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 high high end, but I remember going to view cars in a Lotus showroom with a knob of an ex. He expressed interest in a new Elise, and said he had a car to trade in. It was a 15 year old Nissan Micra that had an MOT about to expire. Fucking embarrassing 😆

People mentioning millionaires - with the price of houses being what they are there’s an awful lot of people (mostly older admittedly) who are living in a house worth 1 million plus and no mortgage but are cash poor.

the shorthand of millionaire equals rich doesn’t really work anymore.

There’s an estimated 673,00 people who live in a house worth over a million and quite a few of them are not cash rich, they’re just property rich.

What, you don't get that posh people don't wear labels

And you're still only meeting the tiny minority of people who have some need of legal intervention. Unless you're judging people who come in to get their signature notarised, of course.

I think the rationale behind it, in many cases, is the simple fact that if you buy and wear an expensive, nice looking thing you feel a lot better about yourself. The 'look good, feel good' concept, I suppose..

@Trimalata not sure why you are struggling with this but I am talking about colleagues 🤦🏼‍♀️

Everybody knows that someone plastered head to toe in labels like a Christmas tree is poor though?

They want them.

That could be almost any job, surely? OP is probably in a higher position than some of the other people at her workplace.
However, rents are lower in deprived areas so they'll have more disposable income.

@BringBackCatsEyes but why

This was in reply to a question about how she can be a high earner and work with people who are not.

Teens and some young adults don’t.

i grew up not poor but certainly no spare money in the house.

I really, really wanted a pair of Armani jeans when I was a teen.

i did actually buy a pair when I was a working adult but it wasn’t as nice as I thought it would be.

Yes, but a genuine millionaire has plenty of cash, they own property as well, probably not with a mortgage.

I wanted top line adidas trainers, my mum told me to fuck off.

In this day and age, Vinted is a Godsend...

To signify their allegiance to a broad social group. Same as everybody else. There.

And genuine rich people are doing it just the same as everyone else.

Like how some on this thread would judge my brother as living off credit or whatever because he's a builder, but he apparently pulled in 200k last year. You'd better believe his horse loving daughter is dressed in the appropriate clobber for gymkhanas.

You would have thought people who work at a law firm could park their inner chav at the door when they come in to work though?

Hacoo.

I was in a shop the other day and a young lad (18-19 maybe) was buying a Burberry baseball cap…straight on Klarna account.

I understand the confusion. I know of people who have lesser paid jobs than I do, or a lesser household income (or, in some cases, no jobs at all) who wear clothes/ drive cars/ take holidays that I could never afford. I don’t know how they pay for them - possibly credit cards? Possibly loans? Other means? Either way these things need to be paid back at some point but the lives they live don’t reflect this. I don’t understand or know how they pay for it either, OP.

Not quite the same level of cool though, might as well buy your designer shirts at Asda?

People are crazy it they think that well off people don't have signifiers to show off what gang they belong in.

Not all poor people will be interested in designer gear, it's a subset that are. Whether it's where you holiday, the work out gear you wear, the type of bike that you ride, the watch you wear, car you drive, how many staff you have, where you buy your house, educate your children etc etc very few people are above wanting to feel like they belong amongst their peers and they will either show that or like lots of people on this thread when they can't show it they can't resist telling you what they could afford to but choose not to because they above the povvos that do that kind of thing.

All of this 'you'd never know they were millionaires' stuff, I'm sure that if you too were a millionaire you would be tuned into the tells that give away their monetary status. Like recognises like.

Multiple credit cards will be in the mix somewhere, living as a debt serf is the most tragic way to live.

Why do any of us want anything? Why spend on food from M&S when Aldi sells perfectly good food?? Why buy a better car? Or wooden crafted furniture instead of Ikea, or from Uniqlo instead of Primark?

Different people value different things and will find ways to pay for them. I’m sure there are things you own that feel like a touch of luxury, and aren’t basic brands.

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.

I can imagine this is true - I was much less careful when I was young and had no money because 'what's the point anyway'