I still find high quality goods. They may not be the first or lowest cost option, but there are still well made products out there.

I think consumers themselves are responsible for part of this. Price comparisons are much easier now with the advent of the internet, and many times consumers will compare prices and buy the cheapest item. If that is what is selling, manufacturers will build items to sell for the lowest price because those consumers are not looking for the best or highest quality.

NYT has a section called Wirecutter which compares items and looks for quality, although they often do have a labelled budget choice. That tells me that some consumers seek quality, and are willing to pay for it, and that those items are being made, so there is hope that there will be quality items out there, one just has to look.

I used to consider talbots better made clothing. I tried on a shirt that was perfect in all ways but the fabric. The gal in dressing room did her usual, that looks nice. And I said, yeah... I could wear it to the dermo and he can check my moles without me taking the top off!

I still find quality clothes at Lands' End and LL Bean.

I agree. So much of is of such poor quality, from food to clothes to appliances.

I think that most clothes at the department store are just atrocious and full of all those horrid synthetic fabrics. If I could not sew my own pants I dont know what I would do. Just try to find a garment that is not made of spun plastic!

As for the appliances, those with basic good quality have given way to cheap quality embroidered with a slew of usless features. A good basic appliance built with quality is a thing of the past. Instead of quality of the product what you get is a slew of features that dont amount to any real value and a cheaply made product that most often cant even be repaired. Or cant be repaired at a price that is less than replacing it....throw away appliances.

Maybe each has a different measure of quality. For some, maybe all of those whiz bang features are what constitutes qualtiy.

It is hard to find a middle ground of really well made and well built, and without the mostly useless features .

A good example is a sewing machine. You can buy a cheap one for a couple of hundred dollars that has 200 mostly usless stitiches on it and will cost you more than it is worth just to get serviced, since it is not built to repair. Or , you can go high end and get one with 400 useless stitiches and better quality in the machine, but the price point is so very high! A good solid machine that does what needs to be done is rare anymore. That is why the old vintage heavy all metal ones are being sought after.

We are buying the illusion of percieved value, not real value.

I declare a pox on them all!

I think back to the 90's when layering three tops minimum was in for summer wear. The shirts had to be thin to get the effect and not kill everyone from over heating. I think that's when it hit for clothes. Consumers discovered cheap one season wear clothing so they could keep their closets fresh and full of the latest trends and not break the bank. Appliances I blame on the "Energy Efficiency" lie. Better to save a few kilowatts and fill the landfills!! Furniture I can't speak to. Everything in my home is an antique gifted from relatives or made by DH, unless it's upholstered. No cheap foreign made rush jobs here. One can't really wax nostalgic if one has to have an on trend kitchen/bathroom I must say. If you are willing to throw perfectly serviceable (what was once considered) PERMANAT fixtures out for style reasons of course retailers are going to start selling disposable everything!!

Consumers are a big part of the reason - consumers that have more necessary expenses leaving less discretionary funds, consumers who move more frequently and don't want heavy and bulky things, consumers who have lifestyles different from their parents and don't need the same things their parents needed. As more things rely on technology for improved function and safety (cars and appliances, for instance), they will "age out" of functionality and repairability. Some of it is advertising and some of it is manufacturers' desire to sell more, but consumer needs and wants play a huge part.

There are still good quality clothes for sale that can take years and years of washing and drying without losing their colour or shape. There are places to buy good quality furniture that will be around to support your grandchildren. If you're willing to pay more and shop better (and not necessarily buy American), then you can find them if you want to.

Some may disagree with this, I know: Ikea has managed to find a way to make some very long-lasting products accessible - I have some Ikea chairs and bookcases that have been around for over 50-60 years and are still working well. Granted, they don't look great, but they're still highly functional. Billy bookcases and Poang chairs last forever, it seems.

Appliances…..ugh!

Walmart is the world's largest retailer and got there by being the first to manage its supply chain with an iron fist. Manufacturing in China, emphasis on low cost over quality. Consumers went for that and still do. How many of you have long had the habit of making buying decisions based solely on price? For goods produced to suit such buyers, that's the drain down which quality slipped.

Even higher quality products are made with an eye on weight and cost reductions. It's not hard to find white goods and technology products that year on year are better than the models they replace. Not always and not all, but often. More value for less money tends to be a trend too.

I'm not immune to the overall trend. Having not too long ago bought entry level white goods for a second home, I've been pleasantly surprised that the quality and performance of most of them have been really good.

I remember (from my childhood) when everyone appreciated quality over quantity, and everyone tried to buy the best quality they could afford - quality was sort of a status symbol. Now quantity appears to be a status symbol, and therefore people end up with cluttered houses, as shown on shows like Clean House.

Capitalism is driven by demand (not supply), and when people want lower and lower prices, quality suffers, as suppliers try to give the people what they demand. It has also gotten easier for companies to make things cheaper and more disposable.

The shrinking middle class is part of the problem, as well as rising housing costs. People demanding discounts discourages companies from providing higher quality.

There still are people who value quality over quantity, but their numbers are also diminishing.

yeah, at least 40 years ago; USA made

What goods were considered best when they were USA made? I am 55 years old and we bought our last American car in the mid 70s.

The Acme Corporation made pretty good stuff.😉

I think Wyle E. Coyote would disagree!

“items, each guaranteed to promote a happy* life provided that they are used properly.** “

“Quality is our #1 dream”

^^^From their catalogue.

Totally agree. I just now got a notice my HP desktop will be discontinued in a week and no parts or service will be available. This desktop is only a few years old and now they're trying to sell a "new and improved" model. I have a washer and dryer which are over 20 years old and work fine. Obsolete looking with no push buttons but running fine. I had a Sears Kenmore washer I bought the week my son was born and I sold it when he was 26 for $25 dollars. Still worked and I had an avocado GE refrigerator, a twin to my mother's gold one and they both lasted over 35 years. I remodeled my kitchen 22 years ago and my Jenn Air side-by-side is still doing well and I hold my breath because it's a built-in.

" What goods were considered best when they were USA made? I am 55 years old and we bought our last American car in the mid 70s."

Where was your "foreign" car made? You do know many of them are made here in the US? There's a Toyota plant not far from and I think they make fairly decent autos. I guess you're not old enough to remember when quality automobiles were made here. Go to an old car show and if you want to see some. Like many things, they started being made not to last.

There used to be a lot of things made here that were good quality and there still is, if you look for them. Excellent craftsmanship does not solely belong to foreign countries.

I believe there was a boom in manufacturing of durable goods after WWII, along with expanding prosperity that people came to expect would last forever. I think that dream started to fall apart once the steel belt became the rust belt. Metals for manufacturing are no longer cheap and abundant, neither is fuel - which is needed for shipping, among other things.

Don't forget the past administration put high tariffs on imported metals, which has had a pretty big impact on domestic prices.

My childhood foreign cars were most certainly made in Germany. Our family imported one of the first Audi 5000s brought to North America. As for subsequent ones, lots of locations, no doubt, all German or Swedish companies, which from what I can tell matters quite a lot in quality of build and handling. iPhones are built in China, the specifications and end product are tightly controlled by Apple, not Foxconn.

We did have a GMC Suburban for a while, which was far better than what our childhood American cars were like thanks to the walloping American manufacturers received.

NB What is shown at a car show is of no matter to what consumer goods were like.

The first Japanese manufacturing operation in the US opened in 1982. German manufacturers followed several years later.

My first car was an American car - a new Chevy Malibu with 4 on the floor purchased when I was in high school. Using money I'd saved from working and help from my parents.

That American car was also my last American car. I've driven exclusively European cars since then - Volvos, MBZs, BMWs, VWs, even a Peugeot 505 in the mid-80s. That was an excellent car, too bad they never caught on here. My wife has had a few Asian cars here and there but she also prefers European ones.

I haven't found any decline in quality with these over so many years.

Yes. Hobart built appliances, Craftsmen tools, Levis, even most budget clothing was made of stronger fabrics and stitched together to last. I remember a lot of clothing was manufactured in the US but clothing made in Mexico was also really good. Other countries provided excellent products also. Shoes and boots from Italy come to mind. Around the 3rd (1959) grade I remember our teacher talking about how the USA was fortunate to have every natural resource which made us so strong a nation, not dependent on others.

But even back then American manufacturing was in decline since WWII. My opinion is that when we started depending on raw materials from other countries and closed our steel mills that was the final straw that broke us. Another thing younger people today don't realize is that a lot of manufacturing was made possible through the war industry. Military needs and the money behind it created innovation which led to a lot of goods we take for granted today.

Ooh, off topic, sort of.

I remember travelling from Calgary to Disneyland in about 1960 in my dad’s 403 Peugeot. It was like a stationwagon and had fold down jumpseats in the center row.

We slept in the car the occasional night and went swimming in the ocean in Oregon. It was so much fun. It was a really good car.

My older sister and me in our pyjamas. I love how my sister had her hair in bobbypin curls.

What a heavenly trip, Roxol! And that car!

people today don't realize is that a lot of manufacturing was made possible through the war industry. Military needs and the money behind it created innovation which led to a lot of goods we take for granted today.

When Google employees refuse to work on defense projects, I wonder if they ever consider what technology undergirds their livelihoods.

Our last American car was a 1970 Ford Country Squire which was the worst car we have ever had. Since then we have had a Volvo, 3 Nissan Maximas, 3 Prious, a BMW, a Mercedes, and for the last few years Suburus. Every last one of them performed exceedingly well with no lemons.

Have any of you watched The Story of Stuff? This is interesting:

The Story of Stuff video

Isn't most of the cheapness due to planned obsolescence? If it falls apart--you have to buy a new one, whatever it is.

Lacey, that's what I believe. How else can a company continue to keep selling if they last forever....right?

" My opinion is that when we started depending on raw materials from other countries and closed our steel mills that was the final straw that broke us. "

When product advances require raw materials not available here, the manufacturer imports them. It's the independent action of the company concerned.

There is no "we" that closed or relocated steel mills or any other manufacturing facility, and there is no "we" to act to do otherwise. These are always independent decisions of the companies concerned and are driven largely by economics.

Yes and...

...a lot of economic issues are related to government policies - and we are the government.

Please cite an example that relates to the subject matter being discussed. An unsupported and hopeful or generic speculation concerning a suggested connection doesn't count.

Maddie Lee, do you have examples of some of the good quality things that you have found..,esp appliances? i’m planning to buy some new kitchen appliances soion, as well as some clthing for myself. Thank you so much.

arkansas girl, your point about how it is not profitable to produce really durable consumer items is on point.

Back when Singer was filling homes with sewing machines they built some pretty good machines and they built them to last. But, that meant that people were buying fewer machines because they lasted so well.

So, Singer started offering incentives to trade in old machines and buy a new one. But what they did was destroy the old machine rather than reselling them. They did not want a lot of older machines being used and handed down and resold because it cut into their market.

Durable machines did not make for profit. And, back then, they could not just add a bunch of useless features to the machines as easily as can be done today in order to add percieved value.