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.
There's that old theory by Sam Vimes about how expensive poverty is, told through the example of two pairs of boots. Once we can't afford anything that lasts, we will be stuck only with things that don't and the trap door of economic poverty shuts.
Business, particularly capitalist run businesses, will reduce costs internally once market share stabilizes and expansion is not cost effective. Part of those internal 'efficiencies' is lowering the quality of the product or service to its minimum sellable quality (aka enshitification). When they have an effective monopoly, there is no choice but to spend too much for too little and all our money goes to the very basics of survival, without regard to quality of life, and only for the duration of our utility to the economy, ie our most productive years.
We are being bled, pressed, tricked and shamed into complete dependency, aka slavery, by people who have zero empathy and care only for their own interests. It is a war being waged against us, made possible because we're constantly distracted from seeing it for what it is.
Company becomes successful with a reputation for quality ----> equity firm buys company ----> proceeds to cut any cost they think they can, starting with quality ----> people wise up and start avoiding brand ----> do it all again with the next company. They've been doing this for decades and they've gotten to most companies.
It's not just physical manufacturing quality. I feel like nothing is ever made or designed correctly anymore. I have no idea where Designers are being employed, because every website and product is made wrong. Nothing is ever easy to use, or explained well. Nothing ever uses words. Like Reel Big Fish said, Everything Sucks.
Late stage capitalism phase. Everything is owned by fewer and fewer companies, which have fewer and fewer regulations, and more and more influence. Politics lies in bed with them. Fascism is the current next step, which is trying to solidify this fusion of megacorps+government for a long time.
With this comes fewer and fewer rights for consumers and citizens.
I think that we are now witnessing that capitalism has failed because it got too unregulated and companies grew too powerful.
And this systemic collapse will cause a lot of tragedy until it's replaced in the far future.
Also, fake plastic leather that will peel off in three years making a mess everywhere.
I don't care about leather look. Just give me a nylon finish, or any other finish that will not peel off destroying the product. Though I suppose that's the purpose, program obsolescence so you buy another.
The only way I can see is everyone to learn to evaluate products quality and abandon brands as soon as they start to enshittify. That of course requires there to be a good quality alternative.
It's everything. We're in the end-stages of capitalism. The trope I always bring out it that my previous bank location had 13 teller stations that were ripped out (no computer) and two tellers with a long line.
This is the "We'll give it and you'll take it," phase.
These "watchlist" ones do need reading before making up your mind, as the author puts them there for various reasons.
E.g I need a new tent so I've been looking at Decathlon and found it on the watchlist here.
#Decathlon
The world's largest sports retailer. Twenty-plus house brands own the cheap-and-good quadrant, with 10-year warranties on some gear.
#Ownership
Founded by Michel Leclercq and majority-held by the Mulliez family alliance. No external investors, no debt structure. FY2025: EUR 20.7B in sales across 1,902 stores. A 2025 handover put Julien Leclercq in the chair and Javier Lopez in the CEO seat.
#Why Watchlist
Ownership is exemplary and the family reinvests rather than extracts. The problem is conduct: a February 2025 Disclose investigation tied Decathlon's second-largest Chinese garment supplier to Uyghur labor-transfer programs and filmed a 12-year-old working on Decathlon polos. The company confirmed the supplier while denying the Xinjiang subsidiary link. Watchlist until credible remediation is published.
I'm not happy about this, but it's nearly impossible to avoid both Chinese manufacturing (or even just Uyghur labor) AND American capital in this day and age. I can see why it's on the watchlist and for anyone avoiding it, kudos to you for being stronger than I am, but what I'm reading is "no product quality issues mentioned, is not owned by a private equity firm, not American, not publicly traded".
But I'm not pulling the trigger yet, so if anyone can suggest something that's not US owned, is decent quality, and does NOT use uyghur labour or child labour, and is widely available in Europe, I'm all ears
I just rebought the same Levis jeans I've had for some years. The exact same model, length, waist etc, because the old one from 5 years ago fit me perfectly.
The new one is too small, and not just around the waist, but it stops above my ankles where the old one goes below my ankles. You can put them on top of each other and see that the new one is a bit smaller everywhere. I also feel like it got even smaller after washing - at 30° according to the instructions.
I've noticed the same when I go to thrift store. I need L-XL there, whereas when I buy new clothes it's XXL. Being worn out can only account for so much in my opinion.
Time for corporations to create "premium" brands with same quality as before but at 10x the price. Once those get popular lower quality again and pocket the profits. When people start complaining about lower quality create new premium brands...
I try to buy second hand (not food, obvs). Better quality for lower prices. I have a fully cotton canvas and leather Fjällräven rucksack that only cost me 40 Euro. A new plastic one (without a removable seat pad) would cost 100 more.
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