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“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”

― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms: The Play

That's the nth time I read that citation here. It's appealing but does not match my experience. I can afford to buy good and expensive stuff, but it is really difficult to tell good and bad stuff apart especially outside ones domain. And you can buy a lot of crap for much money. The main problem is information asymmetry and I'd wish regulation would take this out of the equation (like a mandatory sticker "Must last at least until...", although this doesn't solve all problems).

Speaking of sewing machines, while you can always get an inexpensive Brother, sewing machines today have a lot of plastic gears and other parts that do not last.

Some of the best and affordable machines out there are the Singer 301s, which were made back in the 50s. They're bullet proof and repairable. You can do a lot with a straight stitch machine, and a single use machine like that will outperform any multi-stitch machine by a long way.

It's a shame that a lot of people come across these and think they're junk because they're not computerized.

> sewing machines today have a lot of plastic gears and other parts that do not last.

Singer hobbymatic machines from the late 70s and later also have plastic gears, but for some reason these last no problem. They also mostly use bushings for bearings (I mean obviously it would make the mechanism much larger if you had to fit roller bearings everywhere), and they also last, provided you oil it every couple years.

Petroleum oil/grease can make plastics brittle, IIRC they need fully synthetic grease, some manufacturers sell their own but the right type should be ok...

I have two old sewing machines, I picked both up at the local refuse transfer station. One is a 1920s Singer. It’s super basic, doesn’t even have a reverse, but it’s bullet proof. It’s cast iron but a portable model, so it’s built in to a carry case and weighs ‘only’ 20ish kg.

The second is a Toyota Jigline. It’s from the 70s and is mostly stainless steel. It has multiple stitch patterns but the pattern selector has the only plastic gear in the entire machine and it’s cracked. It still works fine but I’ll have to replace it at some point. At least I can see and understand the entire mechanism.

The Toyota was cheap but the Singer was around market price. The Toyota was marked as not worked but with a liberal application of machine oil it came free. There are plenty of guides online for fixing up machines.

> "One is a 1920s Singer. It’s super basic, doesn’t even have a reverse, but it’s bullet proof."

That goes for much earlier models too. Recently, during a factory clean-up, I came across a Singer that predates yours by some 50 years—it was made in the early 1870s—1874 to be precise—and it too was built out of cast iron and made to last seemingly for ever (it was still quite functional).

Incidentally, you can tell the date of your Singer easily by by checking the many Singer serial number databases on the Web. Here's a couple to start with:

http://www.sewingshop.com/dateyourmachine.aspx

https://sewalot.com/dating_singer_sewing_machine_by_serial_n...

Just troll craigslist till you find a 80s or so bernina. It'll be more than worth the $300 you spend on it. Mine sounds like a new porsche engine running and destroys singers.

I got it because the plastic gears in my wife's singer self destructed when I was using it to sew camping gear. About the same size, 2x the price, just insanely better.

If you're not going to do anything heavy than then the parent's recommendation is fine. And it won't have a motor short like some of the old singers where the insulation is wearing out, but that's an easy fix.

This.

I’ve bought APC jeans (French, raw denim) for the last 10 years. I wear them for 1-2 years nearly everyday, getting them patched at my local tailor shop as needed for $5-10 while I wait. After 6 months or so they take on an amazing patina and fit like a glove.

Not only do I get compliments on them constantly (they are an authentic version of the faux fade and wear pattern many companies sell) APC will actually purchase them back from you for 50% of original price and sell your worn versions in the store for $400.

Even more mindblowing is you can get $250+ selling them yourself on eBay (search APC Butler) effectively getting paid for wearing your pants.

I'd probably add sweaters to the list. They can develop holes, pulled threads, etc. that can be darned or, for casual use, patched. I've also had dress jackets repaired--usually because the lining has torn or something along those lines.

I also repaired or had repaired outdoor gear of various types. That's mostly about functionality so the repairs don't need to look great.

I have 2 pairs of the same Nudie Jeans, in the exact size and cut I like. They offer free repairs for life and are not exactly that expensive.

Highly recommend, wasting clothes is a serious problem.

Yeah, but $50 Levi’s will last ten years too.

The Levi’s I’ve bought in the past few years tend to wear out in between the legs. The fabric gets thin and weak and frays/rips near the seam, but the seam itself is fine. Is thst repairable?

Exact same thing happens to every pair of jeans I've ever owned after about 6 months of heavy use.

I've had similar experiences with Levi's. I think they're symptomatic of the fit not being great around the thighs. (Or maybe planned obsolescence, who knows?) I've switched to Urban Star jeans from Costco -- they're much more comfortable (2-4% Lycra), arguably look nicer, cost less than $20, and also last me longer than Levi's.

PS: For those worried about Costco membership costs, just buying a couple of these jeans every year (compared to Levi's) is kind of breaking even on a Costco membership ;-)

Are you saying the jeans from Costco only last you a season?

/confused

There seem to be real difference in how Jeans are made. I wish I understood the specifics. Wrangler Jeans tend to be pretty durable. Many other brands struggle to make it 6 months. Does anyone have any idea what the difference is here?

are you wearing distressed jeans, or really soft denim?

It is, repairing it is what's called darning.

But the reason I find it worth it to repair my raw denim jeans is that they're so much thicker than regular jeans (e.g. Levi's), which means:

- It takes a lot longer to develop holes

- Once you finish darning a hole, the darned part is the same thickness as the rest of the jean (on "thin" normal jeans it would stand out as much thicker)

- A separate issue is entire sections "wearing out", particularly crotch and knees, just a 4x4 inch area getting so thin it essentially disappears, and you can't really darn that. That doesn't really happen with raw denim because it's so thick to begin with

(I'm pretty sure you can also buy raw denim that is thin, I've seen $100 raw denim jeans like that, but for me that defeats the whole purpose.)

I've had the same exact problem with Levis, I don't buy them anymore for that reason.

Are you wearing loose jeans or skinny jeans?

The nice fabric ones that I've had from tommy bahama, levis, etc that were "soft" wear out quickly. The rough ones I have like dickies and some levis are fine. My dickies last longer.

I think the distressed denim really weakens it.

I wonder what you do with your jeans that they can get holes.

I've had a variety of jeans under 100€, none ever got any hole. The buttons or the pockets break though.

Fashionable jeans tend to be tighter (nothing like skin-tight, just straight cut), and people who wear raw denim tend to wear the same pair every day or every other day. The amount of stretching in the crotch and knees, and the corners of your phone in your pockets, inevitably wear holes starting at about a year in.

If you wear looser-fitting jeans that aren't subject to stretching forces, or only wear a given pair once every week or two, then of course you won't develop holes for a long time.

The saddle of my bike eventually eats through my jeans.

If your thighs rub, any pair of pants will wear out there, no matter how expensive they are.

And it's one of the harder places to fix apparently.

I went to a place that repairs jeans and they quoted me the purchase price of the jeans to fix it.

If only denim didn't rub the hair right off leaving neverending folliculitis.

I mean I do this with regular clothes. Tho I bought a $700 bernina 930 record cause I wanted to do kevlar and denim and other stuff.

I've got several sets of dickies I re-sewed with stronger thread, kevlar, and soaked with beeswax as works pants. They're running strong.

I've 4x-7x'd the life of a lot of clothes with this tactic.

What about stains and raw denim? Does raw denim just get tattooed over time with various impossible stains?

It's a good question -- stains are a reason I assume shirts will be disposable in the end, but it's never been an issue with my jeans, at least not yet over 5 years.

I think it's because my black jeans and dark indigo jeans are dark enough that stains won't show, and my first pair that have turned lighter indigo have so much variation in color and texture across them that yeah, anything you can't wash out just kind of blends in? They basically wind up looking like this (which also shows what they look like after a bunch of darning):

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0028/6132/files/3sixteen-S...

But ultimately, it's been a complete non-issue.

I have had issues with stains while wearing jeans while doing greasy work (particularly on engines) or when I got spray foam on my favorite pair. As long as I avoid grease and chemicals though, my jeans have never displayed any staining.

I just wear unisuits when I'm in the garage. They're like $30 and magic.

Stains add personality to your jeans. These stains may reflect your work, or your passions, or just unfortunate coffee placement. Whatever it is, it's part of life, your life.

See Heddels Fade of the Day for how denim-heads love and mistreat their pants. Example: https://www.heddels.com/2018/02/fade-day-naked-famous-elepha...

I don’t fully agree, I bought some thick, expensive raw denim jeans too, and although I really appreciate the quality of the material and the comfort of wearing them, I doubt they’ll last long as I tend to break the crotch area which is much harder to fix.

Holes are a consequence of tight clothing. Wear loose pants and you’ll never get holes - even with thin fabric. My last pair of slacks I bought at a thrift store for $5 and they were still good 5 years later.

I once got a pair of stretchy jeans from Uniqlo for $20 that I wore roughly every other day for 2 years until I gained weight and they stopped fitting.