3 ms·

> One issue is there's a kind of missing middle in many goods markets. I agree. It's gotten worse in every area from clothes to shoes to furniture to accessori

by kijin 7y ago

> One issue is there's a kind of missing middle in many goods markets. I agree. It's gotten worse in every area from clothes to shoes to furniture to accessories since cheap shit started flooding the market. For example, I usually try to be as frugal as I can with clothes, but that means trying to sort out a few good ones from the pile of polyester crap that sheds microplastic every time you wash them. It's such a waste of time that nowadays I just move up to the next price bracket where most products are made of real wool and/or cotton. I can easily see why someone who is comfortable with shelling out even more money will choose to ignore all the consumer brands and go straight to high-end brands that are guaranteed to be good. Watches are a whole different game, though. There are plenty of good products in nearly every price range. Bill Gates seems happy with his $40 Casio Duro.

shantly 7y ago
> It's such a waste of time that nowadays I just move up to the next price bracket where most products are made of real wool and/or cotton. Yeah, I found my sizing in a couple decent-ish brands that hardly deal in synthetic fabrics at all, and just buy them during seasonal sales (on their websites) or at thrift stores. Shoes? Seconds and ebay. $9 for a thrifted button-up that's $80 new ($45 on sale), looks & fits nicer than something from Target or The Gap or whatever, and will actually hold up for a few years (in a rotation) ain't bad at all. Sale prices are nearly as low as normal prices on much worse clothes. Saves money for the occasional splurge item for stuff that's hard to thrift or get used (jackets and suits are tough), and even with a few of those my wardrobe looks similar to someone who's spending 3-4x what I am on clothes but being less frugal about it. But it definitely took a lot of up-front effort (research, finding sizing, a few full-price items or gambles on stuff on ebay to get all that dialed in) to get to this point.

by kijin 7y ago

shantly 7y ago

> It's such a waste of time that nowadays I just move up to the next price bracket where most products are made of real wool and/or cotton. Yeah, I found my sizing in a couple decent-ish brands that hardly deal in synthetic fabrics at all, and just buy them during seasonal sales (on their websites) or at thrift stores. Shoes? Seconds and ebay. $9 for a thrifted button-up that's $80 new ($45 on sale), looks & fits nicer than something from Target or The Gap or whatever, and will actually hold up for a few years (in a rotation) ain't bad at all. Sale prices are nearly as low as normal prices on much worse clothes. Saves money for the occasional splurge item for stuff that's hard to thrift or get used (jackets and suits are tough), and even with a few of those my wardrobe looks similar to someone who's spending 3-4x what I am on clothes but being less frugal about it. But it definitely took a lot of up-front effort (research, finding sizing, a few full-price items or gambles on stuff on ebay to get all that dialed in) to get to this point.