I bought a pair of cheap plaid fleece pyjama pants when I was in the US in 2012, which I've thrashed to death, and finally had to replace the elastic.
Now I don't lose the damn things in the middle of the night 😂
But I have questions. If I'd bought them in NZ, and worn them for over a decade, they'd be DEAD by now. There's no fucking way they would have lasted.
I bought these fuckers at a discount store - maybe a dollar type store? HOW WERE THEY SO WELL MADE? The label was completely faded out so I don't know where they were made, but in 11 years, not a single broken stitch or hole that wasn't a cigarette burn (a habit I've long since kicked).
@bloodwrites Protectionism, is the short answer; American cotton farmers (I'm assuming it's a cotton flannel, not wool) are heavily subsidised and most of the manufacturing is done local (i.e. in the US or close by in places like Mexico). So even "cheap" American cotton goods are surprisingly high quality, by international standards.
There's a few other factors (e.g. the US being a huge market), and it has been changing a bit over the past few decades, but that's the tl;dr version.
@bloodwrites Right, gotcha. Then it's probably the "huge market" thing.
But yeah, US-market clothing is just generally better quality than stuff we get in Asiapac. Even stuff from the same multinational chain stores will be generally better. u_u
Seriously, 'cheap' clothes available in this country are such shit quality I can't even. Like I stopped buying them a while back (pay more for better quality and you don't have to throw them out after a season = actually saving money) so I don't have any skin in the game but still.
These damn pyjama pants have been paying me for at least a decade of their life so far 🤷♂️
@bloodwrites Yup - that's the truth - everywhere. They make cheap clothes, but they are not truly cheap - because they fall apart so fast...
I have clothes I 've been wearing for many years, so even if they were more expensive, over the years, they were cheaper
@bloodwrites I'm in Canada so perhaps it's a bit different, but the way I've been explained our Dollar Stores is that they have warehouse buying stock from all kinds of shops, for very cheap - foreclusures, damaged lot, older seasons. So there's some very cheaply made things but the occasional great item too, and it's mostly unpredictable. Like trift shops.
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