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.

not sure why observing that different people have different priorities in terms of their spending makes me smug but ok.

This might be bit long! I'm not the PP you quoted, but a retired marketing (and ongoing fashion) obsessive.

Any social bonding value in jeans from Tu is about money not spent. If you're interested in fashion, you'll be familiar with the mutual delight in finding the unicorn barrel-cut jeans at only £20, when they're as well-made as a £200 pair.(FWIW, Sainsbury's sold out of those within days and replaced them with a similar-looking but inferior product).

This depends on a detailed knowledge of what £200 jeans are like, and on having made bargain-hunting part of your identity.

There's a strong qualitative difference between bargain-hunting because it makes you feel clever and being forced to hunt bargains on everything, always, because you're skint. I've been in both circumstances and, while the 'choice bargain' lifestyle provided an excellent background for the 'compelled bargain' situation, the latter quickly got wearying. There's little joy in shopping the yellow stickers because you can't afford a free choice.

Sticking with food for a minute, what did I buy when I had an unexpected £20 to spend? Avocadoes and £7 bread flour instead of the £3 flour? No. I bought a single, large, T-bone steak. Every time. I could more wisely have bought a roasting joint, which would've lasted for days with the same nutritional value. But a big steak is my 'thing'. It makes me feel more human, more worthwhile, and as if I damn well deserved a chunk of prime-cut cow.

Being entirely rational, all of the time, is joyless.

So back to the branded sports clothing. Labels afford a bonding experience, we know that. Look at the handbag discussions on S&B. A professionally-built brand isn't just a name on a manufactured item, it's a whole microcosm of values. Anyone who knows the brand also knows these values, identifies with them, and identifies similarly with others who share that microcosm. It matters quite a lot, especially to young people who are still finding their tribe.

I'm totally ignorant of the specific values communicated by sportswear brands, so I'll let @WanderingStar26 get on with that part!

It's the working class equivalent of a massive central London mortgage and an Audi SUV on finance. People on high incomes don't always make sensible financial decisions either 😂

Or they steal it! 😂

Fakes, discounted or in some areas near me, stolen to order. People use Klarna and the like too to pay off monthly, I did this with my sofa. Even on a low income people can save up monthly to buy expensive things for Christmas, birthdays. Or have them gifted by richer members of their family.

posters who are “doing well” often want to hear it’s because they’re in debt, it’s bought on credit cards or stolen.

the truth is people prioritise different things and if you’ve no chance of owning a 5 bed detached house why not spend on fancy clothes or car repayments.

It’s so easy to get discount items in sales or from Vinted, eBay, etc. that look as good as new. But yeah I agree with pps about brand as status - something they can control even if they’re struggling in other ways.

You probably spend your money on things I find frivolous and wasteful too, horses for courses,

Why would I buy cheap nail polish when the expensive stuff works so much better? No one is going to know I'm wearing Holo Taco/Orly/ILNP instead of Barry M or Rimmel unless I tell them, but I know (and I don't stop talking about them if anyone stays still long enough to listen to me.)

If I told you what I spend on mascara you’d have a conniption. I buy it because I think it’s the best and I like it. Boots No 7 doesn’t cut it for me.

I like your style!

Assuming people who live in cheaper houses have “less” than you and allowing yourself a “smile” at the fact is a bit smug.

My DH works with a lot of guys who have worked their way up doing manual labour jobs and now run their own companies. Many still live in cheaper areas, because that’s where they grew up and their friends and relatives are still there.

They could easily afford a big house without a mortgage, but choose to spend on other things. In fact now I think about it most of them have their mortgage free properties in spain. Giving them the best of both worlds.

I think it is only on MN that people get too involved into what other people spend their money on.
Most people do not care.

And cheap clothes from supermarkets are a false economy anyway - IME they tend to get holes or rips or wear down much faster than better made brands

It's a way of buying status when you can't aquire it any other way.

Humans, innit.

With your higher income, you can realistically save for a house deposit, or other genuinely high value items.
You can look at investing in yourself by taking expensive courses which will increase your employability or earning potential.
You probably have a decent credit record and access to funds most genuinely poor people can never dream of achieving.

When you are on a very low income, the things you can aspire to are items you might not value like a pair of trainers, because you as a higher earner can aim for things that they can never afford.

What would be the point of saving for years to get that much and have all the hassle of monthly proving how much you have in savings, with the threat that if you spend enough to drop below that amount of savings you can be accused of intentionally depriving yourself of capital in order to claim benefits when it's still never going to be enough to use as a deposit on a one bedroomed flat?

Aspiration for lower earners stuck in the poverty trap is punished in the UK unless you have the money/earning potential to blast past that £16,000 point, and the punishment begins at £6,000 when you start losing Universal credit so why struggle to even get that far so it can become harder?

Benefits are set up in this country to stop people being able to get away from them easily.

Most cannot even get to the point of saving £6,000 but they all know that they will lose help if they get that far.

Why not buy a pair of trainers today to make you feel good when you will never save enough in your whole life to pay what some people spend on a big holiday?
Why not get that car on finance when they couldn't afford the repairs on a cheaper car if it broke and they need a car for work?

When saving is punished, spending seems more reasonable and nobody chooses misery over happiness, however fleeting the happiness may be.

Yes, it could be that. They could all be loaded. Or they could have an income commensurate with the area they live in and just make different choices about tgeir spending, which seems more likely but as you say. I could be wrong.

Absolutely - and in a similar way there are sociological explanations as to why people that don’t have much money spend money on cigarettes and alcohol for example, when they’re struggling for essentials. But it may be for a single mum with 3 kids who is hanging by a thread mentally, having a cigarette or glass of whatever at the end of the day is her treat to herself and her coping mechanism, so the cost/benefit analysis comes out with those things being absolutely worth it. Even though financially and health-wise it’s a bad choice. She’ll find the money and prioritise doing so because they’re essential to managing her life. This kind of resonated with me when I studied it because I have definitely been that single mum!

I live in a city with a lot of poverty in some areas. However, these areas always have lots of nice cars about. I personally don’t get it but I guess a monthly finance payment of a few £00 is more affordable than a holiday for £000 or a house in a nicer area for £00000s!

Perhaps the house seems out of reach but the car brings instant pleasure. Same with the tracksuits.

There are very slick fake websites
Flannels sell these brands in their sales and on credit

This in a nutshell.

For various reasons, over several months, I had to regularly visit a part of my nearest city which is high on the deprivation scale. Most of the housing is council/ housing association, many flats, low income, low educational standards, high unemployment etc.

The number of large brand new cars in that area was very surprising indeed. But again, if you can't afford to buy a house, or get a mortgage, then you can make yourself look like you've achieved something if you can get together enough money each month to lease a car.

Meanwhile I spend a tenner on maybelline and five quid for Nivea eye make up remover and would be horrified at the thought of spending more but I suspect some posters would have a conniption if it admitted how much I spend on the things i like

its weird how some people prioritise different things 😜

It sounds like this thread has been started to show how superior you are because you’re loaded but still don’t buy all those things chavvy people wear.

I feel the same way about a £1000 hand bag. If I saved all my disposable income for a few months (and didn't spend it on the shit I normally spend it on) I could have a bag like that but when I see them advertised I can't really see that much difference between them and a £100 bag. Not enough to make it ten times more desirable to me anyway.

I was in group therapy with a single mum who was on benefits. She was always very well made up... face, nails and hair. Well dressed. She said it was her "mask". If people saw her look well etc, then they assumed she was ok and that was the image she wanted to put across. She did not want people to know she was actually very mentally unwell.