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“ I think the current gap in the market for a lot of product areas is “more expensive but high quality” Often those products do exist, but you need to become a

“ I think the current gap in the market for a lot of product areas is “more expensive but high quality” Often those products do exist, but you need to become an “expert in X” to find them. Oh… you want to buy a high quality leather [whatever], better start learning about leather grades, leather tanneries, stitching thread, stitching types… so it doesn’t blow out in a year. Except we can’t all become experts in all products, and many companies are perfectly happy to build a brand on quality and then slowly erode that quality to increase margins.

deleted 4y ago
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mschuster91 4y ago
> Often those products do exist, but you need to become an “expert in X” to find them. Or you rely on media and, in countries where that's available, stuff like the government-backed, independent "Stiftung Warentest" in Germany ("foundation for testing products").
beej71 4y ago
Trying to find a quality laptop battery for an older machine is the ultimate exercise in futility.
Scarblac 4y ago
And there are many companies that _start_ making high quality products until they have a reputation for it, and then later dial it down to improve profit margin. Even experts may have outdated information.
Matrixik 4y ago
Oh, with leather I consider it great luck that I started learning from someone that have a lot of years of experience. I'm an amateur and sew only for myself and family/friends. Want really good and consistent quality vegetable tanned leather made in Poland? Then she said that there is basically one place (they produce it from over 110 years, and they are quite low in Google searches). Want chrome tanned leather with a lot of colors that are consistent and ALWAYS the same as on sampler? Also only one place. I was later learning normal sewing with her mother. When asked about good quality cotton (or other natural) materials in small quantities she basically say: "well, it will be quite hard and when I want really good materials I order them straight from Italy, available only in wholesale quantities from few manufacturers that I veted over last 40 years". She later said that in textile industry you can't really trust anybody, because they can send you few batches of great quality and then suddenly lower quality and will be telling straight to your face that "quality was always like that"...

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mschuster91 4y ago

> Often those products do exist, but you need to become an “expert in X” to find them. Or you rely on media and, in countries where that's available, stuff like the government-backed, independent "Stiftung Warentest" in Germany ("foundation for testing products").

beej71 4y ago

Trying to find a quality laptop battery for an older machine is the ultimate exercise in futility.

Scarblac 4y ago

And there are many companies that _start_ making high quality products until they have a reputation for it, and then later dial it down to improve profit margin. Even experts may have outdated information.

Matrixik 4y ago

Oh, with leather I consider it great luck that I started learning from someone that have a lot of years of experience. I'm an amateur and sew only for myself and family/friends. Want really good and consistent quality vegetable tanned leather made in Poland? Then she said that there is basically one place (they produce it from over 110 years, and they are quite low in Google searches). Want chrome tanned leather with a lot of colors that are consistent and ALWAYS the same as on sampler? Also only one place. I was later learning normal sewing with her mother. When asked about good quality cotton (or other natural) materials in small quantities she basically say: "well, it will be quite hard and when I want really good materials I order them straight from Italy, available only in wholesale quantities from few manufacturers that I veted over last 40 years". She later said that in textile industry you can't really trust anybody, because they can send you few batches of great quality and then suddenly lower quality and will be telling straight to your face that "quality was always like that"...