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.

This is an excellent point and shows what a poverty trap the benefits system is. It’s impossible to save up enough for a deposit because as soon as you do, you lose your benefits. I have friends who when on the old TC system (where savings were allowed) managed to save enough to get a mortgage, and made the first step towards moving away from welfare dependency. Now it’s really difficult to do that.

Often, so called designer clothes are advertised/worn by their "hero's" so they are associating with them. I'm guessing brands have a tried & tested marketing strategy!

Exactly. I got some lovely trainers that are new balance. £15 you wouldn't know they are not from JD.

I honestly think you need to take up a hobby OP.

If you know you can’t buy a house for example why save. Enjoy your money. Have the flashy car on finance.

Also the other end you can always find a dodgy place to get your knock items and the poorer you are the more likely you are to have a “meat” man. A person selling cheap toys they just robbed from the local shop. A person who can get snide designer goods.

Different people think of different things as aspirational. For some it's a brand new car, for others its a big house. When you don't have enough money for either of those to be possible then you downgrade your aspirations.

There is also a 'club' feeling of belonging and bonding that goes along with wearing big names.

I thought Essentials was the no-frills range in the supermarket!

And to add to that, the kind of attitude of spending benefits money on cars, clothes, fags etc, just fuels the right wing hatred that the poor are undeserving of this money. But with UC, the Tories created a system where it’s almost impossible to save enough money to move away from welfare dependency, so yeah, people are going to just spend the money as they get it.

Living in a 3 bed detached instead of a 5 means I can go to Florida every year and have 2 additional holidays. The PP can keep her smug attitude to herself in her 5 bed home that costs so much she buys second hand

Fakes - my 22 year old nail girl has a Chanel bag, earrings and watch - got them on a holiday beach. Asda price, luvly jubbly, lifetime guarantee!!

As a previous poster has said. It happens in every walk of life just on a different scale. I live on a council estate in a very affluent area of the country, and we have come to be friends with a wide range of people from completely different backgrounds.

The richer families do the same things to show off their status with huge houses, expensive cars, flashy holidays, pricey hobbies and half the time they’re stretching themselves to keep up that image.

And the less well‑off families do the same thing, just scaled down. Kids in the latest gear, new iPhones, nails and cosmetic treatments or whatever. It’s the same behaviour, just different budgets.

It’s not exclusive to poor or rich people. It’s a culture of showing off, people wanting to look like they’re doing better than everyone else, whatever their actual situation.

Yes a friend needs a new car. She can get a bank loan for the car. But once she gets the loan she needs to tell UC so they can deduct her entitlement.

But she needs a car to work. But she can’t get a car suitable that let’s face it won’t be broken down again in a year or two for under the 6k limit.

Well done, you. You're the best.

Maybe they use pay in 3, klarna/PAYPAL or similar....

They are fake, plenty pages on facebook to direct you to sellers online. Or they have been on holiday to Turkey, Spain etc......

My sister in Christ let me introduce you to the black bin bag man or woman…
A delightful assortment of knock off, counterfeit and everything in between. A veritable treasure trove of goodies either shoplifted to order or having fallen off the back of a lorry in Taipei.
Or sometimes the pesky peasants just use his majesty’s currency just like you better class of citizens…🙄

I'm single on an okish income (just over £52k pa) very small mortgage. I drive around in an old car and dont take holiday abroad etc (unlike my colleagueswho drive brand new cars and go abraod 2-3 times a year). But I only eat organic food/local meat etc which my colleagues think is mad becuase its more expensive, no UPF and with any spare cash buy original art. It's about choices and what matters to you as an individual.

It’s a crap system, although hopefully if your friend times it well the money won’t be in her account very long and there won’t be much of a penalty.

But in terms of gaining capital in order to better yourself - property or maybe equipment or a premises for a business, they’ve made it too hard to bother with.

A certain “island” was or is still well known for selling fakes if you live in the area or holiday there.

Bags £5-£10. Whole tracksuits £30 max. Shoes £5-10. Trainers £20 ish.

We used to have a winder around and be shocked at how open it all was. Plus the dodgy dvd man £2.50 a dvd 😅

Have you never been a teenager? Brands, having the right items etc has always been important.

You don’t find it important because you already have the means anyways. Maybe you spend money on things others wouldn’t bother.

I was raised on a council estate by working class parents with working class friends, so this isn’t a snobbery attitude.

Yes, it’s because they’re expensive and so people know how much their clothes cost so they can project an image of higher status. They also do outward facing home maintenance to prove when they have bought their council houses.

I also don’t think it’s worth the money to be a walking advert for a business, but that’s what they want to spend their money on, so 🤷‍♀️

I have told her to get it in and out once she finds the car same day and hopefully it won’t flag but it’s just a stress you don’t need isn’t it.

Or steal stuff or get knock offs.

She’ll definitely still need to report it, even if it’s only in her account half an hour. And then they’ll probably want proof of how she spent it, but she shouldn’t lose out on much money at all, if any.

I used to volunteer in a foodbank in France. We were a big organisation and much of our food was donated by the EU. So for example there would be 500g boxes of rice that for all practical purposes was Uncle Ben's, except it was in very dull packaging with a small EU flag in a corner.

Occasionally we would have a supermarket drive and get people to put food in a box for us. As volunteers we mostly hated this because while it did raise awareness, (a) it created a lot of work (we had to check every package to see it wasn't broken, someone hadn't dropped off out-of-date stuff, etc), and (b) we knew that if someone had just spent €3 retail on 500g of Uncle Ben's, we could have bought 5kg of generic rice for that money. (Tip: If you have a bit of money to spare, go into your local food bank and give them the cash. No need for Tesco's shareholders, nor the marketing department of big brand manufacturers, to get a cut.)

Anyway, when the Uncle Ben's made it to the shelves of our food bank, it was a huge hit. The policy was that clients were taken round and could choose X points worth of stuff. They might say "Rice, please" and we would give them the EU stuff, and they would see the orange packaging and say "Could I have the Uncle Ben's?". And it would be quite a big deal for them to score the major brand.

Yes, I stay in my 2 up, 2 down for similar reasons. I could theoretically upgrade but why bother? Same with the car. It's an '02 Ford Focus. Year after year, it carries on going. Why replace it when I could spend the money on holidays instead?