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Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

#21

Post by LandStander »

mancerayder wrote: post #3

There might be something to this. It does seem older models of things are better than newer models of things. So it could be the drive to lower costs and increase profits are causing this, at the appliance, car, etc. level. It doesn't explain why every couple of years I have another four or six pairs of yet another set of socks, from the same company, but with enough variation that now I have multiple different gener…

That's why I repurpose or discard all of my old socks every time I Invest in a new set. I do this about every two years. I rotate them for uniform wear. I've successfully eliminated the possibility of mismatched socks.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

#22

Post by plqbfbv »

mysterydip wrote: post #14

I finally found a brand+model of jeans that I liked. I don’t have to buy pants/trousers often, so of course the next time I went to buy some it had been discontinued by the manufacturer. Even the “this is the closest style to that one” online recommendations had been discontinued, leaving me back at square one.

I stopped long ago buying brand jeans because there's literally none that will fit my build (fit guy with normal waist, huge upper leg, big but smaller lower leg), so I wondered if anybody did custom ones.

I've been very happy with www.madetoorderjeans.com (there are others) : get your measurements as they explain, pick the fabric you want (normal, stretch/fit, elastic; light and thin, thick, ...), make your stile, wait 2-3 weeks - for the price a brand jeans (so overall reasonable). Jeans last 3x times longer (wear patterns) and they fit me perfectly, instead of needing to have them adjusted after (expensive) purchase.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

#23

Post by vel0city »

IshKebab wrote: post #8

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 an…

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.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

#24

Post by diggernet »

IshKebab wrote: post #8

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 an…

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.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

#25

Post by Tanoc »

I've been wearing the same pair of shoes for (Vans Camacho) twelve years now because I cannot find any that actually fit my feet. Vans made these shoes that I purchased over and over again for ten years, but discontinued them in 2016. I've had to learn cobbling to some degree to keep these shoes going, though now the bottoms of the soles are so thin that my big toe might finally wear through them in the next year. It is ridiculous that in twelve years I haven't been able to find a replacement for something so simple.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

#26

Post by hn_user82179 »

Tanoc wrote: post #25

I've been wearing the same pair of shoes for (Vans Camacho) twelve years now because I cannot find any that actually fit my feet. Vans made these shoes that I purchased over and over again for ten years, but discontinued them in 2016. I've had to learn cobbling to some degree to keep these shoes going, though now the bottoms of the soles are so thin that my big toe might finally wear through them in the next year. It…

I'm so impressed by your ability to keep them going but it looks like ebay still has a ton of pairs of them if you want to stock up.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

#27

Post by philwelch »

diggernet wrote: post #24
IshKebab wrote: post #8

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 an…

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.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

#28

Post by moomoo11 »

dividedcomet wrote: post #6

I’ve had this happen with the clothes I get from Patagonia. What was only a few years ago a thick plaid button down is now thin and not nearly as warm. And Patagonia still makes good stuff! But I do wonder if it’s time to start shopping around again.

take a intl trip and buy stuff from locals.

like the tribal type of people who live close or off the land.

it won’t be cheap but you also won’t be paying 60% of the price for the brand name alone.

that kinda stuff is so high quality and lasts forever. plus it looks dope af compared to whatever you can buy from a retail store made by a mix of man and machine.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else tired of brands discontinuing your favorite everyday items?

#29

Post by georgemcbay »

mancerayder wrote: post #3

There might be something to this. It does seem older models of things are better than newer models of things. So it could be the drive to lower costs and increase profits are causing this, at the appliance, car, etc. level. It doesn't explain why every couple of years I have another four or six pairs of yet another set of socks, from the same company, but with enough variation that now I have multiple different gener…

> It doesn't explain why every couple of years I have another four or six pairs of yet another set of socks, from the same company, but with enough variation that now I have multiple different generations of CK socks that aren't pairable.

Most sock brands don't actually produce socks, they license the brand name out to third-party textile manufacturers to make the product.

They'll often switch partnerships to new manufacturers which has a drastic impact on the produced product in terms of materials, feel, overall quality, etc.

In many cases they even license the brand out to multiple manufacturers simultaneously, using different manufacturers for higher end stores than cheaper department stores, so even in the same time period you could get very different socks of the same style from the same brand depending upon where you buy them.

Same core problem as typical cost-cutting enshittification -- everything is hyper-optimized to extract the maximum amount of value at the expense of every other consideration.

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