To think the quality of a lot of stuff has drastically reduced in recent years

[Tommalot]

Maybe over the course of around 20 years or so. I'm concerned this is a symptom of side effects of widening social inequality generally.

I'm sure I remember being able to buy pretty decent quality natural fibres clothes from the early 00s and before from high street shops for a semi-reasonable price. Now it seems very polarised, like you can buy either cheap synthetic nasty shit from Shein or New Look which falls apart or hangs poorly, or have to pay £££s at a very upmarket outlet for anything approaching quality that will last.

Food is similar. There's been a lot in the media recently about UPFs but the majority of most supermarkets are packed with unwholesome products. Whereas buying good quality, natural food is now a lot more expensive.

I feel it may be the case with other products and services as well, that there's increasingly just a choice between something cheap but shit or decent quality but out of reach of most people, with very little in between.

AIBU or am I just blinkered to affordable middle of the road stuff? Am I doing John Lewis all wrong? Help me out here 😁

I think you are right, but I think people want cheap goods/services, will pay for crap from China or wherever and are living in a throw away society where they don't expect stuff to last.

It's consumerism at its very worst. The rise of stores like B&M, Home Bargains, Primark have just fuelled this.

You're right, the T-shirts I bought in the late 90s and early 2000s are of such a better quality of cotton than the nasty shite Primark and other places sell. Even my M&S socks and underwear are of poorer quality.

But although fast fashion is terrible for the environment and garment workers, people want cheap stuff and they want it NOW.

YANBU at all. Clothes seem to fall apart within a few wears, even from more expensive brands. Shopping is soul destroying these days. I now make a point of returning any bad quality items to the store for a refund, even if they’ve been worn a few times.

I do most of my shopping on Vinted now and buy vintage designer items mostly. Half the price and they actually last.

You're not wrong to think that lots of things have declined in quality, but I assure you that 20 years ago wasn't some sort of whole food utopia. Even 40 years ago, things were either low quality or REALLY expensive, and that went for food as well as clothes.

I can't be arsed with Shein or Primark, TBH, so I tend to buy second-hand from Vinted or Ebay, or from some of the more niche online brands. I'm lucky when it comes to food - we have good farm shops and butchers round here, so I can get decent food outwith the supermarkets, plus we have a large number of ethnic food shops, so can get more interesting ingredients very easily.

It doesn’t matter how much you pay for something, it’s still crap quality clothing wise.

as cheap shops have arose like Poundland, B&M, Primark etc people don’t appreciate quality anymore.

when I used to work in the care homes, old people had loads of St Michaels stuff (M&S old branding) and their clothes were years and years old, but they looked like new.

no bobbling on them, fading etc.

you can’t get that these days.

I haven’t noticed a massive difference in quality of supermarket food, I try and avoid UPF as much as possible. Restaurants are a completely different matter though - I understand that they are trying to cut costs but most of the time it isn’t even worth eating out anymore. Post-covid eating out is twice the price with awful quality and samey food everywhere you go. We have a selection of about 4 restaurants that we trust and frequent - they have simple but well cooked, locally sourced food. I just can’t justify trying anywhere new nowadays as 9 times out of 10 it’s a massive, underwhelming waste of money.

Yep, I watched something on YouTube about this recently- I think the general point was the clothing lines used to be ordered a year ahead and stores generally made large orders and didn't want to be left with stock so quality and details were important. People also used to spend a lot more of their income on clothes in the 90s compared to now.

The rise of fast fashion (starting with Zara) led to smaller, cheaper and on demand designs. Quality didn't matter so much and people wanted clothes to stay cheap.

Now everything's shit.

Half of the issue is it isn’t even cheap anymore! Zara has gotten so ridiculously overpriced - I can’t believe that people actually shop there and keep coming back for more

YANBU, I find a lot of trouser hems come down and underarms wear out on tops from places that should be decent.

I recently went into a small coop and 95% of what was for sale was UPF. I get that it was in a deprived area and coop adjust their produce according to what sells locally, but surely one whole aisle (out of 4) being nothing but crisps and biscuits is grim.

Corner shops selling convenience food definitely is not a new phenomenon.

I promise you that people were saying exactly this 20 years ago.
In fact, as far as clothing quality goes I can remember my mum saying the same. And she's been dead for well over 30 years.

As for fast fashion, did no-one ever shop at C&A? Cheap and cheerful, and probably falling apart after 3 months.

Absolutely OP! And don't get me started on things like kettles, toasters, washing machines - things that used to last for decades, or could be easily repaired instead of replaced - they don't exist any more (I'm 61 so I remember my Dad repairing our toaster himself).

I reckon 5 years on average for a kettle, toaster or iron in my family.

I have a t shirt I still wear to my exercise class that I bought in Top Shop Oxford Circus in 1988 or 1989 (I know because I remember buying it and I worked practically next door at the time). It's faded and a little thin now ... but it's coming up to 40 years old! Obviously that's an extreme example but ykwim.

I have a St Michael thin 'cotton style' acrylic jumper that I got second hand 29 years ago and wore loads when the kids were small.

Found it in the loft recently and have added it back into wear - it's still perfect!

If I bought similar today it would be finished after 5 years if I was lucky.

One thing I've noticed is that chopped meat is really inconsistent. Some huge chunks, others tiny. You need to chop them up more to cook evenly, defeating the point.

Also an increase on poorly handled fruit and veg.

Both a result, I think, in the decline of "unskilled" workers from Europe post Brexit.

Not a big deal but Birds Eye potato waffles used to be soo good.
Now they dont go properly crispy and taste weird.

I’m of the vintage where I can honestly say that clothing was far superior 40 years ago.

I have clothes that are over 40 years old and absolutely perfect. They were beautifully made and have stood the test of time.

There was an interesting post on a similar thread a while ago (but about clothes only so might have been in Style & Beauty). A poster that was involved in the manufacturing/buying process explained exactly what had happened and the timelines, and the gist was that each step has become steadily more expensive but consumers won't/can't pay more so the only option to stay solvent is to cut cost at each stage - less expensive fabric, cheaper workmanship etc. The result is a flimsy, poorly made garment, and I imagine the same has happened across all types of production unfortunately.

Meanwhile the real essentials are becoming eye wateringly more expensive.

YANBU. I will throw in restaurants. Even trying to find somewhere a bit 'posh' for a special occasion, you look at the menu online and find pages of burgers, pulled pork, hunters' chicken, 'plant based' concoctions, always the same old cheap highly processed rubbish unless you can afford Michelin starred places.

20 years ago, what you could get in a Beefeater was better than what you can now get in a supposedly upmarket place.

Clothes, I’ve kept a lot of my old ones. Even browsing the Sales there’s no way I’d pay what they’re asking now for absolute rubbish. Loads of my stuff was bought at good prices, a long time ago. Shopping was so much more enjoyable, too.

Restaurants, I’ve lived in the city centre of three capital cities & used to have a number places I’d pop into for lunch or dinner. Tenner a pop for a nice meal, in the evening. Food & a drink at lunchtime. Nowadays, you’d barely get coffee & cake.

I bought a pair of sling back shoes when the first Next shop opened in Leeds. It was probably in the earlyish 1980's. They are still in excellent condition. Quality suede, well made and still fashionable. Honestly, I could have bought everything in that shop. Natural fibres, heavyweight material and great quality. Not cheap cheap but not extortionate.

You're absolutely right.
I went shopping last week to a large mall with loads of shops, looking for a couple of tops for my holidays.
Four hours later I left empty handed. Everything was just shit. Poor quality fabrics, badly made, inconsistent sizing, horrible styles.
My four tops (great name for a band don't you think?) that I've worn every year for the last decade and more will just have to hang together a bit longer.

I have voted YANBU. There is definitely a lot of poorly made stuff, but don't forget some of it is survival bias. I have t-shirts from Next that are twenty years old and in decent nick. But there are plenty of tops I threw out over the years too because they were past it.

But there's some crappy fabric used on a lot of clothes made my supposedly decent brands. Trading off the past name. But will devalue the brand in the long term.