Is an affordable style “winter” coming?

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Some days I just want to give up.

Pick a brand. Any brand.

Either prices are up or quality is down. Sometimes it’s both. And often stock is low or slow to get replenished.

Boo-hoo, right? Yes, we could all buy less stuff. Materialism is shallow. But a reduction in that shallow materialism can quickly become a seriously deep issue being that consumer spending is almost 70% of the US economy.

Inflation is outpacing wage growth. Borrowing costs are the highest they’ve been since the great financial crisis. Transportation costs, which go into everything from lettuce to blue jeans, are through the tractor-trailer roof. And one of the greatest (age old) problems seems to be roaring once again:

It just doesn’t pay that great to make affordable, decent-quality stuff.

And that sure seems to be playing out in terms of suits, shirts, sweaters, watches, shoes, pants, etc…

Wonder which brand has a higher profit margin?

The key bit of “capitalism” is the word “capital.” Meaning, money. Money makes money. Anyone with a retirement account (or credit card debt) knows this. But the money-makes-money thing can also mean those at the very top of the income spectrum can afford to spend way more on stuff which just isn’t that much better. So when times get unpredictable (“Uncertainty is a tax” – Diane Swonk), companies can often turn their attention to selling to the wealthy. The profit margins are often bigger there. Whether it’s making a pair of shoes, a car, an airline ticket, or a home. Especially housing.

The story of big vs small money, goods, & services is at the foundation of the dollar itself.

The battle between “small money” and “big money” is centuries old. It’s (literally) one of the earliest chapters in the story of the Dollar. The miners digging silver out of the ground to make “Thalers“, big fat silver coins for investors (which would eventually become the Dollar), had to freakin’ riot to basically get paid in decent, small coins they could actually use for buying stuff like clothes and tools and beer. Lots and lots of beer. It was 16th century Bohemia afterall.

Why make small money, good and affordable clothes, or affordable housing, when big money is kicking butt? And even if a company or brand wants to “stick to its knitting” and keep making (or writing about) the affordable end of the spectrum… it’s harder. Prices go up there too. There’s less supply of materials, labor, etc. when a gold rush is on. You’re small potatoes. A copper miner making pennies in a time when THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS.

Back: Nordstrom – $100ish
Front: Allen Edmonds – $450
A lot of us use both.
More importantly, a lot of us use the background to GET to the foreground.

Yet it doesn’t always end well for those with gold fever.

Here’s what we’ll try to do, here at the website you’re reading right now:

It’s what we’ve always done. Prioritize you guys, the readers. Stay independent. Don’t chase money. It’ll come as long as we’re honest, interesting, authentic, and most importantly, useful. And being useful means sticking to covering affordable clothes, shoes, watches, and accessories, which can hold up with decent care and deliver true value for the owner’s money. Even if the price points shift, and the availability of that all too rare middle ground has become constrained.

Or to put it another way, “you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit.” Our job is and always has been to cut through the cluckin’ and know the difference.

Maybe that’s boring. Maybe that keeps our ceiling artificially low, this strategy of not succumbing to the dollar signs of pushing luxury nonsense, while also not falling for disposable trash masquerading as clothes.

But it’s the only choice. Because still, after almost 17 years, it continues to be the right thing to do.

“We thank you for your support.”