Planned obsolescence is a thing. So is building or making for the short term. There just wasn’t this great era where people made things for the long haul out of pride or something else. People always took the short term view when the market structure or incentives encouraged it.
when your $400 TV breaks in 2022, you buy a new one because its relatively inexpensive and you can get a larger one for the same price.
I think one argument is exactly this. There has been a march towards a market that expects a constant supply of cheap shit. When all the margins have been wrung out of globalization, reduction in quality provides the next mechanism of lowering price.
People know where to find $150 denim that lasts, just like in times past. But there has been change in expectations that makes $25 denim the norm.
Do they? There have been times I'm willing to pay whatever needs to be paid for quality items, and I just don't know where to find it. You can find the brands that used to make quality items, selling for the same premium prices, but often they're just selling the same unreliable stuff in slightly spiffier dress.