3-8 minutes and then hung to finish drying. Oh, a color catcher is a must if a mixed load of colors is necessary.
I try not washing the jeans with less rugged items, if possible, because I was told they can beat up more delicate fabrics.
The sad part is that it's not as though we were spending top dollar in the 90s for clothing- it was reasonably priced AND well-made. Now, everything is just as expensive (comparatively) or even more expensive, but it's of comparatively terrible quality. And if you want high quality clothing, you now have to pay premium prices. It's a total rip-off.
my kid has clothes that they were mine. she used a dress as baby that was from a cousin, i used it as baby, my kid use it and now my neighbor baby will use it. it has almost 40 years
And my husband wonders why I take the time to hand wash my really nice dresses.
You can find stuff that don't fall apart after one wash check the quality when you shop
It's the intentional lack of modularity that gets me, time was I could replace a battery or a speaker or whatever, now they're always integrated in such a way as to make repairs intentionally impossible.
When I moved into my home in 1980, my parents gave me their old 15-year-old upright freezer and helped to move it to our basement. 43 years later, the freezer is 58 years old, and still works like a charm. Compared to modern freezers it is rather primitive, in that it is NOT self-defrosting, so every two years or so, I have to remove the food in it, put it in a cooler, and set it outside in the middle of a Chicago Winter. I unplug it and use an old hair dryer to melt the ice. I dry the insides, plug it in again, and put the frozen food back in.
That's cool and all, but it's a fire hazard and is not very power efficient.
I wouldn't use it even if I got paid to do so.
As noticed this trend with my belts. I had the same couple of belts since highschool, they were a bit thorn out, but still did the job. My girlfriend at the time convinced me to thrown them away and buy New ones. They didn't even last 3 months, so I decided to buy more expensive ones, I was paying over 60 bucks for belt but I figured since they are better quality they will last as long and my old ones. Not even a month and they were falling apart. It was horrible. I gave up and decided to buy leather tools and with tutorials was able to make a decent belt for the same price it took me to get a expensive one. But now I have a hobbie and make belts, wallets and stuff for me and my friends and family. And on every occasion I give every men in my life a decent belt that I know it will last years and years
Gimme one if you have a website
I also have the same problem! I just bought a reversible belt for officewear 2-3 years ago (pandemic era) and now it is starting to peel. Glad that I didn't throw my mom's 80s and 90s belts, they just looked dated, edges faded and hardware needs some cleaning. But waaaay better quality than display belts on the shops now.
I was interested in leather craft. What are the most important tools?
I too am upset with stuff falling apart so learned crochet, sewing, knitting, I want stuff that lasts
@@matthewetmoi8436 I hope you're not serious lol, she was misguided but meant well.
What's really frustrating is that companies like Apple have been caught intentionally slowing down their phones when they push out an update before the launch of the new phone so people will go out and buy the newest one. People are told "oh it's just too old now". The phones only 3 years old!
Samsung did that too!
Yep. I loved my s5, but my s7 edge is the single worst AND most expensive item I've ever bought, and I was FORCED to by sprint.
Companies are above the law. I don't know why they're protected so much when they do so much tax avoidance. You would think governments would be upset by this because that's a potential billions of dollars added to the budget.
@@TomCruz54321 One word answer to your question, Tom: Payoffs. All the politicians care about is their own pocketbook.
Chabuduo = low quality Chinese manufacturing
I used levi's for several years in the 90's and all the way to around 2011, and I noticed that at some point they started to wear out a lot sooner on specific areas, and I needed to fix them and eventually buy new ones more often. I just don't buy them anymore
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months"
- Oscar Wilde
Can we just take a moment and realize that this problem is exponentially worse for people who are poor? Yes it is a societal issue but it is being forced upon the poor and those with static incomes the most. They cannot choose to buy more expensive, longer lasting items.. they have to buy the cheap stuff that is entirely going to break far too early and or often.
The more expensive stuff is not better quality. They design expensive items to break too.
it’s expensive to be poor man
its just another poor tax.
@@katriina6831 wrong, if you do your research before buying the expensive can be cheap in the long run. its a lot harder with most common electronics because there is a new model every year and the more expensive is usually just the newer model, not the higher quality model. there is also the problem of buying for brand or buying for quality, a lot of expensive products are more expensive because of the brand, not the quality of the product. like, the tailored clothes used in the video is a good example, you can still buy tailored clothes with your exact specifications, but they can be SUPER expensive. computer peripherals is another great example, cheap ones from unknown brands will probably last you a year, but buy an expensive mechanical keyboard, even from a big brand, and it can last you for a decade if you take care of it.
@@danilooliveira6580 expensive stuff might work out cheaper in the long run, but for people who have very little money it can be difficult to afford the higher up front cost.
Same as for buying goods such as groceries in bulk. You usually save money buying in bulk but for those on a very tight budget that may simply be unaffordable.
I'm immune to "needing" the newest gadgets or following fashion trends. What I don't like is the reduction in "functionality" as described. I remember a good 10-15 years ago, the cost of cotton was increasing so I saw a warning that either manufacturers would either pass along the increased cost or reduce the amount of cotton they use. Turns out they did both.
I'm a "late-adopter" too. I watch what happens to people who buy the newest stuff before deciding.
@@naturalnashuan another problem is the design of everyday things . You have to wonder what kind of real life experience people have of anything
You have to factor inflation into the increase in cost but yes, capitalism has to squeeze out every penny for owners/shareholders
The only reason to get the newest version of anything is to make sure you can get as much usage out of it as possible. I honestly prefer vintage things. They worked for 20 years. I'll get 20+ more out of them. That include clothes.
@@Knifeys problem is wages are stagnating, inflation makes sense only if wages go up
Planned obsolescence and shrinkflation anger me to no end but there is little I can do about it. We all need flour, phone chords and clothes.
We should all refuse to buy clothes online.
phone chords
Replacing old clothing in the UK is a nightmare. Shop chains which once sold quality clothes (Burton, Alexander) have disappeared from the high street entirely. Brands which I once trusted (St Michael, Farah) now sell trash.
Search for something out of cotton, wool, lenin or hemp in trift stores
When my dryer malfunctioned, I was actually shocked. My 10 year old dryer had a diagnostic manual tucked under the circuit board so a technician could troubleshoot it. It told me how to place the machine in diagnostic mode so it could tell me what was wrong. Sorting through the error codes I was able to figure out that the circuit board in the machine had malfunctioned.
Now... being an engineer I was curious to remove the circuit board and when I inspected I found a cold solder joint (Manufacturability issue) that caused elevated temperatures and ultimately lead to an open circuit condition. Soldering Iron, scrap wire and some hot glue I was able to put in a temporary repair to get the machine back in service.
Most people don't have access to the knowledge or tools to do the type of repair performed, but I was hopeful that there was information readily available within the machine itself to attempt a repair. More devices and companies should do this.
You should’ve made a CZcams video!
Louis Rossmann would love to hear about that
Back in around 1987 two people I knew found their video cutting out on their Mac 128Ks. I opened it up, and recalling how a solder connection carrying a lot of current can go bad, I discovered the key pin on the cable was the one carrying the video signal from the motherboard to the video board. When it melted, I immediately saw a brown band on it. Yuk. I cleaned it up and put new solder on. Saved 2 guys a bundle. Not even dealers do this. This is really a big area in retail to explore - the reliance by manufacturers on dealers who really don't have repair depts of their own. Board-swapping is about the limit, even today on phones. Right to Repair has become a big issue.
This is good in theory, but not in practice.
If you do these kind of jobs yourself, then if you have a fire and it started from the dryer, then the insurance company will not cover the expenses.
You're left with a plot of land without a building to call home, and have no money, and need to pay to get rid of the debris.
Just buy a new dryer, it's not worth the risk.
@@incumbentvinyl9291 Notice it was a temporary repair. I also only ran the dryer under supervision. I got the manufacturing approved replacement part in and fixed it properly.
Secondly the cross sectional area of the copper I added to the circuit greatly exceeded that which was in the original PCB. The risk of fire was practically zero.
You have to be careful but there are ways to manage risk that don't involve sending things into the waste stream unnecessarily.
I had a geography teacher who taught us about planned obsolescence and industrial capitalism. He said his grandmother bought a washing machine when she married and she has the same washing machine after 45 years and it's working perfectly. He, on the other hand, bought a washing machine and after 4,5 years it was already giving him problems and not functioning properly.
I think the same quality of longevity kind of applies to marriages as well. They don't make 'em like they used to.
The opposite is actually true, younger generations have fewer divorce rates and tend to be happier in their marriages. (As well as choosing to marry later)
Probably not a lesson best taught by a geography teacher. We design things to meet specific goals. 100 years ago there were no environmental standards, people lived in one place for 30 years or more at a time, and had the mindset that anything could be fixed. Now people move on average every 4-5 years, don't like to buy used equipment, buy the lowest priced items, and when it breaks are much more likely to get a new one without ever calling a repair shop or fixing it themselves. I'm a manufacturing engineer, I deal with this daily. Focus groups tell us how customers use our products and what they are willing to pay and we build it to those guidelines. I'd be unemployed if I didn't build what customers want. Do a full cost analysis on all the inputs and outputs and you'll see that 99/100 the engineers nailed it.
@@brian7816 thank you for your input!
@@AN-sm3vj because younger people are less likely to get married...
This is frustrating. Not only for us as the consumers, but also for the environment. We waste more frequently and factories increase the amount of emissions.
It's probably the most important thing to say. Thank you for that.
It is more and more obvious that any solution will have to be imposed politically.
Started doing this by simply being annoyed with how often clothes just did not feel good after a while and having to buy new stuff all the time. Like, I worked really hard to buy this jeans, why is it done after a year and then I have to find the perfect one again and again. Simply started checking the material labels and am not buying any kind of polyester or acrylic fabric anymore.
Turns out, now I need to search way longer to find clothes I love and while searching I have enough time to save the money to buy good quality clothes
The majority of clothes are made of polyester or acrylic!! It’s so frustrating not being able to find 100% cotton pieces.
old navy has some really good jeans, i got 2 of them in 2020 and they are my most used and are still in the best quality!!
In 2010, I started college pursuing an engineering degree. I will never forget that in my very first semester engineering course, one of the early lessons was on planned obsolescence. It was very disheartening.
What frustrates me most about this trend is that I can't even use my purchasing power to make a difference. It used to be that there were quality brands available for purchase at a premium price. This just isn't the case anymore. All brands are garbage. You can throw more money at a more expensive washer, but all you're going to get is a fancy brand label slapped on the machine that probably has the same guts as the econo-washer that's one third the price.
I think steering away from of the bells and whistles such as computerized mechanisms vs manual mechanisms make a difference in an item's fixability. My younger self would have never said that...
So far as I can tell, this is absolutely the case with electronics. Luckily I have a washer and dryer from the 90s that I can just repair whenever it needs it once in a blue moon, and I buy good refurbished cell phones inexpensively from Back Market, but otherwise, I don't know of any way to get quality electronics that last more than a few years. Like you said, all electronic brands are garbage. This is not the case with clothes though. Old, quality clothes can easily be found cheap in thrift stores. There are also still seamstresses, cobblers/shoemakers, and handmade clothing shops that sell quality handmade clothes and shoes. These just tend to be expensive, but worth it if it lasts 20 years.
Yes, my big fear. I’ve certainly seen that with microwaves and plumbing fixtures. And ceiling fans.
U just said it all Ina nut shell!
I would like to know which school you went to for engineering...
She missed a huge driving point that with tech, these companies make you almost feel 'excluded' or 'left behind' if you aren't upgrading every year either, especially with smart phones.
Still rocking my 2017 phone and I'm missing no features. I feel stronger and richer. These companies can go take a hike.
@@em0_tion I support you, but how's your battery holding up? And the lag? Are you out of storage yet? Sometimes upgrading just can't be avoided
@@dylangehring Remember when batteries and stuff were replaceable? Repairable? Nowadays, the core hardware is more mature than years ago yet companies want to replace your phone more often as ever. Most Android phones don't even bothe with software updates and only deliver for a couple of years.
think it's just you, everyone I know keeps their phones for years
@@em0_tion wait until they "update" your software experience into oblivion. :(
I am a man and I have noticed this change particularly in clothing sector. In last 20 years, clothes quality, stitching, fitting has gone bad, and prices have gone higher. We always talk about this in our family. And its happening around the world. We used to visit India to buy some good quality clothes but now, all the small factories in India closed, and market is filled with chines clothes that have bad quality and bad fitting. I have also tried some expensive brands as well but its very hard to find good clothes now days.
I think it is time to head back to the tailor. Yes, they cost more but their clothing looks and fits great and it lasts, too.
never shopped with the mentality that, "I want the next best thing". I mostly shop out of necessity, not as a form of recreation. I usually select purchases for usability, quality, simplicity & comfort, not style or trend. As a result I don't clutter my life, or home, with a bunch of endless stuff that ends up in closets, cupboards, drawers or discarded. I have things, but mostly things I have used for quite a while. The problem with consumption is a question of mind over matter. You can blame many aspects of society for it, but that's because you allow society to play with you
I'll never forget my first engineering class in which the instructor said when you're designing something you got to make sure that it doesn't last forever. Sigh :-/
Even bridges
@@mposh Especially bridges. Got to have that maintenance budget every few years.
Seriously?! :(
@@xmarkclx got to have that falling bridge every now and then
My spouse helps companies streamline business processes for efficiency, and the thing he loves most is knowing that any resulting layoffs mean that people get to re-own their own time and lives. It sounds horrible, until you realize that when we don't have to work to replace the things we need because we already have them then we can do what we find most important and fulfilling rather than what society needs us to do. Partly because of his work I've come to view planned obsolescence to be as unethical as slavery by any other name. (I personally earned my "gold watch"/retirement at 25 and left the workforce three years later.) It's good to own my own time, and I do some good things with it.
One of my friends is an exchange student from Italy. I complimented her leather boots and she told me they were her mom’s from the 80s. I ordered a pair of leather boots (not cheap ones either) and by the end of the semester the connection between the sole and the toe was coming undone and my toes would get cold. 40 years vs 14 weeks.
How much did her mom pay in the 80s though? The value of the dollar is almost 1/4 today as it was in 1980, so if they were $100 then you'd need to pay $381 today to expect the same quality. Also, how many times have they been resoled?
To be fair, that pair of shoes from the 80s was probably repaired and mended a ton.
Get boots with a goodyear welt or blake stitch. Basically nothing on the mainstream market has these. Boots that will last decades are gonna be $300+. It's a shame but you really have to do your research on this sort of thing. Rose Anvil has some super useful videos about leather shoes.
@@Dysiode 2222zr
Look at solovair/NPS shoes, handmade in England.
My WW2 grandparents died in the mid 2000s. The refrigerator they bought in 1948 was still running in their basement, keeping things cold. My buddy just bought a brand new refrigerator a few months ago and it never worked. Lowes said it wasn't their problem and Frigidaire made it nearly impossible to get it replaced. So my grandparents fridge ran for over 50 years and my buddy's fridge ran for zero days.
My grandparents are also dead, but my parents are still using their Electrolux canister vacuum cleaner. I'll probably inherit it eventually myself...
I appreciate that you mentioned power wheelchairs in your video. I am in the process of getting a new power wheelchair after having my current wheelchair for 10 years time. The reason I need to get a new power wheelchair is because of a simple, but irritating, short in the joystick, which I was told the manufacturer no longer makes any more. I feel excited, but nervous to get this new power wheelchair because I’ve been told that although it’s very similar to the wheelchair, I have now, it’s a different brand and will be different in some ways and also has some bells and whistles added that I’m not used to. Wish me luck! I hope I’m not stuck with a wheelchair I don’t like for the next 10 years. 😱
How did it go with your new power wheelchair?
I would love to see manufactures be forced to: 1) label how long the product is supposed to last under a set amount of use 2) offer a warranty for that period of time with the option to repair, and 3) accept any/all of their products that are returned back to them after that use date expires (this would only really apply to the seller of the final product but would still cause the affect to cascade up to all the suppliers of the product)
I love the idea of an “best by” date on clothes and objects! 😂
@@clairer342 most shirts would have "best to use before you throw it in a washer for first time " and for warranty and repair ability for tech is at most 2 years but that's how long those products last for. The amount of items that I bought that 'expired' few days or so after warranty was no longer valid. And have heard a lot of people say the same thing. Ufff
Congratulations, you have imagined a world where nobody bothers to make anything becasue is isn't worth it
for my workplace my employer bought a new copy/printer which broke down like 1/2 year after buying it. We complained to the company which provided us with our electronics and replaced it.
this second printer gave up like 9 months or so in and I called up the company to get it replaced.
They told me the warranty doesn't cover this anymore, because the 2 years warranty is only for private people who buy it and also the time didn't reset when we got a replacement. the 1 year was counted from the first purchase only.
But of COURSE they offerd us a great deal to buy a new one. /s/
They do. It's called the warranty, plus a couple of months to be on the safe side for error. If you want to know how long a product will last then only look at the time they will guarantee your money back for.
One problem is that it's hard for consumers to actually find and support the companies that actually still produce good stuff that will last you. Expensive things don't necessarily last long. Things that last long don't necessarily have to be expensive...
Right
Very true. The issue is the consumer not being willing to research, wait for shipping, go to physical stores, impulse buying, etc. so we end up with cheap and fast, or potentially good quality but very expensive.
People just keep blaming “corporations” or “planned obsolescence” or “government” but rarely themselves. Companies would make higher quality and easier to repair products if that’s what people mostly bought and cared about.
@@heyspookyboogie644 Not really. Things are either just too new to gauge their sturdiness and most of the time it doesn't matter anyway. If my phone breaks after 5 years, I'm going to buy a new one. I could repair an old one, but I'd probably still be missing out on new software or hardware. The real problem is consumer culture, where "trading in" phones every year is socially acceptable, or buying fashion for each season is admired. And about the sturdiness part; when I was shopping for new headphones, the headphones I bought only started breaking for everyone that bought that model, after about a year and a half. That means that when I bought it, I had no idea it was that badly designed. Companies should do this durability testing themselves, but most of them don't really bother (or hide/beautify the results).
Try new companies, they always work for their reputation at the beginning
Things that last a long time don't HAVE to be expensive, but usually they are. Sometimes people would rather have a thing that is cheap, even if it doesn't last very long. At least that way, they get to have the thing for a while. The alternative is that they never get to have the thing.
I buy cheap clothes & wear them until they're falling apart & then some. I have "fast fashion" clothes from teen catering shops like Wet Seal & Delia's that are 20+ years old.
That's why I love thrifting and using old stuff. And sewing, and mending. Things, clothes, everything that surrounds me, I bond with it, I want it to last.
Right to repair is soooo important. And getting high quality clothes for what initially looks like a high price tag would be worth it in the long run
Or fabric, for that matter. I sew my own clothes and you really have to be careful when buying materials.
@@thaliacrafts407 Any tips? Or keywords to search?
@@CyberMachine if you're looking for good quality clothing or fabrics, anything that doesn't have synthetic fibers is usually a good start. so no rayon / nylon / polyester, no "weaves /blends", no acrylic or aramid.
100% wool is what i'm looking for for clothing atm, i also live in a cold place heh
except that this is now a feature of "high price tag" items as well.
People really need to understand a concept called cost per wear. It's like We're conditioned to have visceral reactions to clothes that cost more than $5- $20...
You just convinced me to be even more committed to less quantity and better quality clothes
I love the feeling of owning an item I love and enjoy every day. 🤗😘 Life is so much better when we appreciate everything around us. 🍻
@@em0_tion it's biden's inflation
@@Sanyu-Tumusiime Pretty much every 1st-world country in the world: "Yeah sure okay"
@@Sanyu-Tumusiime Trumpflation. Red Hats made as cheaply as possible in China instead of with quality materials in the US. And prestige branding, where the fashion of the brand name is what matters, not the quality of the product.
not necessarily, there is quality chinese stuff and then there is made in china garbage, the issue is more about things breaking on purpose to sell more than the place they are made in, but whatevers clevers
The advent of Computer Aided Design tools really helps engineers to "engineer the cost" out of stuff. This is why the best cars were made between 2000 - 2010. After this point they started to get so good at replacing metal with cheap plastic that everything is guaranteed to break in exactly 7 years or 100k miles, whichever comes first.
This whole concept is essentially why I haven't used my degree in marketing. Instead, I used it to teach abroad and am now a handyman.
I own a jeans that was worn by my mother when she was younger than me. Never got ripped by anything. Never stained. I've learnt how to tint it just to reinforce the fading colours after 10+ years using it, and I needed to do it only once so far. I get a lot of compliments from it, especially nowadays when high waisted everything is in vogue. People often mention how "retro" it looks (Well, yeah, it's the real 80s deal), and how thick the fabric layer is compared to most jeans. Even the buttons are original. Made to last. If you have an eye for the basics of cleaning, sewing and customization thrift shops are a gold mine. I can't stress enough how important it is, especially nowadays, for people to learn the basics of how to care for items you own.
that's really nice! im glad you know the value of things and how to take care of them properly.
100%. By the way, women are usually easier on jeans. The ripped ones were worn by men.
I wish I had jeans like that. I thought treating myself to a new pair of £80 Levi's rather than cheap H&M jeans would mean I got a quality long-lasting pair... They wore out just as quickly as every other pair I've ever owned 😑 Needless to say, lesson learnt.
i have a levi's jacket that my dad bought back in the 70s. still looks good as new and always in style. my kids are going to have to pry it from my cold dead hands.
Good on you.
I still remember the old fridge bought by my grandparents in the 80s was hella durable, mainly because the cabinets were made from pure aluminum and stainless steel. Nowadays they use fancy names like tempered glass, that will still break if you drop it. That fridge lasted for 40 years until it broke in 2019 and we had to sell it because my grandparents are already gone and no mechanics can repair such an old model
Seriously! My fridge shelves are held together with tape because they are made from plastic. So each one broke over the first year or two!
I want to buy an industrial or old fridge with metal shelves.
The new fridges have a tv on the face. I don’t need a tv! I just want to put food on the shelves and not have the shelves crumble!
Seriously! Someone bought an old, broken fridge? 🤯
Yeah same goes for dishwashers and laundry machines if they were made in the 80s and 90s. They might not have fancy lights and sounds, but the parts and repair costs are faaar lower than the new(er) models.
And in the 80s people were complaining they didn't last as long as the one of the 60s !
@@anam6011 Yea idk. I think this person lives in a different country or so, where everything is reused, scrapped, or sold.
In the USA your not selling an old broken fridge or even have someone take it away for free.
My mother's washing machine is 27 years old and has never broken, not once. I tell her not to change it ever, my washing machine is 2 years old and it's already giving me trouble.
In my city, there is this visually-impaired bloke who can fix almost any electrical appliances. He can always find ways of harvesting usable parts from completely done appliances, to re-use them for fixing salvageable ones. He is an absolute genius, not yet taking into account that he’s about 80% blind. On top of that, he always refuses to charge extra for anything, because he claims he is services the poorer demographic and wants to help them save.
My roommate from college ended up getting a chemical engineering job at HP, his job is to engineer conductive adhesives for the motherboards that deteriorate and fail approximately 6 months after the warranty expires.
The guy just shafted his own dreams then, because I guarantee you that is not the the kind of work he planned to do when he motivated himself for the incredible work and sacrifices involved in getting that kind of degree.
@@aliannarodriguez1581 people seem to drop their dreams pretty quickly when the paycheck is big enough, see how many brilliant minds end up working for twisted social media companies just because the pay is so high... but I guess that's just the cost of the hyper-individualism that our society seems to be based on now
Thanks for letting me know never to buy a computer from HP.
@@Knedlajz2 Unfortunately, fields that are known for their high salaries attract those who are solely in it for the money rather than any passion or will to do good for the world within the field. Ethics+morals might as well not exist in them so long as they can live comfortably or have bragging rights. The software industry is infested with those types and it makes me regret ever getting a degree for CS.
That should be borderline illegal. THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T REGULATE ANYTHING MUCH ANYMORE.
Unfortunately, buying with intention and reading care labels is not enough now either. I started buying jeans at Primark years ago because it was one of the few places I could find them in my size and not skinny/stretchy for a reasonable price. The first couple of years they were ok, but I did notice that after a year or so the wear and tear of them ment I had to throw them out, I couldn't keep patching them up. There's been many Primark jeans since then but by now they only last 3-4 months before they're un-wearable. I thought "I'm gonna splurge and get a pair of Levi's, that's what I used to wear as a teen and they lasted forever", and I did, at 6 times the cost of the cheaper fast-fashion ones. I wanted to invest in quality name brands, but they lasted me LESS THAN A YEAR. Same thing happened to my sister with her Converse All-Stars (multiple pairs), she invested in a trusted quality brand and they lasted her about a year and a half, when her childhood and pre-teen ones lasted forever. She hast stopped buying them for years, but she's seen the quality lower steadily over time.
Taking care of our clothes and "choosing wisely" are not enough anymore because every company wants to maximise profits. Wise choices aren't as clear as they used to be.
My purchasing power does not allow for 600$ designer jeans to see if they'll stand the test of time. And honestly, with how luxury brands nowadays price their items where the "brand name" itself will be about 40-60% of the actual pricetag... I don't know of those 600$ jeans are gonna last that much longer than my 80$ Levi's did.
Converse All-Stars used to be made in the USA, but began to be made off-shore in 2001 after Converse USA filed for bankruptcy. They are now made in Indonesia, China, India, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Pakistan. Nike bought them in 2003, and I'm guessing quality did not skyrocket after that either.
Advice seek out a person who specializes in sewing a piece of clothing. A person who specializes in sewing jeans, just jeans with good fabric and customized to you frame
@@soulfulgeocatcher agreed, they'll be more expensive than the Levi's but less than the 600$ "designer" jeans!
No shade, but are you sure you’re caring for your jeans? Air drying, washing w/little to no detergent by themselves on delicate, no direct heat (i.e., no ironing).
If so, it’s likely a material issue. are you looking at the material description before buying? I would recommend only 100% cotton - no polyester, elastane, etc. which are all polymers (plastic).
I put quality over quantity and found it easier to find lasting jeans compared to other products. Levis w/100% cotton lasts. Abercrombie w/100% cotton also does well.
Recommend shopping materials not designer. Read those product descriptions before buying. Learn what materials are. Good rule of thumb: If you don’t know what it is, don’t buy it. Fyi as someone who does sustainability work in the fashion industry.
@@BadMonkeee Washing jeans on delicate? I wasn’t expecting to hear that. But I will add a little piece of my experience on fabrics. Rayon shrinks badly but will last a really long time. And when buying wool, run the other way if they’ve mixed it with any amount of polyester or nylon, unless you like being covered in pilling fabric.
This video is highly informative. I repair niche electronics as a profession. I make my living repairing valuable industrial electronics that the manufactures did not intend to be serviced by third parties. I have seen everything presented here in the categories I repair. More categories presented below. This great presentation exposes and explains consumer engineering and it's current practices very well. It confirms what I observe. Thanks for producing a video that explains both the history and present practices of consumer engineering.
PS: As a pushback my cars are from 1985 and 2005, my stereo consists of components introduced between 1959 and 1962. My dryer is from perhaps 2005. I maintain these items and many more for daily use.
Manufacturers used to emphasize the quality & durability of their products. Now the emphasis is on how the product makes you feel, or how it makes you look.
This is why I thrift. I can get super well made things from 20 years ago at fantastic prices that look classic.
Be careful with clothes though. People will thrift out their deceased relatives' and spouse's things. You never know what a person died from.
@@Famous5821 You always wash clothing before wearing.
YES!
@@Famous5821 There are ways to disinfect and sanitize clothes and such. For the occasional bad mojo, there are also fixes for that. LOL
@@Famous5821 That just adds a sense of mystery and allure! But like I clean my thrift store finds before I wear them...
My refrigerator repair man told me how he bought his sister and brother-in-law a brand new refrigerator just so that he could take the 25 year old one off their hands because he knew it would never break down on him. To me, that says it all.
A years-old machine still in service is not obsolete, it's *tested.*
And how did you thank him? 😉😉😜
My parents 1970s refrigerator broke down somewhere around 1990. The repairman fixed it and said it will either breakdown again in a month or last forever. Just in case, my parents bought a new fridge and put that 1970s one on the porch as a second fridge. It still works today and so does the one from 1990. I bought a brand new fridge in 2016 and it lasted 18 months before I had major issues.
But the old fridges are also very energy inefficient, and some have very harmful gases in them that are not allowed anymore, we need best of both worlds...@@thezfunk
I have been complaining about this issue when it comes to perfumes and colognes. A perfume's sillage and longevity are not what they used to be. And, unlike clothes, perfumes have an expiry date that makes them unable to be thrifted.
As someone physically disabled, this has been making me life increasingly harder. Each new style means changes that could work against me. I have CP and require very specific things to aid in my quality of life. In just the last few years the style and size bra I need to aid in my mobility has been discontinued. It’s been two years now and I’ve been fitted and spoken to specialist so many times, being told my only choice is to have one made. (Custom bras start at $300. Definitely a huge financial burden for me) Last month my washing machine died and I discovered that all newer models have buttons that I can not operate. I need something with knobs and knobs have been phased out. Now we are spending an unbelievable amount of money to get an older washer to work.
That is something I noticed as well, in favor of "modernizing" they forget to design inclusively. Even small changes such as only having touch screens for printers, or as you said, buttons instead of knobs on washing machines, can heavily impact a portion of the intended users and make it physically unaccessible. Unfortunately Disabled and Elderly users are usually the most affected.
I've been dreading the day when I have to upgrade my 15 year old car, because all the newer cars have lost their knobs and buttons, in favor of shiny sleek touchscreens - that require looking at for a fraction of a second, aiming, and tapping with an ungloved hand to operate. And if something goes wrong, I won't be able to take a Smartphone Car to my trusty small town mechanic for repair.
Why do they hate people who need manual knobs and buttons (and like long nails) so much?
@@CrazedComposure The designs are being done by people who do not know, or care to know, those who are disabled. It's horrible.
This is a problem I've been running into as well! I'm lucky I can use the buttons for my washing machine, but I require knobs for my stove top.
My oven is very small which hinders my baking business, but I can't find one thats as reliable or has knobs for the attached electric range. Its all tiny touch sensitive buttons. Not even real buttons!
But didn't you hear the video? Just change your attitude as a consumer, they'll start making better bras for cheaper eventually...?
I've been screaming to the void about planned obsolescence for the last 15 years. I really hope the American people learn eventually that they're "voting" everyday with how they spend their money, and which businesses practices they choose to support.
The truth is...nobody care. Apple have be doing this for year's. We don't have the right to repair the cellphones that we own...
Voting one way or the other will NOT fix planned obsolescence. Politicians don't want to fix this. It's all up to the consumer
@@relaxingnature6766 OP isn't saying to vote politically, they're saying to vote with your wallet
Oh they might do but this NY legislation advertised in the video is not voting for repeatability. In fact it’s quite the opposite.
How do we find good products?
Stop Apple from releasing the same product every year
I discovered this just trying to get new undershirts for my husband. Grabbed his size in three brands, all ended up bring practically see through, wear out from work and in the wash! My fourth attempt was Kirkland Signature from Costco, they are good thick fabric, quality made and per unit not much more then other brands that frankly aren't worth having. There literally was no other brand that was a good option I found across two other stores. Same issue just trying to find good socks. But hey, now I know. I won't bother with another brand of shirts unless costco tanks quality, which is not likely.
For a next report, you should mention shoes. There's a lack of shoe repair shops because most shoes are made to be thrown away, shoes start deteriorating right in the backroom of the store in less than a year.
But also, have you had shoe repairs done recently? The eco-friendly glue they now use to stick rubber soles on lasts less than a week. Leather soles which are stitched on cost the same as a new pair. Heels now wear out super fast.
@@krystleboss8573 I guess it depends. There are several shops where I live and it's not a big town.
@@krystleboss8573
You can buy everything you need for simple shoe repairs online and do it yourself. There are all kinds of different soles available and the glue is, well, proper glue.
Seriously? ;(
Rebuildable shoes cost at least $200 and take lots of wearing before they become comfortable. But once your break in real leather shoes (ones where every major component is leather) they are so much more supportive than foam based sneakers. Its honestly worth the higher prices.
I've noticed that clothes sold online- especially through Amazon- will often be made of very cheap & thin materials. I made the mistake of ordering scrub tops online for my healthcare job, they turned out to be made of a cheap synthetic material that instantly wrinkled.
Because you're just looking at a photo of the product online, it's much easier to pass off these cheap clothes than it would be at a department store. Be careful buying online!
That’s why I always look at the pictures of people wearing it
thats why those chinese online store (and amazon) have to be taken with more attention.
Always check reviews and photos that other consumers usually upload in the product page, that makes the whole diference.
Also, Going in the store can make you change your tought. People are buying nowadays because they are "bored" and you can by cheap stuff *(that you dont need) with a click and then wait for it.
It's also good to spend the time and effort to force Amazon to take those items back. The more work they have to do to deal with bad products, the less likely they are to support those products.
I literally cannot stand shopping online. I don't know how anyone does it and is satisfied with the product that they receive.
I've had some bad experiences shopping for clothes on amazon as well. I now buy directly from company sites if possible. I avoid amazon as much as I can. Even non-clothing related.
I really appreciate the diagrams showing the ratios between functionality, appearance, and cost, very helpful.
Glad to see this discussed. I buy clothes twice a year. The average age of a sweater or pair of pants in my closet is about 4 yrs. and I have a few select pieces that are more around the 8 yr mark. I grew up in a time when a telephone could be expected to last a minimum of 30 yrs. and appliances 20+ yrs. I am in the process of buying a new washer/dryer...Repairmen warn me my new machine will likely last less than half as long as my old ones and will likely need costly repairs after only 5 yrs. When people complain they can't afford things I think of this. Spending $2000-$3000 on an appliance one time isn't a big deal, but doing it every 5 yrs is prohibitive.
I used to be addicted to shopping before the pandemic. Like, I went shopping every single weekend, bought things I didn't need, had a closet full of clothes with tags on them. Then quarantine happened and it was like a switch- I don't shop anymore unless I need something, I essentially wear the same clothes over and over again. I'm all about comfort now, and saving money.
OK Boomer. (Just kidding -- truth is, you're applying the wisdom of The Greatest Generation.)
Good on you! Honestly, I wouldnt be surprised if youre happier now too, and saving money.
@@Nazuiko huh, who's abke to save money these days with record high inflation? ....result of lockdowns
I am currently addicted to shopping - however, I only shop at thrift stores and only buy vintage clothes. They were made to last, and they sure have.
Trust me : buy clothes in classic cuts. Buy solid colours that coordinate and that you like. Read the label beforehand and avoid plastics ( eg polyester, acrylic etc. ). Read the care labels. Don't tumble dry them. Wash things only when they need it. Don't spin them higher than 800rpm. Hand wash things that are expensive/ delicate. Buy shoes that can be resoled ( eg Goodyear welted or blake stitched ). Buy shoe trees. Use shoe spoons. Don't wear shoes or suits back to back. Leave a day in between. All these things will keep your wardrobe looking good for years. Yes, it will be more expensive initially. But if you buy 2nd hand, or in the sales, you will save in the long run. I still wear a Calvin Klein t-shirt that I bought in Italy in summer 2000, and it still looks and fits like new.
Avoid plastics? Please tell me how or where. I can't even find a non-polyeser cotton bathrobe, or women's jeans without spandex. ☹️
@@JP-ve7or They are there, just harder to find. And not in many dept stores/malls. If you look up sustainable brands and spend more for things you will use for many years it's still possible. But requires effort to find something you like
Sometimes you want plastic. Nobody should wear cotton to work out, it gets sweat soaked and cold after a few minutes. But yes, do read the care labels on your clothing.
@@JP-ve7or just search cotton bathrobe and check the material before buying
@@daniellivesey6749 plastics have horrible breathability though and increases your odor since they trap them. It's really a pick-your-poison scenario.
I don't buy clothes that often, but recently I bought some shirts. Nothing fancy, just cotton blend short sleeve shirts in various colors. I bought the same brand of shirts that I already a couple of them. The new ones are noticeably thinner. They're supposedly the same shirt, but I guess they've evolved over time. I looked at a couple pair of jeans that were bought some years apart and the same thing has happened. The newer jeans are like half the weight of the old ones. If I bought clothes more often, I might not have noticed a gradual change.
I think this video was a good starting point. I would have appreciated a more comprehensive look at other factors that aren't centered around the consumers starting and mainting the problem. Like diving into the actual increase in labour costs from 20 years ago to today and see if the increase in those wages matches relatively to the increase in prices. In addition to this, id really appreciate a more in depth look on how stagnating wages and lack of size inclusivity in better made clothing contributes to the problem. These last two points are particularly important to me as it informs a lot of my biases towards this topic and rarely gets added into the conversations about fast fashion and over consumption of disposal goods.
I honestly thrift most of my clothes for this very reason. Clothes from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000's hold up way better than new clothes. I grew up thrifting and my mom always made it really fun!
You can buy clothes from 80s?
Same i buy old clothes too, the textile is thicker and better quality.
Also they are more likely to be natural fibre.
I love thrifting too but unfortunately my local thrift shops are getting flooded with shein and h&m trash they sell for more than new :(
You do have to be a smaller size to fit in most 80's-early 2000's clothes though. Body sizes have plussed up a lot in the last decade.
This applies to food industry too. A lot of major bands and products have shrunk in size and/or changed ingredients (cheaper ingredients/suppliers) of classic items (which changes taste).
@Mike Hurn Shrinkflation is not as bad as changing wholesome ingredients to cheaper but less nutritious ones.
They're not even keeping the same price. It's less product at the higher price. Straight greed.
Agreee! I used to love a corn stick wafer. Never changed the brand at all. I remembered it was thick and full within the package. Now it's so thin and smaller. 🥲🥲
And still claim "original recipe", despite having stuff like palm oil in there.
You are so right. And it's especially true in America. In other parts of the world food is quite expensive and usually sold in much smaller packages while in America people are so very used to getting more for less. Ingredient lists in most common products like Heinz ketchup for example do differ in Europe, Asia and the US
ECON 101: The real issue is public trading of companies--the requirement for stock to continue to increase in value. The only way to do that over time is to cut manufacturing costs & so, quality. The goal of most new small businesses is to eventually sell them into public trading. So, restaurants become chains become part of restaurant conglomerates. Small cellular companies grow value in number of customers at cheaper rates, always with intent to sell to att or Verizon, which then hike the rates. It's capitalism, baby. Sigh.
shoes are a great example of this. when i was a kid most brand name shoes like nike and adidas were made almost all of leather and cotton for $45-65. now they're made entirely from plastic or worse, they're poured foam still going for $45-65. i'm pretty sure poured foam shoes cost like maybe a $1 to make.
I’ve exclusively bought Levi’s jeans for the past 15 years. Every pair I’ve ever bought is still going strong… until the most recent ones, purchased 6 months ago, which developed holes after just 3 months. They’re not cheap (£100 in the U.K.!), and I only started wearing them because other brands kept wearing out too quickly. So disappointing, especially for a premium brand 😢
I was about to write same. 20 yrs back my father bought Levi's jeans and T shirt. It held its colour and texture for solid 15 years even after rough uses by my father. Nowadays they don't even stitch that strong.
I just bought some jeans from a brand called Community Clothing. £80 (i think) and made in the UK (Blackburn to be exact) Really good quality, I'd reccpomend looking into UK made jeans, there's a few brands out there !
Levis is not a premium brand, as others implied, check where they’re made. Most people in NA and Europe make relatively way more wages than earlier generations, yet the pressure to buy so much more makes them feel poorer than they really are. Pay workers good wages to make good products, and take care of those products so that you only have to buy one replacement for every four garbage ones that you once did.
@@hunting4honeys I'm wearing on of there hoodies right now! Can't get the jeans though they never have my size.
Who said that Levi is a premium brand?
Right to repair should be an easy bipartisan issue. This affects everything from consumer phones to millon dollar tractors. Absolutely key to reducing and reusing older electronics and keep e-waste out of landfills.
not just e-waste but yeah often companies also intentionally build weak points into products so they can continue to sell more, as eventually for most products their markets become saturated as e.g. most people don't need more than 1 washing mashine or more than 1 printer or some amount of outfits etc. etc.
as companies in our captilist system constantly need to make money they can't sell an infinite amount of things.
So if products lasted longer many companies couldn't sell as many things as can when things don't last as long.
Except a LOT of companies make a ton of money by having you replace those things every year. Or by keeping tight controls, and making money off the repair shops.
Right to repair is GOOD for consumers. We need to be pushing it.
But you also need to understand why the people opposing it are doing so. Because their business is being threatened.
Right to repair!
Wth is that?
Right to repair!
Wth is that?
@@Prophes0r I agree, corporations want things to break so you will buy more of them...i have the same bra from 10 years ago that is still amazing...but that means the same company hasnt gotten another dime from me for 10 years
I'm a quality over quantity guy. Gets expensive but I get longevity out of everything
possible reasons:
1. Nostalgia: Sometimes, we tend to have a fondness for the products of the past due to nostalgic reasons, giving the impression that current products are inferior.
2. Cost-cutting measures: In an effort to reduce costs, some manufacturers may opt for cheaper materials or production processes, which can affect the quality of the end product.
3. Marketplace dynamics: Market competition, consumer demand, and evolving technologies can influence product quality. In some cases, manufacturers may prioritize features, convenience, or affordability over durability or longevity.
4. Individual preferences: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone has different expectations and preferences when it comes to products. What one person perceives as worse, another may consider an improvement.
I found a vest top recently that was the same quality of fabric that I could routinely buy from The Bay in the late 90’s and I almost cried! Seriously, I’m a Millennial and even the stuff I wore as a teen was better than the garbage you have to buy from EVERYWHERE now.
Yeah I remember even fast fashion clothes from primark, h&m - obv as a teenager I had little money, I would carefully select clothes from these shops and they would last me AGES.
Now everything bobbles after a few washes or is made of such thin cheap material it sits strangely and is uncomfortable. I bought a 5-pack of tights from primark recently that all only lasted for one wear.
In some shops like tk MAXX it’s difficult to find clothes/shoes/handbags which even look in good condition before you buy them!
I still regularly wear a coat I got from H&M in high school and I’m in my 30’s! I don’t shop fast fashion anymore, but still have clothes in regular rotation from places like Forever21 that I bought over a decade ago. Seems like the hand-me-downs I get now barely last a wash before they fall apart.
If you’re looking for a tights recommendation, I’ve heard snag tights are amazing and long lasting. I haven’t bought a pair yet, but someone mentioned them on a Reddit thread and then tons of people replied saying they were their favorite tights and truly don’t snag. I’m looking forward to getting a pair the next time I need tights.
And it's not like people could afford to make their wardrobe even if they knew how and had the supplies - fabric and notions are super expensive! There's no winning!
I've had a similar problem trying to find a t-shirt made entirely of natural fibers, like cotton. They are instead woven with synthetic materials and, if you look up the thread, it looks like Barbie's hair wrapped around a spindle. It's all plastic. There are nylon rollerskate plates, because nylon is plastic. There are polyester water bottlers, because polyester is plastic. These "clothes" cling to you rather than drape over your limbs, they trap in heat to make you too hot and sweaty, and they are not at all biodegradable.
A friend of mine is a big Terry Pratchett fan, and through that connection I learned about the Boots Theory of poverty. And it basically boils down to: A really good pair of leather boots, which would last you ten years, may cost over 50 dollars, but an "affordable" pair of boots padded with cardboard, which will last a season or two before falling apart, will cost ten dollars. The leather boots will be a big investment now but will pay off later, in that same ten year span you'll spend hundreds of dollars on disposable shoes because it was more convenient, and despite spending all that money on footwear, your feet are still cold and wet.
Pratchett was making commentary on inequality. Poor people can’t afford to make the initial investment and therefore end up paying more for boots than a rich person. It’s not convenience. The point of the Boots Theory of Poverty is that it is extremely expensive to be poor not that poor people make bad decisions for the sake of convenience. Vimes, the person who gave us this little theory, eventually married a wealthy women who never had to buy boots because her father owned awesome boots and she wore those. Vimes, on the other hand, did not have boots to inherit and did not have the money for a really good pair of boots so he bought the boots he could afford and wore them until they were no longer functional. And he had wet feet the whole time.
@@beccangavin not entirely true. There have been numerous studies done that also show a "poor" mentality which is quite expensive. The candy bar experiment and check cashing numbers show that many poor people do things that are very expensive to keep them poor.
Candy bar - moderator left a candy bar in the room with a person. Said they'd get a 2nd if they left it alone with the moderator left the room. Most poor people didn't wait so only got 1. Most middle class+ waited and got 2. Delayed gratification and realizing making some sacrifice can increase your status.
Check cashing - many poor people pay money to have their check cashed instead of opening a bank account and depositing it. They are literally giving their money away, all because they are afraid of fees (which they'd have enough if they didn't pay to cash the check...)
This boot theory can also be applied. Instead of waiting, and suffering a bit more, to afford the good pair of boots which would actually save money in the long run, they go for immediate comfort even though it won't last.
Problem is cardboard shoes cost $50, and now $250 are also made from cardboard (not literally, but they are not that sturdier). I’d like to pay more for better product, but there is little to no choice, they are all awful
@@DevilTrojanChic a lot of those candy experiments were done with children.
@@hrissan This is so true. I saw another commenter saying that she bought $3k sweaters and knew she was getting quality and I was thinking it doesn’t cost $3k to make a nice sweater. She probably paid $2950 for a brand name and $50 for a sweater. Mina Le had a good video about this.
Let's be honest, quality went downhill as soon as 'Made in China' became ubiquitous. What has got me worried since covid is that made in America items like food stuffs have gotten worse. Not only has selection shrunk, but quality has gone downhill. It's become a race to the bottom in the name of quarterly profits.
There's also the added reason that companies want / need their profits to go up and the only way to do that is to cut costs somewhere. Making "enough" profit isn't enough, the line must go up and profit margins must increase. This will only get worse.
I recall that loundry machines made by Samsung have components that are DESIGNED to wear down and break prematurely. It's just despicable business practice.
yes. The tumblers in washing machines were all steel, now it is alll plastic
Tt
As a repairperson, Samsung is a terrible brand, don't buy.
@Zaydan Alfariz they are talking abt washing machine, why would you mention phone?
@@daviga1 bosch is best right?
Consumers didn't make this happen. It was the manufacturers. No one is running around demanding fast fashion or to buy clothes that can only be washed once before turning into a dish rag.
No it is not consumers, per say.
It is the economic uprising of China.
Chinese, cheap products that the rest of the world figures it must compet with on price alone !!!
I know someone who does buy junk at TJX Corp stores because they aim their products toward certain demographics (LGBGT and nonWhite) and catch him that way. Some things he buys don't even last a few days before ripping or falling apart.
Consumers not being held accountable is exactly why we’re in this shitstorm. No business would survive if consumers were not demanding they are supplied by junk. Where do you think Zara/H&M wardrobe hauls came from? Don’t get me started on Amazon and DHGate dupes that have make careers out of “fashion” influencers. -Sheep’s- Consumers flock to buy not because of manufacturers but FOMO of these trends.
I think part of it is shareholders who are demanding greater and greater returns on their investments. They are driving clothing manufacturers to get creative in finding ways to increase shareholder payout.
@@zainnee Finally someone who gets it. 👌👌 Everybody is to blame here. Companies produce what consumers want. If consumers would take the time and effort to buy decent things these planned obsolescence companies would go out of of business simple as that.
This is exactly why I refuse to buy Apple products 😑
yes my bra straps and wires keep snapping when I only buy the same exact bra... also my underwears... my older ones are in good shape but the new ones are already falling apart in the seams
I have binders from 2nd grade that are still in great shape. If I purchase a binder today it falls apart in a few months.