YANBU, OP. I worked in department stores for years during the 2000s/2010s, and saw the quality of stock changing almost in front of my eyes.
Expensive brands started churning out lower and lower quality stuff. Even brands like Lauren (Ralph Lauren's high street label) started delivering badly finished items with tatty-looking detailing - they'd often be returned by customers after they fell apart after one wash, while some lines were frequently broken on arrival at our store.
Decent brands started introducing cheaper outside brands which were similar in quality to things like Boohoo (I've noticed Next are doing this). Some are honest about it, and sell them under a different brand name, and some stick their own labels onto generic tat from cheap, generic production lines - the kind of stuff you'd get from no-name Amazon sellers.
You're right about crappy stars and things being "stuck on" - it's harder and harder to find decent basics, as the poor design, fit, materials and structure is much more obvious on a plain garment, making it harder to justify a larger price tag. Hence all those horrible prints, slogans, and studs thrown onto everything to make them seem "unique".
It's easy to see the difference if, like me, you collect vintage clothes from 90s/00s and compare them to the same brands today - modern high street clothes look like joke shop fancy dress kits in comparison. Sadly, people nowadays accept scratchy plastic fabric, rough or see-through cotton, raw seams and a complete lack of care, because finding anything better is near impossible.