Made to Break: Why Everything We Buy Today Is Trash

From fast fashion to fast furniture to made to break appliances, everything we buy today, no matter where you are in the world, is trash. This video essay delves into the history of labor exploitation, imperialism, and how they’ve resulted in the horrible working conditions and products we have today.

Special thanks to these content creators for their amazing narration:

TIMESTAMPS:
Intro 0:00
Content Note 0:33
Special Thanks to... 0:45
Part 1: A Short History of Labor Hierarchies and Global Manufacturing 0:59
Part 2: Fast Fashion Just Keeps Getting Worse 21:13
Part 3: Fast Furniture: Everything Is Ugly 32:05
Part 4: Fast Appliances: Made to Break 38:10
Part 5: The Loss of Valuable Life Skills 43:34
Part 6: Reverse Outsourcing: Fuyao Glass 46:26
Conclusion 50:15

Music:
🎵 Evil Plan - Kevin MacLeod 🎧 No Copyright Music 🎶 YouTube Audio Library

My 2nd Channel:

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[Lill]

Working with elderly really puts into perspective how crap our products are. They have Maytags from 1962 that still run without issue. Lifetime warranties galore. Furniture is solid wood. Clothing is cotton, wool, linen, stiff denim, silk, and fur. And it was more accessible because the materials were natural even if they were put together cheaply.

[angellover]

Is it just me or are clothes and fabrics meant for women are worse than clothes and fabrics ment for men. I think I noticed this whem clothing for women started to get more and more flimsy and you needed to layer more and more clothes to just feel warm during cool monthes.

[Mavisdundundunnnmanston]

I also think having furniture from relatives is a form of generational wealth. I did buy and new furniture when I moved into my apartment. It was all stuff in my parents basement. A lazy boy from the 90s, a beautiful tea cart, end tables, etc. I didn't realize how lucky I had it until I started doing interior decorating. SOFAS ARE SO EXPENSIVE AND SUCH CRAP

[Lucy-clqk]

i noticed that the stuff i buy at second hand shops lasts longer and is better quality than what i got at any shopping mall fast fashion store

[shadyguy]

I'm an architect who's worked on data centers for a certain massive corporation, and the trash does not stop at consumer goods. This corporation wants everything as cheap as possible, even if we tell them "hey doing things this way instead of the way we recommend will literally cause the building to leak and become unusable within a decade", their response is "doesn't matter, we'll have made our profits by then"; the short-term profit motive is just so plainly short-sighted, and I'm not sure if there's an ethical or sustainable way to build data centers, but everywhere you look there's a constant urge at the highest levels of big businesses to spend less and get more profits now, let the future worry about the future.

[ashleybryant]

I refurbish old wooden furniture as a side hustle and something I think worth mentioning is that most people just don’t have the setup required to refinish their own stuff. I am fortunate enough to have a garage and lots of outside space, as well as a husband who is fairly handy and had a lot of knowledge and tools for me to use. Just to sand a dresser to paint takes a ton of space for ventilation alone, and since most people my age (millennial and gen Z) live in these massed produced apartments (and if they’re lucky, with tiny balconies) they wouldn’t be able to do it even if they wanted to.

[Veritos]

I remember hearing about a warehouse collapsing in Bangladesh that was owned by Primark about ten years ago which killed about 200 people. When I told my friends that this made me not feel comfortable buying clothes from Primark, it was made out that I was being over dramatic and has been a bit of an in joke about me ever since. Fast fashion is reliant on wilful ignorance. No matter how angry I feel towards governments and corporations for constructing the system this way, the indifference of most consumers allows it to continue. Consciousness of this vile system is really the bare minimum that should be expected of people rather than laughing it off as just a reality of the world that can never change.
Great video as always, so important to educate people about!

[Simile]

I am in my mid 20 and I have seen quite a few friends picking up sewing, woodworking etc. personally I started knitting and love the process and wearing quality sweaters, I could have hardly afforded. So I think there is some hope

[TahtahmesDiary]

Its not just about stylish furniture...it's like I physically CANNOT MOVE these huge, heavy old wood pieces every year as I switch apartments from constant rental increases. I often HAVE to stick with the cheap stuff that breaks down.

[elonmusksellssnakeoil]

Planned obsolescence - one of capitalism's "great innovations". 🙄

[ChrisBrooks]

Another problem is that they're making it illegal to repair things. It has been stated by various people, namely farmers, that they don't have the ability to repair products even if the parts come from that company. These companies still insist on a worker coming to the farm to oversee things or to literally push a button.

[mikorisheridan]

Learning abt planned obsolescence in school made me never EVER want to buy something not from a thrift store. Now they're getting filled with TEMU SHEIN etc 🥰

[CostumedFiend_Audio]

The section on Loss of Life skills reminded me of the fact that I had a home economics class in middle school, which I don't think exists as a class anymore. I did try to learn how to sew on my own growing up, and while there are multiple reasons it didn't stick not necessarily related to culture, it also just occurred to me that any and all places to buy fabric that I knew of growing up ended up closing down. One of which was replaced by a dollar store.

[kr]

Vintage and antique options for clothing and furniture exploded in price in the early 2010s and hasn't slowed down. It's not really affordable either for the most part.

[VioletSadi]

It's also, with furnature, a matter of how many times people expect to move: it's easier to move pine, plastic, laminate, and minimalist furniture than it is to move proper, heavy, built-to-last things

[hannahbrennan]

Isn't late stage Capitalism great?

[WokeOne]

Planned obsolescence… that’s every corporation / manufacturer game plan 👿👿

[fusionspace]

I'm 42 now, and I can vouch for this trend. I had a TV that lasted my entire childhood and into college, my NES and SNES and Genesis worked for over a decade at least, some longer, and now I've had three tv's break in the last five years and every modern console I've bought has broken down, from the Nintendo Wii up to the Xbox One. Things just are not built to last even as much as they were in my day, and people were already talking about Planned Obsolescence then.

[wooogie]

Picking up crochet and knitting last year has really opened up my eyes to the true value of labor and how much time and effort goes into our clothes, even if they're "just" fast fashion. if I see some clothing company selling "crochet" (usually knit that mimics crochet) clothes or blankets for like $20 or $30, I just stare at it in horror if it's actually crocheted because what most don't understand is that crochet can *only* be hand made and should be *much* more expensive. I tried to teach myself to sew a couple months ago but I gave up because it is so much more difficult than knitting and crochet; I might try again in a few months because it's a really valuable skill and I do want to transition into making any new clothing items I want myself. As of now, I only really buy clothes from second-hand/thrift stores and online places like depop and vinted (which have their own problems but I think it's a step in the right direction away from fast fashion). I've limited the clothing I buy from big retailers (say walmart or target) to basics like tank tops that I can sleep in or wear around the house.

[bittobirdy]

I definitely agree with bringing back apprenticeships! I have been seeing people blame the death of sewing as a skill on gatekeepers... that the older people who know all these techniques to make their own clothes just like, dont want to teach and get huffy if people don't already know every technique. I personally don't have any experience with that since my learning is done through online videos and all!! Hopefully there are more skills such as making furniture shared online