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Comment by CaliforniaKarl | Hacker News Reader

Take something like work boots as an example: You might buy a $300 pair of Red Wing work boots that’ll last effectively forever. Someone who can’t afford that might buy a $100 pair of work boots from Walmart, which will need replacing more often.

So, in the category of Work Boots, you are indeed spending less.

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The Vimes Theory of Socio-economic unfairness.

https://terrypratchett.com/explore-discworld/sam-vimes-boots....

I came here to say this.

Only their welted work boots are resoleable, any other will last as long as the tread holds out. Beyond that you work conditions, how much you sweat, temperature, humidity, and whether or not you rotate with other boots will drastically effect the lifespan.

It's also worth noting that a lot of their lines are now made in cut-rate outsourced shops and the quality sucks.

Maybe shoes are not the best example, because even the most expensive shoes will only last a few years.

They are talking about boots. A good pair of boots while last you a long time and once they wear down they can be resoled and repaired. A pair of Red Wings can last you indefinitely if you maintain them.

Stuff you wear 8h a day while sweating in it due to hard labor, every day? Unless you can magically change whole interior of the boots, that ain't a good proposition at all.

I do hiking and other mountain sports a lot, wear top notch european stuff from ultra light to heavy full leather huge&heavy boots (sorry no good US products in this area sold anywhere in Europe that I am aware of), but happy to change them once every few years, the best I got on Meindl ones was 10 years. Its not just exterior that goes to crap over time, its everything and keeping them forever is unhygienic.

Also don't understand your logic - people overall spend more on lower quality equipment long term. The phrase 'I am not rich enough to buy cheap stuff' is solid one and confirmed endless times across every aspect of existence.

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