Quite agree with the bargain hunting stuff!
There’s a bit of a difference between buying something because you know it’s better quality, and buying a branded item just because it’s branded and you somehow thinks that gives you cachet, makes you “cool” or whatever. Some “designer” brands might be made of slightly better quality materials, but mostly they are still made to a standard pattern (am talking about clothes here specifically) and churned out en mass in a sweatshop in Taiwan or somewhere.
I wonder where this obsession with branded good/designer names comes from? After all, Dolce and Gabbana did not design those fabulous new jeans you just bought, some minion did, and D&B have simply appended their name to them to make you think they are something better. If that gives you pleasure, that’s great. And I applaud TB’s decision to buy them in the designer outlet, thereby giving the so-called designer less profit I do the same sort of thing myself. I have no problem with people who buy real designer clothes from real designers which are made to fit them properly (i.e. haute couture), but only a very few very rich people can afford them. I suspect that this might be where the obsession started out – the idea of exclusivity, quality and fit. But this can only happen with items that are made to measure.
Aleks mentioned white goods earlier on – the quality of these is measurable. I should know, my father has an addiction to Which? magazine, which I sadly seem to be inheriting
Actually there is something wrong with Primark clothes… they tend to be trashy and fall apart after a few wears. I’ll still buy things from there, and other cheap places too (quite a bit actually). But I always look for the stuff that’s well put together, and some of that does last quite well (too well sometimes – I’ve got things that I wish would fall apart so I’d have an excuse to get rid of them!). There are also issues about the environment and exploitation of sweatshop workers in the third world… oh and look, I’m right back where I started.
Mmmm. Though I am a life-long (well - almost) Apple fan, I'm with you on that - wonderful though they look, the price will have to come down a lot before I'll consider replacing my trusty sixteen-decades-old Nokia 6310i
The iPod Touch - mmm. So close. If I didn't already have an 80gig iPod. If I didn't already have the best PDA ever produced (and a spare one in case I ever break it) If Apple hadn't disabled some of the minor PDA-related features. If it had more storage space. If they had Bluetooth. If my best mate hadn't just offered me his prize camera at a still-expensive-but-hard-to-refuse price.
But still it's going to be hard not to give in and buy one. Not because it's Apple, but because I'm a geek, and it looks like Such. A. Cool. Gadget....
Going to have to see what the next generation brings, I think.
Absolutely. I just got sent one of these 'You know you're a blah blah blah if blah blah blah' emails - in this case, 'You know you're a designer if...' I won't bore you with the whole thing, but I'll just quote you one entry from it:
Apple packaging is a bit like that. As packaging goes, Apple packaging is oozes sex appeal and promise. It is the pheromone-packed holy-grail of packaging. At twenty paces, it can reduce a hardcore geek to a gibbering wreck offering promises of undying love just for the meerest glimpse of what may be contained within its mysterious, beautiful, exotic, sleek, sensuous exterior.You know you're a designer if
you buy a CD or DVD for the artwork, even if you have no idea what the actual music or film is like. (even worse, you don't actually watch or listen to it, just stare at it for hours and hug it in adoration)
If the products weren't so good, people would still be buying them just for the packaging (the iPods/iPhones/whatever would just go straight in the bin)
That's how good Apple packaging is.
Just off for a cold shower now. Back in ten.
I'm looking at it now: sitting on the table. It is asking to be picked up (which I just have). This is no flimsy recycled carboard box. This is solid heavy duty material which could be used by NASA for the next space shuttle. Running my finger across the surface of the box and I find this is supersmooth: and so rigid! Inside is cushioning for the product which would be fit for the interior of a Bentley. The words 'Made by Apple in California' proudly adorn the inside. 21st Century porn - and we haven't yet got to the heart of the matter.
Maybe it's a more holistic experience than you appreciate: perhaps you can draw an analogy to meeting a woman dressed in stylish clothes......
I'm with Beo all the way on this one. I'm amazed that people will pay to become advertising placards. I remember my daughters loved GAP clothing for a while. The word GAP used to be massive on their chests. It looked like they'd sponsored my whole family. Now it's Jack Wills.
I try not to buy clothes with great big names on. But sometimes it's impossible to find a plain sweatshirt.
p.s. Is this the Grumpy Old Men Thread?
i offended some 14 year old kid at ice skating once. He had a "Tommy Hillfiger" jumper on and I asked if that was his name. I was serious, as i did find it a little odd. Its weird that your own name would be really lame but someone elses isn't
Crikey! Can the moderators move this thread to where it surely belongs...
....Geek Corner.
I think it was Rory McGrath on one of the "Grumpy Old Man" programmes who said that he used to ask designer shops for a discount as he was going to be advertising their products for them.
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