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Comment by IshKebab | Hacker News Reader

Yes it's super annoying, especially for shoes, which take a ton of effort to find.

I guess they do it to appeal to their biggest customers - people who can't resist buying way more shoes than they need. But it does seem weird for some brands that aren't exactly fashion houses, e.g. Ecco, to do it.

It must cost them a fair bit of money too. I wonder how much cheaper you could make shoes if you only designed one set and then fired all of your designers...

My solution is to just buy a few pairs when I find shoes I really like. Reduces the problem at least.

Also I've started buying Levi's jeans - really expensive but at least they have some styles that don't change.

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Unfortunately Levi's has started making subtle changes to the same models. I have a drawer full of Levi's, all the same model. The older pairs are 100% cotton. The newer pairs are 99% cotton, 1% elastane, and have noticeably thinner fabric. Usage that would just scuff the older pairs will put a hole in the newer pairs. Very disappointing.

Even I think ten years ago, my Levi’s would consistently fail within a year. Switched to cargo pants and haven’t had that problem since.

I thought maybe you were buying one of the Levi's signature or special models they make for Wal-mart and others, but nope seems like even the full fat 501s are now 1% elastane. And they must have made this change in the last couple years as the last ones I bought are still 100% cotton. Death of a brand. They did always tweak the cut of the models a bit but changing the fabric is unforgivable.

Levi's jeans does have pretty consistent styles and has model numbers that haven't changed their main style identity for decades.

But, I swear the different factories will often produce slightly different cuts. I used to buy 517's all the same size, and depending on which country of origin they'd all just fit a bit differently. A little tighter here, a little looser here, but all for what are supposedly the same measurements. Some enough out of whack I refuse to wear them. I don't bother trying to get the exact same anymore.

But I do have to say they have definitely come closest to actually keeping things pretty much the same across time. I can't really say that for any other mass market clothing brands which don't include custom tailoring.

I also swear by Levi’s, they also have good range of sizes with a very rare combo that fits me perfectly, and they are well made. I tend to just instinctively buy a pair whenever i see they are on sale, i now have too many and haven’t bought any in a good couple of years.

Converse shoes also have styles that haven’t changed in decades, while convenient, they’ll usually only last me a year.

> It must cost them a fair bit of money too. I wonder how much cheaper you could make shoes if you only designed one set and then fired all of your designers...

Alden has been making the same models of shoes for decades but they aren’t cheap. Assembly labor and materials make up most of the cost for producing shoes, and Alden are made in the US.

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