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.

Consuming isn’t for the wealthy, it’s a nice method of removing funds from the bottom to inflate the top. Media marketed to keep you poor and thus unable to change the system.

Why not…perhaps you spend money on things someone else would not. Or perhaps you don’t spend money and that’s why you have it!

I'm not very well off, and i ask my son what he wants for birthday/ Christmas and he says I want this tracksuit/ shoes etc. he'd rather spend his allocated amount on just one expensive item. It's not up to me to decide what value he places on clothes. I wouldn't waste my own clothing budget on expensive items. I consider myself lucky to have good budgeting skills

You mean the wealthy who spend a few weeks every winter at traditional ski resorts, summer at their homes or yachts abroad, have cellars full of wine, original art and antiques, and permanent domestic staff? Those non-consuming wealthy?

Nobody's yet explained how saving a hundred or so a month (the difference between supermarket joggers and a known brand) will make a poor person not poor.

Just thought about wealthy people's stables, housing their non-consuming horses 😂 and, of course, their multiple sets of seriously valuable jewellery and watches: some for daily wear and others for occasions.

If only the poor were as frugal as the rich, eh? They don't seem to realise how much they could save by freezing the game they shoot in season and preserving the produce of their orchards. Silly little commoners.

What makes you think that builders don't earn good money?

Those grey or black track suits everybody wears are awful. We call them matchy-matchys.

People have different reasons for wanting name brand stuff why people on a low income can afford it is probably because they don’t have a house or a car to pay for. When I was a a teenager my mum bought me name brand clothes like Nike and Reebok I didn’t dress head to toe in name brand stuff 24/7 biggest majority of my clothes came from New look and Dorothy Perkins but she would spend the money on nice clothes for me so that the kids in school wouldn’t bully me for being from a piss poor family.

Honestly, having grown up in an area of pretty extreme poverty and high drug use, I don't think it's surprising or confusing. People where I grew up couldn't afford holidays, didn't own homes, had rusty cars and no chance of meaningful savings. But they could save up enough or borrow enough, or get enough credit to give their kids (and themselves) things like game consoles, branded shoes, branded tracksuits etc. These kinds of luxuries feel more meaningful and important when you don't have much. You feel less like you're just scraping by in a pair of fashionable trainers that make you feel presentable and like everyone else, owning a designer t shirt bought discounted at TK Maxx even though you could never asked a designer coat, wearing a mac lipstick instead of an Essence one. You average it out buying your knickers from Primark instead of M&S, eating cheap food and wearing your shoes till the soles wear through. Ot was important to me as a teen to have these things. Now, living in a city, not a teen, feeling outside any particular culture, I don't care but I don't spend like my born middle class colleagues either - I can't imagine going to an expensive restaurant and I resent the £50 per head christmas lunch!

I had a very middle class workmate who constantly complained about this and about poor people having big TVs that he "couldn't afford". He went on city breaks twice a year, went to the theatre regularly, liked fancy real ale, his parents helped him get a deposit for a house, was making the maximum contribution to his pension and stood to inherit from his grandparents. The people he complained about had none of that - and when you're at home without any money having a good TV matters (or it did then, now it's more phones etc).

We are considerably more richer than Yowwwwww! 😜🤣

I think it's to give them a slice of an affluent life. I have been in a not well off situation due to having to give up full time work. It was a treat to have high end toiletries. Now I am doing much better financially I am not fussed about those brands. I would rather focus more on building more money back of what I lost. The poster who smiles at other people's property is assuming too much. That person she visits may have multiple homes or millions. Some of the cheapest places can also be very nice and priceless or better to some.

Tracksuits always remind me of pyjamas. The irony that they once represented athleticism and are often wore by people who can't be arsed to co ordinate clothes - low energy living.

You are quite right, I will spend money on experience, travel, hire the yacht but not buy the yacht. Experience doesn’t depreciate in value. And certainly outsourcing gives you time. Those are the only exceptions.

However material “goods” which is what in large most people talk about when it comes to consuming. That is what I should have clarified when I say consuming.

Don’t be silly - compound interest will mean it’s worth far far more than that. Say the gain is 10% a year, then as that compounds, just the first £1000 is worth £45k 40 years later.

People may still decide fancy sportswear is where they want to spend their money, but there’s a reason Einstein supposedly said compound interest was the greatest human invention…..

This is definitely the case. I remember speaking with a group from London who owned cars they couldn’t afford despite London having the best PT system in the country and it just making zero sense to drive around London at all. They simply said people who use PT were deemed poor and the car was a status symbol.

Tbf some of them also go on holiday nowadays and pay for that in instalments too. You can get your bottom dollar if you see an extremely poor family with designer gear (that isn’t knock off) and going on holiday, it’s all paid for in instalments or on credit cards.

People prioritising money where they want to spend it . I am shocked at the amount of money high earners waste for example on flippant purchases or over paying for meals out school fees and random purchases you just don’t need to think about .

I am average earner ( prob the lower end to be fair) but I shop savvy buy when there is a sale , use Vinted . My kids for example appreciate clothes trainers for gifts at Christmas birthdays.
I actually feel richer than some of my rich friends because I am more frugal with my money i shop around for insurance policy’s use cash back apps for purchases we go on abroad holidays but I don’t book packages I search for cheap flights ……. These are all things I think people with excessive income don’t even consider they can get cheaper or don’t have the time because they work long hours .

what people spend there money on does concern me as long as I can afford it we can have it .

There are many better things to think about than how other people spend their money. For example how you can make more.

What’s with the faux naïvety OP?

The richest person I know (also the most generous) is always looking out for bargains.

Not specific to the brands you mentioned, which I know nothing of, but there are two main reasons people spend a lot on clothing-1. fashion (this is how people like to express or present themselves and is pretty standard) and 2.quality materials used in their manufacture (if you spend a bit more on quality items you typically need to buy less and they feel nicer to wear/fit better/better for your skin etc).

It seems bizarre that you are a top 1% earner and buy your clothes in a supermarket rather than investing in quality materials. What about your bedding do you buy cheap polyester sheets or do you have higher standards there?

It also seems bizarre to suggest it’s an attempt at status, as though that is what you think people should be aiming for - people with lower / average incomes typically don’t care about competing for status, but buy things according to their own interests that they can enjoy day to day, rather than having a life goal of trying to impress other people.

Yes, plus I think a feeling that "I’m as good as everyone else, if I want those things I should be able to have them. I’m not giving people an excuse to look down on me and my family."
It's the same reason that ime makes second-hand items like children's bikes more common in better-off families.

Absolutely true. My DH said “I can’t understand why people care what others think of them”. I pointed out that ££££s in the bank buys you the peace to not care what people think. It’s very different if you’re poor.

Everyone spends their money on different things. I have friends who are very wealthy, but couldn't care less about what they wear. And friends, not so well off, who love to spend money on their gear. Up to them.

If my daughter doesn't wear her Nike shorts and socks for PE she gets bullied, so we buy them from Ebay or Vinted. I know we're adding to the problem in a way by giving in and buying them, but I was bullied for 5 years at my secondary school so I do everything I can to avoid my DD going through that.