I don't know how people can still think that the market optimizing and giving us the products we want at an adequate price is the default, when it's clearly the exception.
I cannot remember the last time my clothes discolored, and I buy what I think are cheap clothes by US standard (Uniqlo/Next/Express/Macys/ASICS/Adidas).
But to address your point, I would rather pay $30 for a pair of jeans that maybe has a little discoloration in 5 years, which I currently do, than $100+ for a high quality pair of jeans that might last 20 years but I have to pamper and take care of.
Where the clothing market does not work is addressing the externality of plastics pollution, since it’s all short term benefit to individuals now at long term cost to society later.
>crap food with all kinds of nasty ingredients like trans fats, etc.
Trans fat is really minimal to non existent in most developed countries. But is a good example of when regulators need to intervene to protect the public.
If you don't experience it often, I imagine it might be a Europe vs. US thing. I have often heard that clothes for sale in the US tend to be more robustly made (maybe because of the widespread use of tumble dryers?). In Spain what I said above is definitely a common occurrence, and you don't even get rid of that by paying for good brands, I have had clothes from e.g. Lacoste do that. And the reason is that they skimp on a chemical that fixes the dye. It's perfectly avoidable, but they just don't bother.
> I have often heard that clothes for sale in the US tend to be more robustly made (maybe because of the widespread use of tumble dryers?).
Maybe, although the Next brand I wear a lot gets shipped to me from UK. I throw my unsorted clothes in the washer and then the dryer and then fold them and put them away.
My British family spends a lot more time sorting by color, turning jeans inside out, washing them on specific water cycles, then line drying them, then ironing them.
I figured I was just buying clothes that need less work.
Game theory suggests that the vast majority of consumer goods will be nearly free, relative to their high quality counterparts, at the minimum viable quality.
https://www.insider.com/discarded-fast-fashion-clothes-chile...
Efficiency!
It’s just not aligned with what you want them to want. They want fast fashion that lasts a couple weeks, because that’s how long fashion trends last, and they want foods that taste good over is healthy. The market is just giving them what they want.
And hear me out, if people are going to be throwing clothes out every couple weeks regardless of quality, it's better that they're made as cheaply as possible.
But most of the time they choose to buy that because they don't have enough information, or they have misleading information.
No one wants a pair of pants to ruin the rest of the laundry. And there is food without trans fats that tastes as well if not better, but it's easier to just put trans fats or whatever the next crap product is and not inform the consumer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus
Pretty much all consumers know excess sugar, carbs, oil, salt, and calories in general are bad for them. Yet they still want to consume them.
I went to a party last night where there were several obese healthcare professionals (doctor level). Yet they ate pizza, and one even put ranch dressing on it.
The market is selling plenty of healthy food. People do not want it though, for the same reason a dog or other pet will engorge themselves if they were offered unhealthy amounts of easy calories.