But then they'll go shopping and burn more fossil fuels and buy more things that set Bangladeshi factories on fire! And throw their old things in trash inciner

But then they'll go shopping and burn more fossil fuels and buy more things that set Bangladeshi factories on fire! And throw their old things in trash incinerators! Shouldn't they just have to eat their old boots when they can't be resoled any more? By the way, where do you think new soles come from? The boot theory is nonsense that at best only applies at a pretty narrow range of consumer goods - stuff that is barely fit for purpose vs stuff that is. Cars are a great example because you pretty much can't save money spending more up front on one new car than on another new car, and there isn't even that big a difference in TCO between a new car and a comparable five-year-old car. Working class people in the USA buy beater trucks to save over buying a new truck, which is a different trade, mostly because trucks are a working class Veblen good. They don't want to be seen in a Corolla.