How and why do people who aren’t actually well off pay for this stuff?

[Watersunscream]

If I told you our income I would be told we are in the top percent of earners etc but I honestly couldn’t actually justify or financially manage these sorts of purchases.

Has anyone heard of the essentials brand? Literally hundreds for a tracksuit. I think another is Bergen? Expensive t shirts. Then there’s the usual like Fred Perry etc.

Obviously I know lots of wealthy people buy these things too but it’s mostly people from low income backgrounds. How do I know this? Because people I work with who live in deprived areas and not paid much are forever talking about these things! They actually buy the stuff for holidays or as gifts at Christmas etc. Is this a misguided attempt to gain status? An insecurity thing? I find it really bizarre, it wouldn’t ever cross my mind to spend this.

Well if everyone has one and you don't then there's even less status. You might not think they have status, but they feel by the ownership of these items that they do.

Many probably inherited nice wedges of money but it was likely instilled in them from a young age to respect money, appreciate value and to maybe have some gratitude as well, or were they just total dicks like the wannabes in a slightly different way? LOL

Knock off fakes. Hard to spot unless you look carefully.

Fair point, at least just buy one pair of trainers a year then, or does that push you down the pecking order if everyone else is buying 3 monthly?

I was bullied through out primary school for not wearing the right clothes and yes it affected me but I don’t think it was so much about the brands but as for the fact we looked like that child in the “About a Boy” movie.

The bullying may still be whispering in the background as people tell me all the time that I look very classy, but honest to God, 90% of my clothes come from charity shops… and will never buy something just because of the label.

So agree, this shit stays with you.

Didn"t that look become cool later on though?

I think those who have a much higher income tend to have higher outgoings- larger mortgage, investments, pensions, private school fees maybe. Not always, but a lot of the time. If you’re on a very low income you’re just literally living day to day. In some ways you might have more disposable income and less incentive to bother to save it. (And I’m saying that as someone who has lived on both sides of the coin - at one point we were so broke we couldn’t afford to fix a lighting issue / damp issue so we all lived downstairs for 2 years and didn’t have working lights upstairs)!

You have a point there… the children with new rich parents were always making a fuss about brands and how fantabulous things their family owned, without the parents saying ANYTHING when they were showing off, while the parents of the children who were properly rich told off their children straight away if they were acting like dicks.

I was bullied in private school but there were a lot of new rich in it, while my sister went to a school with the kind of rich people who had a helipad in the garden and nobody ever commented on her clothes.

The use of charity shops? Yes, it has became massively trendy in the last 10 years with all those influencers, but I have been at it for at least 40 years.

Lots of people happily live in debt. We always thought the same about holidays a relative went on, transpired there was 13k pounds of credit card debt that paid for them! There's also Vinted, knock offs etc. There will also be people who just really value them, it's not my pr your choice for finances but some people will save towards these kind of things and it'll be their splurge item - the rest of the time they might scrimp on things, or not do certain things, because this is their luxury (which is fair enough - each to their own)

Was there a pecking order for helicopters?

No, the child in About a Boy look?

I don’t think they had more than one per family 😉

YES, down to the horrible haircut.

I still think of that and wonder what the hell my mother was thinking.

Trauma doesn’t work like that. He obviously intrinsically links expensive clothes to his worth as a person, as that’s what he was taught. It’s deep rooted. He spent most of his life feeling worthless because he had shit clothes. He didn’t fit in. Now he can afford expensive clothes (he’s a doctor) he doesn’t want to feel like shit again. He can fit in now. Obviously he knows his bullies were dicks, but subconsciously he would feel worthless again wearing cheap clothes.

If you grow up in an area where everyone has fuck all except the odd new pair of expensive trainers or hoodie, those things become very precious and coveted. They don’t covet 5-bed detached houses or private education or skiing at Whistler. They desire achieveable rewards, like a posh T-shirt.

I’m not sure where all the mock incredulousness is coming from. It’s very basic psychology.

High emd fakes from turkey sold at markets or online. They prob spend all their money on little luxury items as no hope of big flashy cars houses or holidays. Same reason why nail bars still doing well £30 for a little treat. Its their money can spemd as like.

Rightly or wrongly, i just assume it’s fake. Was in the coop buying some milk and there we 2 women trying to work out if they could afford the food in their basket. They were wearing “gucci” sliders and “LV” bags. Do i think they spent their cash on designer clobber, but couldn’t afford to make a cheese and ham sandwich? Absolutely not!!

I they’ve got to offload their drugs money somehow I guess!

Classic example of today's society, you
Wanting to go on the offensive rather than actually use basic comprehensive skills

Often the wealthiest people have the rattiest, threadbare carpets , old cars , battered handbags because they have nothing to prove and know it’s more important what’s in a purse than what brand it is. Unfortunately certain working class hero’s have made oodles of money linking ability and success to particular brands - so it becomes a status symbol for those with the least money. Usually fakes bought online or “ off the back of a lorry” ; or tk maxx/ Vinted. The pressure for children from poor families to have “ the right brands” at school is enormous.

The phenomenon is well documented. A Google search will provide you with a solid foundation to gather some perspectives. Or you could go up to these ‘low earners’ and ask them. Actually don’t.

Here's a novel thought, how about not wondering how or why people you percieve as being in some way lesser than you spend their money. We all have different levels of income, different choices and different priorities.

The side of our family that lives on council estate wear all the high fashion from their holidays in Turkey. You can’t tell the difference apart from when you’re looking at the owner

But then there would be no fun sneering at people who do things differently to you, or in pointing out how morally superior you are in your supermarket basics.

Is this a misguided attempt to gain status? An insecurity thing?

Yes that's exactly what it is. It has always been thus.