When Keyana Sapp, 31, went shopping for a new backpack, the brands he remembered as a kid were just not the same.
He researched the companies, from North Face to JanSport and Eastpak, and soon realized they were all owned by the VF Corporation after a wave of acquisitions in the 2000s. After a Reddit post he made about his discovery picked up traction, he started looking at other types of consumer goods – cookware, shoes, tools, clothing.
“It seems like that was a story that just repeated in every industry,” Sapp told the Guardian.
Yeah, I subscribe to Vimes philosophy whenever I can afford it.
It makes it a lot more palatable when you look at the cost per year. That $220 briefcase could easily last me 20 years (no signs of wear after 5), so $11 a year is pretty good.
Having to buy a $50 backpack every other year is objectively worse.