Edit: My bad. More coffee, less impulse. Apology. This (the OP) may be insightful, but my first reaction is within the context of my ceasing to purchase Levi-S

Edit: My bad. More coffee, less impulse. Apology. This (the OP) may be insightful, but my first reaction is within the context of my ceasing to purchase Levi-Strauss products, because: First and primarily, they started wearing out very quickly -- I'm hardly the only one to have noticed this; and secondly, their unit size variations went way out of control -- e.g. taking 10 or more identical units into a dressing room, to find 3 or 4 that actually fit well, or at all. Their office processes may have developed to some super-natural level. But I'm still not buying their actual products. I mention this, because I run across it repeatedly, these days. All sort of internal "efficiencies and improvements", but no corresponding improvement in the actual product. Towards the more dark pattern end, materials scientists and engineers closing in a particular lifespan to maximize revenue. It may be a very sophisticated process, but as the consumer, it's not doing me any good -- as I see it.