It goes without saying that capitalism sucks and corporations suck. I don’t have loyalty to any “brand”. But I do care about me and my comrades being able to afford to live.
There’s that phrase that “it’s expensive to be poor”, which I think is very true. When you’re poor, you can only afford the cheapest commodities. These inevitably break, so you have to spend more money on a replacement.
I’m trying to break out of this cycle myself as much as possible. Instead of buying the cheapest replacement, I’m trying to save up my money to buy a replacement that will last. Unfortunately, researching this is hard. There’s so much astroturfing and “sponsored content”. So I figured I’d ask my fellow hexbears, what products do you know of are made in a way that they will last and actually cost less than buying replacements? There’s a few suggestions I can offer:
I used to work in a pretty solid outdoor gear store, and I was really impressed with the Deuter backpacks. They were always really durable and cheaper than Osprey. I have one I bought in 2007 and I still use it regularly today.
I own a Casio G-Shock watch. The “squares” are usually relatively affordable. The bands and batteries can be swapped out. I’m pretty tough on mine and it still looks mint. I do expect I’ll be wearing mine for a very long time. Or if you don’t want to spend money the F-91W is like $10 and still works well even though it’s not ruggedized. Worn by Bin Laden, too.
Something in the ideal category of durable and cheap are Sungait sunglasses. They’re like $15-$20 each and have UV400 protection. Mine have lasted a while and have handled a lot of being thrown around
As a parent, we have some Hape toys our kids beat up and they stay together well. My wife bought some Primary dot com clothes thinking they would last but they don’t seem any better than the super cheap clothes at Walmart or Target we normally buy.
So long as we're not looking too close about supply chain and manufacturing problems...
Tractor Supply Company's in store, Blue Mountain, brand of clothes. Basic T-shirts, long sleeved shirts, shorts and pants that are very reasonably priced and pretty comfortable. Buy a bit larger than you think you need as they tend to shrink a bit in the dryer.
Etnies sneakers. In the last 10~15 years I have bought three pairs that I still have and am pretty hard on (for a person who isn't a skateboarder). Jameson's and Barge's have been very good to me for less than 75$ a pair. My oldest is finally to the point that the sole is so broken down its like I'm walking in bare feet so i should probably get insoles.
Those fuckin rubber sandle shoe things (Crocks or Gators or whatever the fuck). Its taken me years of wearing my outside set while running around on rocks and through the woods to wear holes in the bottoms. My inside set will probably never be unwearable.
Splurged this year and bought some Wolverine brand work boots. Took some time to get them comfortable, there was something pokey on the tongue that I could never seem to find but hurt like a bastard.. Haven't had them long enough to be confident in their build quality but its been seven months and nothing has fallen off them which is about five months longer than all the other "work boot" shaped objects I've purchased in the last four years.