There were some comments here not so long ago in a related thread about the enshittification of either (cannot recall) furniture (compared to ikea) or household

There were some comments here not so long ago in a related thread about the enshittification of either (cannot recall) furniture (compared to ikea) or household appliances (why a 1950’s fridge may still be working while one from 5 years ago is already dead). The bimodal sentiment/comment was also applied for those markets, as a complaint of why couldn’t there be some midrange stuff for ecologically-conscious but luxury-adverse people. The “conclusion” was that people looking for the cheapest stuff are going to inevitably buy at the cheapest end, provoking a race to the bottom for manufacturers. People who like brands, quality, or status will go to the high end, independent of price, creating incentives for the companies to just sell things more expensively for a higher margin. There just wasn’t (according to the comments) enough market mass (nor business interest) to cater for that middle spot that ironically so many of us are looking for.