why clothing is bad now

[TheIronSnail]

Just wanted to jump in and say I tested this with Target, Levi’s, Wrangler, LL Bean, etc. and got mostly the same results across their product ranges (some products didn’t change price or went up).

J.Crew was just the first brand I tested so I used them but another brand prob would have been a stronger example since they have frequent large sales.

Sorry about that, all of you together can think of a lot more nuances than just me

Thanks!

[kgpax]

I'll pay good money for good quality. Hard to find any good quality clothes these days

[Anton-ww]

Whenever I thrift or go to surplus stores im shocked by the quality of some vintage deadstock items. Not even talking about big name brands, those barely have deadstock anyway. I'm talking about unknown brands that don't exist anymore with good materials, quality stiching, nice weave etc. It's not just big brands cashing in on marketing, the standards of the industry seem to have declined overal.

[ALC]

This is completely ignoring the issue of perpetual “sales” that have become increasingly pervasive in modern retail. Amazon gets hit with massive fines every year for this exact business practice, but the fines are outweighed by sales it promotes so they keep doing it. If something is on “sale” 95% of the time, it isn’t on sale, that is the actual price of the item. Retailers just mark up the item so they can “discount” it to give you the impression of getting a deal. It’s sketchy and dishonest at best, it’s fraudulent at worst.

[mustardorb]

They are also much worse because its cheaper to use shitty material and forced labor than to pay workers here in america with quality material.

[catie]

I'm a textile artist. There's a lot at play, but we literally don't process fiber the same ways we used to. Historical fashion youtube sometimes touches on that type of thing.

As someone who born in the eighties and has watched the slow decline of textiles, it honestly just makes me so sad. Thrift stores used to be full of high quality clothing, and now it's all Lula roe and Shein, etc.

We also don't view sewing as skilled labor, which means we underpay tf out of the people who sew our clothes. They're more skilled than home sewists even, and they make pennies.

Anyway! I have so many thoughts on this lol, it's cool to see you talking about it.

[adambrollosy]

Vintage champion from the 80s and 90s and even early 00s is a different breed. It’s some of the best sportswear ever made for its price point. And if you have pieces from that time period they will last until you die.

[Shrouded_reaper]

Worst part is that since thrift shopping exploded thanks to "influencers" and the resellers looking to make a quick buck, they are all picked clean. No more sterling silver, they have all figured that one out and all the good clothing gets picked out straight away, the racks being full of temu-tier plastic clothing garbage.

[BoobooSnafu]

Born 1970, with a mum who loved vintage clothes.
Clothes these days seem like....out of shape body bags.
Ive worn 1940's clothes and....OMG 🥰
- the shape, the fit...the feel !

Also - as a motorbike rider ive noticed that the $300 'superthick' specialty jeans for riding basically the same weight denim of what we wore the 70's and 80's🤷‍♀️
(I know....i compared a pair - and my vintage bubblegum jeans were thicker 😂)

Its such a shame🫤


Also - kinda lovng your channel🤗

[davidriordan]

It’s because what you’re looking at isn’t actually “on sale”. It says it’s on sale as a marketing strategy to make you think that you’re somehow getting a discount. The fact that people don’t get that is mind boggling

[jagsdomain]

I've noticed socks seems to die within 3 or 4 months now where I just don't remember them dying there quickly

[gcooper]

I've noticed a similar thing with the quality of furniture. I bought a solid pine chest of drawes for £80 in 1998, still have it. Bought a new one recently for my spare room for £250 and its just particle board and its smaller. Its corporations pushing for constant profit at the cost of quality.

[ianlandry]

I have a recent example of this. I purchased a few pairs of Prana Zion II hiking pants and have absolutely abused them and still wear them almost every day to this day. Went to go replace my most worn out pair with new ones and maybe pick up a couple more to have one pair for every day of the week. Come to find out, Prana has "updated" aka used cheaper materials and manufacturing techniques to save a buck. All the recent reviews are trashing on the new design and say exactly what I am preaching. The metal riveted button has been replaced with a sewn plastic one. The material itself is different and tears much easier. I went to Ebay and purchased a bunch of older design pairs and will continue to until the old stock and used market is empty. Prana has shot themselves in the foot like many other companies have. Its a shame really.

[darkplasmo]

Modern clothing companies are more marketing companies than manufactures, and the percentage of the price that goes into the product reflects that.
Before reputation and quality was what got you ahead, now it is “Hype”. You can still find great brands that produce high quality but finding them in this saturated market is a challenge.

[jjcoola]

Well, technically, it’s worse because the way the economy works these days is that the stock has to go up every quarter or else the company is seen as failing therefore the products become worse and worse as more and more profit must be extracted from the products….

[pandamilkshake]

In 1980, 70% of the clothes that people wore were made domestically. By 2024, only 2.9% of the clothes available for purchase in the USA are made in the USA. It's because of cheap labour, cheap materials and premium prices.

[jw]

We also have to keep in mind that people make less when adjusted for inflation. Wages stagnated in the 80s with the collapse of organized labor and have never recovered.

[eekamoose]

I bought a pack of Fruit of the Loom T-shirts online a few months ago and was shocked at how flimsy they were. They were paper-thin and lost their shape immediately when I put them on. They do make good cleaning rags though.

[vickisnemeth]

There are no consumers. Rents are too high.

Manufacturing countries' wages have been even more stagnant than buyer countries'. It was already unsurvivable to begin with. People can't work like that.

[TheRacerRich]

The problem is the formerly good brands are trying to be in the middle, not cheap enough to win the race to the bottom but also not good enough to be bought by those who want quality. I would happily pay the extra 20% to get the old quality, but instead the only way you can find that is pay an extra 100%