A lot of people are just throwing around planned obsolescence and the intent to make you replace things every x years or so. But I think those are just happy side effects of other contributing factors that are at play...

So no company has ever started out saying, let's make a product that is just good enough to last until our next one comes out. They start out trying to make the best, the best thing they can possibly make to break into the market. For example let's say a company want to make a toaster. They have to compete with other already existing toaster companies so they have to build a better more robust toaster that maybe even costs a little more than the competition, but they can get away with it because they can market it as a well built premium toaster. So years go on and their toaster is selling pretty well and sales start out pacing production because they are slicing market share from the competition toaster as they eventually break and customers switch brands to one that is more durable. So the company has to figure out a way to make more and more toasters, in the same amount of time, you can speed up the assembly lines, but that might affect quality as workers have to work faster and might make more mistakes. You could make a second assembly line, but that is very expensive because you have to effectively double your factory footprint. Either option also creates more demand for your upstream suppliers. If you require more parts from them, they also have to make the same decision you just made, work faster or expand. Even if you dictate that whatever they do they have to maintain the same level of quality of parts the supply, they may increase piece prices on you. So ultimately, the decision comes down to, decrease quality, or increase price. You can increase price in some situations, and maintain the quality, but at some point the market can only bear price increases to a certain point and it will collapse. Usually the safer and chewper option is to take the quality hit and pay to repair or replace the units that make it out defective.

Now, at some point the company will reach an equilibrium where demand and production levels out. This is where the problems with capitalism start making their way in. If the company is publicly traded or has investors that want infinite money, they aren't going to be content just existing I'm this steady state where they just churn out toasters and make a small but reliable stream of money. They see a flat line of profit as losing. So in come people looking to either chop heads on the assembly line, or cut costs of raw materials. Both reduce quality in various ways and over enough iterations this is how products decline in quality over years. I think planned obsolescence comes into play here, but I think most of the time that is just a side effect of iterations of cost reduction over many years. I think it very rarely comes up in meetings or is actively done in product designing.

Falke

Just wait until you have kids and they use them for everything and put them in the dishwasher

Thanks for the link. But hot damn is that website cancer.

IT'S A EUROPEAN HAND BAG!

[removed]

I suppose you would need to make it your corporate identity to attract the smaller demographic willing to pay more for more durable stuff. Kind of like brands who advertise how they use materials or methods that protect the environment. First brand to come to mind is Eastpack, who hve a pretty lengthy warranty.

Similar concept but this is used for making pizelle’s.

Problem in a capitalist society is incentive : most companies are just willing to sell more. We could for example have a renting system for most appliances : oven, fridge... The incentive will then be to have durable things and quality, so the customer keeps paying and the maker doesn't have any repair to do.

Also, right to repair should be mandatory with a steady supply for replacement pieces. Standardisation for phone batteries, chargers, should also be a thing. Open source OS for end-of-life products.

The Lore

Not with clasps but Darcy clothing has some really good ones : https://www.darcyclothing.com/collections/mens-braces/products/working-mens-striped-button-on-braces-br730

I wear them daily. One pair lasted me like 4 years, and I could even have repaired it as the only thing that broke was the leather stitching.

[deleted]

Krumkake baker?

I was just able to check this site out, and they don't offer a men's section from what I could see.

That's my feelings exactly. Thank you!

Dude is a peice of metal. Chill out bro no one cares that much

[deleted]

A company that tries to hit all market demographics. High end quality for those that need or desire the best. And those that just want the brand.

There are probably still companies out there that manufacture theee best. Can’t afford it or work hard enough for it? It ain’t for you.

Just buy a knife sharpener, this is just such a weird flex

[deleted]

I have the bottom knife and can confirm. It’s not quite as sharp as when I first got it, but it is still very sharp and I’ve have mine for ~8 years and sharpened it once.

Top is a Togiharu, bottom is Misono UX10

The Togiharu I think is between $150-200 and the Misono is around $125ish

As someone who lives three blocks from a Harbor Freight I can tell you that you can sell people literal landfill and they will buy it if it's half the price of the competitor.

I don't get it. I sharpen knives with a whetstone just whenever they need, but then I was raised sharpening knives, axes, Pulaskis (fire line tool), shovels (for cutting through roots) and chainsaws. I can't manage without crisp sharpness.

My fav example is with vacuum cleaners. At first, when everyone just beat the dirt out of their rugs, vacuum companies had to convince people to buy it. They had to be easy, effective, and worth having. Once vacuums became the standard, companies didnt need to worry about quality, they needed to worry about a steady flow of customers. Someone who buys 1 vacuum that lasts 50 years isn't going to be as much profit as someone who has to buy a vacuum that craps out every 3 years.