Page 3 of Great Scott!

The shoe industry would be better if they made shoes last longer, like they used to do.

I am lucky if I get a year and a half out of a pair of shoes before they have to go in the bin, due to falling to bits, or soles cracking in two, leaking like a sieve when it rains. Discoloration, leather cracking, etc.

There again, from their point of view, they do not want shoes to last, as we have to go out and buy more.

I saw a documentary years ago about surfing and surfboards, it mentioned how they could make excellent affordable surfboards using kevlar.

when asked why they didn't the answer was as you say above, they would last too long, they wouldn't break, so they would have to make them really expensive to make up for lack of sales, but then they'd be too expensive, as surfers often replace when they need to, or there is an improvment,  rather than on a whim, when they just fancy a new one.

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I don't think it's ever that simple. Most stuff is designed, and then they decide what the minimum the thing should last for, and then they strip out things to get the cost down whilst still maintaining the goal.

It sounds like the opposite, that people decide to design something which only lasts a certain amount of time, but it's not the same thing. The difference may appear subtle but it's not.

And the reason is always competition. If you don't do this, then your competitor does do this, you both might sell the same number of things, but they make more money. That's more money to advertise, more money to develop the next version of the thing, or a different thing.

Sometimes the end result of this is a race to the bottom, and then quality manufacturers either die or go off and make other things where the margins are bigger.

People can and do make shoes that last years, and what you pay for them is probably what you paid for them 20 years ago, allowing for inflation. But your view of the market worth has changed, now you see how much cheap is in a market where there is a whole range of prices, but you used to see a market where there was a much narrower range.

And from a quick google, Kevlar is making a comeback in surfboards, and price wasn't the only reason they weren't made with it before. It was apparently very hard to work with.

I'm sure someone would have made them with it if they could make enough of them and there was a big enough demand, because a quick buck is better than no bucks at all! Sod the long term market!


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