Brands that used to be associated with guaranteed quality, but now consistently disappoint

Eddie Bauer

LL Bean

Target

Macy’s

Breyer's ice cream

GE and Levi's jeans

R4 Second Breyer's ice cream. I'll also add Ben & Jerry's.

Mercedes Benz

Banana Republic and Gap

Converse and Doc Martens

Hilton

The Gramnys

Volvo

The Datalounge.

The Datalounge used to be associated with guaranteed quality?

I wish I still had my 90s GAP stuff.

[Quote]Breyer's ice cream

For decades their commercials were based on a pair of cute kids, and one kid would stumble while trying to read the ingredients on a competitor's label (carrageenan, polysorbate 80) while the other kid could easily read the Breyer's label: milk, cream, sugar and vanilla beans.

The company was bought by Unilever. Since a wave of cost-cutting in 2006, most flavors have contained all those ingredients they used to make fun of their competitors for using. And most of their products don't even contain enough fat to quality as "ice cream" any more... they're "frozen dairy desserts" now.

Pyrex. Apparently it's still high quality in France, but in the US it's absolute garbage now.

Electrolux

Proctor Silex

Honda/Toyota

United Airlines

United Airlines.

It beared repeating.

HBO shows have definitely declined in quality.

Dyson. Also, fuck Dyson.

Maytag. They sold out to Whirlpool in 2006 and the quality has steadily gone to shit since then. Nearly all kitchen appliances have, it seems--Kitchen Aid mixers, Oster blenders. I don't replace appliances unless they're literally on fire, because I know every newer model will only be worse. I have an Oster blender from the 60s that still works fantastically.

Sony owns this thread.

I have a Sony Dream Machine I purchased in 1983 during the first year of my first full time job. It is a AM/FM clock radio with two alarm settings. I can wake to an alarm with one and I can wake to the radio with the other. I am still using each weekday morning for 42 years sand it still works as good now as it did back then. I think I paid about $40 for it back then. Talk about getting more than your money's worth. Basically anything I purchased by Sony since the early 2000s has been second or third rate electronics, and either malfunctions or dies within 2-5 years. I avoid Sony like the plague since my last Sony HD TV died after less than 2 years.

[quote] Nearly all kitchen appliances have

How about Smeg?

I think really expensive appliances are still okay, r26.

Doc Martens are still good if you buy them from the UK.

Ray Ban sunglasses

I've actually had rather good luck with Sony, r25. I still use a radio I bought in 1991, and an SACD player I bought in 2004 made it until September of this year. My Discman lasted from 1991 to 1999. Never had one of their TVs.

Better question is what brands still have quality?

The enshitification of everything is standard practice. Quality company or product gets bought, rich owners slowly drive down the brand by making it cheaper and getting short-term gains the first few years, then blame everyone else in the company for lower sales and profits which they have no control over.

Pepperidge Farm products (especially the cookies)

R30 Anything pre-2007 or so is generally safe for Sony.

Sara Lee!

[quote] Pepperidge Farm products (especially the cookies)

You know, r32.

There was a thread on here with OP asking if he should buy a used refrigerator. I said only if it's from the 70s or perhaps 80s. Otherwise, no.

My happy trailer has a Kenmore fridge that I think is from the early 80s. It works great. I have an old Roper washer outside in the shed that also works great. I can't even imagine how old it is. I'm guessing early 80s or even older.

Everything made now is crap, and stuff is full of computer chips that can make anything fail. I deliberately bought a used 2016 Nissan Frontier, but a mechanic told me I should have bought an older one -- perhaps from the late 90s (like the one I had before, but wrecked at 176K miles). He told me the later models are shit.

I'll still drive it until it falls apart under me. Whaddya gonna do?

Real Time with Bill Maher.

And you are so fucking correct R37

R37, I’ll see you and raise you Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

r24 Your Whirlpool mention reminds me that my "Made in America" 11 year old basic model Whirlpool stovetop drip pans are already rusting!

The Whirlpool stove - also a U.S. made product we bought across the line in 1991 - sure as shit didn't do that, and the USD/CAD exchange rate was such that we still saved money on the appliance. Our 1984 Whirlpool fridge worked like a charm until Mom decided it was taking too much space...or something.

Cadillac

Lexus

Clinique

All Proctor and Gamble Products ( Except Dawn)

Calvin Klein

Macy's

Golds Gym

GE, Whirlpool, KitchenAid,Maytag , and Frigidaire

Toyota

[quote]Better question is what brands still have quality?

BMW. They blow the other luxury brands out of the water, including reliability. Consumer Reports ranked them best overall car manufacturer.

H&M. Still wearing some t-shirts from the 2000s. When I've been in there lately the stuff looks and feels like crap, and there's no variety.

To R8-You forgot to add J. Crew-WTF happened to Banana Republic, Gap and J. Crew!

Tastykake's in the Philadelphia area. They moved their bakery to the Navy Yard.

Thye fucking suck, even more than I do!!!

le creuset - the dutch oven is still great but their dishes/kettle are mass produced garbage. They problem is companies either licensing the brand and/or outsourcing production so QA is absolute shite. Same story with Marimekko.

Chanel

Pretty much all commercially baked goods. I can't think of a single quality brand that remains.

RIP Entemann's, Sara Lee, Mrs. Field, Archway, Tastykake, Famous Amos, etc.

Lane Bryant

Slim Fast

Dolly Madison Pies

Jean Nate

Metrical

Lucille Roberts Health Clubs

Leggs cotton panel panty hose

Lilt Perms

FDS Spray

R49, YTF.

Nutrisystem.

It’s all about Zepbound now.

And picking that fat MAGA fuck Janet Jackson as a spokesho ruined them.

The Bravo network.

chanel. louis vuitton.

The New York Times

Independent Film Channel

Sundance Channel

CBS

R56 is Donald J. Trump or equivalent white trash. Fuck off.

Anderson & Sheppard (Savile Row) is still quality.

Godiva chocolates

Roseanne

R57 is a disoriented Connie Chung.

Human males.

let's face it, 90% of quality brands have declined.

Panera

I like to entertain friends at home with Panera Bread!

Unilever bought Ben & Jerry's too. Last I knew, anyway. I still buy Entemann's doughnuts. Hershey's "chocolate" anything is horrid and gives me hives.

BrendaD ickson

Disney / ABC / Hulu

[quote]I like to entertain friends at home with Panera Bread!

How embarrassing.

The House of Windsor

This thread will proceed to list virtually any common, household brand without any in dept explanation for why.

R71 Most examples already posed are self explanatory and true.

[quote] household brand without any in dept explanation

Ground floor: perfumery

Stationery and leather goods

Wigs and haberdashery

Kitchenware and food

Going up

First floor: telephones

Gents' ready-made suits

Shirts, socks, ties, hats

Underwear and shoes

Going up

Second floor: carpets

Travel goods and bedding

Materials and soft furnishing

Restaurant and teas

Going down

Discovery Channel

Anything made my KraftHeinz. After the merger, they introduced reduced cost versions of almost all their products that had previously been rejected in taste tests. Although Kraft cheeses had been reformulated numerous times before to reduce cost. Oscar Mayer products fared the worst. Their bacon now has as much water as the cheapest store brands.

R21 It bore repeating.

I have a Volcom (skateboard brand) backpack that has already lasted about 10 years, and a bomber style green jacket with a hood that has lasted 15 years. Their polo shirts and sweaters and khakis were also high quality. But now their stuff is shit.

Bravo and The Learning Channel

Democracy.

United Airlines

I still have two pairs of Levi 501 jeans from 1979. I still wear them semi regularly, they nicely worn, not over worn. The Levis they make today are trash.

The Republican party .

As somebody above said it's just about everything. I mean for those of us who have lived long enough we remember how good these things used to be. Now the younger generations have no idea so the companies are now depending on their spending and don't have to worry about quality. The older people don't spend as much and their consumerism doesn't matter. It's corporate strategy.

It has been mentioned in a few posts, but I definitely have seen - firsthand - a decline in quality of KitchenAid stand mixers.

I have my original one that was purchased for me as a gift in 1987 which still works wonderfully and reliably, despite years of heavy use and the screw for the front attachment input getting bent during a move decades ago.

In contrast, I purchased a similar model of the KA mixer for a relative about 4 or 5 years ago and it went kaput within 6 months of purchase.

United Airlines

Many of you agree on United Airlines.

Before the merger with United, Continental was a decent airline.

The merger destroyed the best parts of Continental, and merged the worst parts of both airlines into the New United.

Pan Am and TWA just aren't what they used to be. Not to mention BOAC. The steak was fatty on my last flight.

[quote]Pan Am and TWA just aren't what they used to be. Not to mention BOAC.

I’ve always been an Eastern gal.

Massengil

Summerguy, try Summer's Eve instead.

Crane stationery, Aveeno

Just about everything has turned into crap.

I gotta say though, everything I've ever bought from Apple has been top notch in design, quality and usability. But they sure do make you pay for it.

It seems to me Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevys, Lincolns are a lot better now than they were during the dark ages of the 1980s-early 2000s. Compare an old Cadillac CTS with a current Lyriq. The styling, the interior....no comparison.

R94 - yes - it's a 'how low can we go' in both quality AND ALSO customer service/staffing, etc.

It's playing to the end margins of everything - and anything on the end is not quality. Not quality product, not quality customer service, not a quality experience.

Not a brand but an item - zippers. They used to be metal but now are mostly plastic.

Phillywhore @R45, I miss Tastykakes! But yeah, they aren't as good now. (Though I still enjoy an occasional Peanut Butter Kandykake.)

I remember flying United about a year after the merger w/Continental and we had many delays after landing. The pilot started speaking on the intercom and went into a lengthy apology, basically calling United a shit show and saying it would have NEVER happened at Continental.

What the FUCK happened to

Mercedes-- That one kills me-

Godiva- Even at the moderate to slightly upscale Filene's in New England (this is around 1993 when I was a kid) Godiva had its own Candy Counter with actual pieces of chocolate out in their own candy case- like individual pieces of chocolate in a bakery type glass case- Totally high end- gourmet level--- And the chocolates were UNREAL and delicious-

[quote] Mercedes-- That one kills me-

Tell us more about the decline in Mercedes' quality. I don't drive, so I'm genuinely curious.

R100- Just repair rates and the overall "mainstreaming" of the brand (Not that dissimilar to Godiva)

I don't drive one, but to me the exterior/interior of the high-end Mercedes look as great as ever. Oh, that CLE53 Cabriolet...

Thank you, r101.

Is it a trade-off? Now, there are lots of cheap consumer products that most people can afford, but the products are of poor quality. In the olden days, most people had to save up for big outlays, were gifted stuff at big life events, and had much less. But things were made to last and of good quality.

The problem with all of this is that I would gladly spend 10 bucks more per garment or 20 bucks more on appliance / other to cover the cheapening that they did to get higher margins.

But no - they cheapen it down to be 'price competitive' with no regard as to shopper reactions or brand loyalty.

Someday we will all finally realize that it wasn't our democracy, or free press, or values that the world wanted - it was just our stuff. It was nicer and well constructed and basically better than either their own, or that they had access to. The rest of it? The free gift with purchase.

and consistently disappoint? why the Democratic party, of course.

CBS

[quote]Is it a trade-off? Now, there are lots of cheap consumer products that most people can afford, but the products are of poor quality. In the olden days, most people had to save up for big outlays, were gifted stuff at big life events, and had much less.

I remember when I moved into my first apartment in NYC in 1976. You cannot image the difficulty in finding a reasonably priced bed and sofa. Not to mention all the other things I needed. I had no need for "forever" pieces. I just wanted stuff that would get the job done. AND everything reasonably priced was sooo ugly.

Today a young person can furnish a complete apartment including kitchen and bath items from IKEA (or other online sources) with a clean modern design for cheap. Yeah, it's cheap stuff to eventually throw away, but you can get that apartment furnished fast.

[quote] You cannot [bold] image [/bold] the difficulty in finding a

You need to stop using "image" as a verb. We have one already: [bold] IMAGINE!

They sometimes sell Banana Republic licensed items at Costco now.

R109 - yes, I will say that furniture and decor prices have come down and the quality is reliable enough.

Furniture shopping years ago was so limited - you went to a furniture store and you had to buy what was there.

There weren't THAT many options.

I wonder if some of the foods I loved years ago taste strange to me now because my tastes have matured, or the quality has diminished.

In terms of food, I’m convinced Clif bars doubled in sugar from 20 years ago.

Our taste buds are very sharp when we are children, but the quality of food has MOST DEFINITELY diminished, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Oprah

The United States

CBS

Many of you agree on CBS.

It sounds like Volvo does this. They seemed like a reliable car for middle class folks and now it’s turned into a slightly cheaper Land Rover.

R113 Yes, our taste buds absolutely do change with age. Sweet things taste far better as children and bitter things taste far worse.

By "better", I mean children are capable of detecting more depth and nuance in sweet foods than adults (kind of like how much more complex savory foods taste with MSG).

There's an evolutionary purpose to that, which is little kids need more fattening up than adults, so the most calorie-dense foods taste the most interesting to them. They like simple foods best because they have such sensitive taste buds. That goes for texture too.

So yes, while ingredients have cheapened, it's also that Little Debbie cakes taste like a $200 bakery cake to children, whereas for adults it just taste like "sweet". We need higher quality ingredients and more complex flavor profiles in order for sweet foods to taste "interesting".

You can tell the quality in food has changed for the most part when there are things where the quality has not changed so it's not just a matter of our taste buds changing. I'm sure we've had experiences where a few things taste as good as we remember.

Ben and Jerry’s never failed me. I had to stop eating it because I’m old and can’t do whatever I want anymore but I always loved it

Honestly Breyers has sucked for decades. Stuff like Tide and Dawn is good and I will buy them. Pure corn oil, like Mazola, I buy. Pam spray,no other brand. I love Jif peanut butter best but it’s so much more expensive it’s like a luxury now. You learn what’s the best and what you settle for.

The second a huge corporation buys a smaller one, or when they buy a local, regional company famed for the quality of whatever they produce, that quality will pretty quickly plummet if not totally vanish as the big new owner cuts costs and everything that made the thing they bought, great.

When exactly did Volvos become such shit boxes? I had a 2002 S60 and that thing was always breaking down.

Grindr. Now it's overrun with trannies who I'm evidently not allowed to filter out. FUCK THAT

[quote] When exactly did Volvos become such shit boxes?

When they stopped being boxy but good.

[quote]You need to stop using "image" as a verb. We have one already: IMAGINE!

Unfortunately Datalounge does not have an edit feature.

I noticed the typo but assumed posters would understand that I obviously meant to write "imagine". I didn't think there would be anyone stupid enough to think otherwise. Well, I was wrong about that.

Halston

Someone upthread was saying it's great to have a cheaper level of furnishings, etc. and there's always been stores that offer that to some degree, though yes, IKEA makes it much easier for a poor college student to furnish their apartment.

There's always been a low/bargain level of products, a mid level, and a high/luxury level for most mainstream retail companies, food brands, etc.

The issue is, in the last few decades with the corporatization of most of these companies, corner cutting and "enshittification" followed.

Washers and dryers are a good example. My parents bought a Kenmore set in the 1970s that was still function 30+ years later. It was probably "mid" level and affordable only because they paid for it over several years, but it did the job and seldom if ever needed repair or service.

Today, any similar laundry set is far more expensive and is designed to have a much shorter lifetime, so the buyers will then be back in the market and spend yet more money on another short lasting item in just a few years.

The long lasting "mid" level has all but disappeared, so with few exceptions, what we are left with is a cheap product where the company/manufacturer has cut corners to maximize profit, OR a product at luxury prices that's out of reach for most Americans.

R126 Around 2001. Ford bought Volvo in 1999 and immediately tried to create cross-company sharing or components and design to save money. This effort spectacularly failed. Volvo was forced to use shiity chassis made for Ford, downgrade the quality of parts (e.g., hard plastics instead of soft plastics or leather) along with cheaper plastic parts in the engine, drive train, and exhaust sytems. By 2008 the damage was done and Ford tried offloading Volvo. They ended up settling to Geely (a Chinese company) in 2010. Design improved a bit, but they now use Chinese made low-quality parts.

r129 It was pointed out because I've seen "image" used more and more as a verb (usually by younger people) as a stand-in for "imagine," and it has been used several times in that way right here on DL.

I'm trying to do my part in nipping that shit in the bud. Thank you taking note of it.

[quote]Ford bought Volvo in 1999 and immediately tried to create cross-company sharing or components and design to save money. This effort spectacularly failed.

The same thing happened with Daimler when they linked up with Chrysler. That’s when Mercedes-Benz quality started to shit the bed.

R131 - I agree there have always been stores at different price points - but we have definitely won out in the home decor and design space the last 20 years in terms of style, options and prices.

We no longer live with 'life purchase' furniture - which I don't see as a bad thing. I don't want to be stuck with the same set for 40-50 years like previous generations.

Those Volvo 240DL's from 85-91 are fucking CLASSICS (especially the wagons) and ultimately indestructible- Such cool vehicles and harder and harder to find- and very expensive to buy if you can find one- I see a few around the beach every now and then

United Airlines did absolutely dive in quality after the merger. But it was Continental that killed United, not the other way around. Jeff Smisek, the famously penny pinching asshole CEO of Continental, took over the merged brand and proceeded to cheapen out everything as much as possible. Examples include switching Coke to Pepsi and there is a story out there about how he gathered members of his team to taste some truly revolting vending machine coffee where he laughed and said “it’s not THAT bad” and that was his endorsement to ditch United’s long standing partnership with Starbucks and implement it. Delta then was quick to pick up the Starbucks deal. He finally had to resign in 2015 due to a Justice Department investigation into how he started a flight to serve the NY Port Authority chairman’s home. (Of note, today we would consider that table stakes for any company dealing with the government.)

But the story today is quite different. United has been consistently over performing the industry, and the quality is quite good. The damage Smisek did has been repaired. They are actually serving a $120 retail bottle of wine in international business class these days (Shafer 1.5). United and Delta are pretty much the only consistently profitable airlines now. United leads with flights to cool new places like Mongolia and Greenland.

Bosch dishwashers. Absolute pieces of shit. The pump just died on one I’ve had less than a year.

Thanks for telling us that, r138. I moved into a new rental (house) and the dishwasher here is old and not the best. Marketplace often has dishwashers that people are selling cheaply because they changed out major appliances in their kitchen and now their DW no longer matches. I always thought Bosch was supposed to be great quality, so I'll cross that brand off my list.

Is Miele still considered good?

Macy’s used to be a nice place to shop for men’s clothes but now it is either ugly, overpriced designer brands or their cheap in house brands.

People say that Brooks Brothers isn't the same, but I like their shirts. I'm not sure what happened to Banana Republic, I saw that they're selling their boxer briefs in Costco now. eek.

R141, I was going to mention Brooks Brothers. They've gone downhill now for a decade or more.

About twenty years ago my family sold the farm that my great-grandparents bought in the early twentieth century. A "new" furnace was installed in 1940. It still operated well in 2006. Nowadays, furnaces, boilers, and a/c units (central) barely last 15 years. Quality sucks all around.

You know the quality of The Data Lounge is "best-quality," when you have threads like this with 140 + replies. It takes nothing for a gaggle of gay men and lesbians to roll off that whose quality has faded! Thanks, DL!

R140 Macy’s is like a flea market compared to the late Marshall Field’s.

[quote]Someone upthread was saying it's great to have a cheaper level of furnishings, etc. and there's always been stores that offer that to some degree

You obviously aren't around 40 years ago or so.

Here is the Sears catalog 1975. Scroll down to the furniture. EVERYTHING is hideous. And whether it was Sears, or Macy's, Gimbels, Bloomingdales it was the same story.

If you wanted clean simple mid-century design, you had to buy from places like Herman Miller and it would cost a fortune. There were no alternatives. None.

^ weren't around

R135 I agree that things have changed for the better re: home furnishings (a point Miss R144 also rather forcefully makes). Outside of head shops, random importers, and the likes of Pier One, there weren't many options for low end furniture in the 70s and 80s. Also, some of the things I just mentioned were only available in big cities, or only offered an array of small items for small spaces.

But most of the other household appliances (big and small) and home items are a victim of enshittification. You get less for more, or items that break down way sooner, intentionally created to do so by the manufacturer. The 30-40 year life span my parents had with Kenmore appliances is no more.

Ugh...and clothes and shoes, it was a shit-fest in the 1970s and 80s. By the mid 1990s, things calmed down as far as design was concerned. Maybe the quality was better back then, but fit and styling were mostly horrible.

And the CARS! "Luxury" meant crushed velvet interiors, padded vinyl roofs, "opera" windows, plastic "wood" paneling. And remember all those crappy economy cars? The Pinto, Vega, Chevette and so on?

Much, much better today.

Yeah, major appliances are crap today but a lot of things are so much better.

[quote]Brands that used to be associated with guaranteed quality, but now consistently disappoint

Double Bar X and Lazy S Double O come to mind.

R147, show us an example of a luxury car of yore with crushed velvet interiors, please.

Because you'd get no wear with them.

No wear at all!

Ok George...here ya go...

1974 Chrysler Imperial

Russian army.

Well on the bright side of the ice cream world, Haagen Dazs quality has remained consistent. I mourn the loss of Breyer’s which was also perfect (and different) when it really was all natural. As soon as I see “gum” as an ingredient, it’s a hard pass.

Most “premium” ice cream brands now (Jeni’s, After, Ben and Jerry’s) taste like crap.

Of the widely available supermarket brands of ice cream, Haagen Dazs vanilla is the only one I buy.

Cream, milk, eggs, sugar and Madagascar vanilla....and that's it.

I know this is a tangent to this topic and probably needs to be its own thread, but it's very sad that in certain categories of clothing and home items, no matter what store you go to, you'll be finding the same 2 or 3 brands there.

I miss store labels.

[quote] H&M....When I've been in there lately the stuff looks and feels like crap, and there's no variety.

In the U.S., anyway, It's always been crap.

I visited the store in San Francisco not long after it opened and knew it was not for me.

The worst is all of the "legacy" companies that went under (or became a shadow of their former selves) and sold off their name and goodwill to some low-end Chinese company to completely tarnish any semblance of quality that the name evoked. Examples: Kodak, Polaroid, Bell & Howell, RCA, Zenith, et al. Go back and look at TV or magazine ads from the '70s and before and look at all the names that now only appear on cheap crap that bears no resemblance to their former products.

R155 I too am unfamiliar with this golden age of H&M. I've never purchased anything there that's held up for more than 5 or 6 washes.

BEARKING: TOPSHOP FULL OF SHOPBOTTOMS!

[quote] I too am unfamiliar with this golden age of H&M.

It got a LOT of hype when it came to the U.S.

When my parents purchased a home in 1976 the previous owners had recently converted the heating from oil to natural gas. The boiler Weil-McLain which is for the steam heat in the home was probably relatively new. Many years later after both my parents had passed, I moved in. Today at least 50 years later the boiler still works great. I get it serviced every other year for maintenance, but that's it. Companies used to take pride in making a quality reliable product. Today it is about how much more profits can they make for the next quarter by making things cheaper for a bigger profit margin, also knowing that you will sooner rather than later need to replace the product because it has a deliberately restricted life span.

i dunno about USA but H&M and Zara in Europe have two qualities and the better quality is good and washes and wears very well. Zara's better quality uses very good fabrics and is sewn in Turkey, Morocco, etc. For example zara has 3 levels of polos and the top level keep their color and shape for quite some time.

zara also has fashion trousers every summer - always trend styles, and the quality is good. but its pricy and you have to wait for sales. Yes, zara is pricy, the trend lines. but its value priced when its knocked down 50% or more.

I don't know about the late 70s but by the early 80s there were certainly cheap, disposible furniture options....I bought a cute, bubblegum pink loveseat from Pier One circa 1984.

Actually, I do know that cheap furniture existed in the 70s because my dad was an upholsterer and he'd bitch about it.

The problem is, now most furniture is pretty shoddy, even supposedly 'nice' mid range stuff. It's mostly all made in Asia and the quality is low even if the furniture is over $1k.

I agree...Haagen Dazs is still a good ice cream!

My fat self enjoys a table spoon of coffee ice cream IN my coffee and the Haagen Dazs melts and tastes delicious but most other brands will melt and leave a gross greasy sheen and a nasty chemical taste.

[quote]I bought a cute, bubblegum pink loveseat from Pier One circa 1984.

LOL. Yeah, in fact as I was saying... furniture choices were hideous back then.

R165 It was cute! I was 22!!!

It was, however, a bad purchase because light colored furniture is always a mistake. It looks dirty, very quickly.

I don't understand the trend for all this light beige/greige/off white furniture. Even if you don't have pets or kids and you refrain from eating on the furniture, it gets dingy looking very quickly.

The H&M clothes I got in the 2000s that still hold up—and some stuff I wore more often that still held up for a decade or so—were from the NYC store. Maybe that had the same products as their European locations.

How long are cheap clothes supposed to "hold up"? I think some people have unreasonable expectations of a $25 polo shirt...

Johnston & Murphy and Cole Haan shoes.

I have a coat from 2005 H&M NYC that still looks perfect.

Aunt Jeremiah Sryup

Uncle Bens Rice

Fashion Fair Cosmetics

Dark and Lovely Hair Relaxer

Clinique Aromatic Elixir

Rolling Stone magazine.

They are just reduced to being ass-lickers of both Taylor Swift and/or Bad Bunny.

Definitely the NYT. Fuck The New York Times. A ND The New Yorker.

And don't forget the WaPo, R173!

R173 I gave up the NYT around 2017. I then switched to Washington Post, only to give them up in 2024 for their craven actions. Yes to WaPo editors, democracy does die in darkness.

R138

My Bosch is 12 years old and brilliant but my neighbor also had a lemon.

[quote]Aunt Jeremiah Sryup

Jemima went trans.

[quote] Definitely the NYT. Fuck The New York Times.

Why This Curse Is Bad for the Dems.

[quote] Dyson. Also, fuck Dyson.

Dyson sucks!

I'm curious, what did Dyson do?

[quote] Aunt Jeremiah Sryup

This doesn’t exist anymore. Just waking up from a coma?

[quote]Uncle Bens Rice

Neither does this.

Thrift stores/ opp shops/ charity shops (all the same type of stores, different names depending on your country). They used to hold incredible treasures for not much money. But today so much of what they sell is used "fast fashion" that was never created to last more than 2 or 3 laundry cycles. And anything good quality is pricey, due to all the online re-sellers.

Because of this thread I bought an Entenmann's "cheese" danish yesterday. I hadn't had one in years but I was being lazy and company was coming.

The pastry was like wood and the "cheese" was some kind of chemical glop. And it was 7 bucks.

R134- Chrysler did not buy Mercedes . Mercedes bought Chrysler and kept it for several years then sold it. The fact that the quality of Mercedes cars has declined has nothing to do with its purchase of Chrysler corporation in the late 90s.

R152- Jeni’s Almond Ice cream is excellent. I ate recently.

Jeni's is still decent but it's also the price of a small automobile. I'd rather go to a local shop and get a fresh packed pint.

Serves you right for not being particular enough for what you serve your guests, r183. I of course would have hand-rolled the phylo dough myself and cultured the cheese filling in one of my private caves especially rented for just that purpose.

I’m sure Nicholas Fairford has a private cave.

The Supreme Court.

Nicolas Fairford? The cat who paints green bands around his flower pots to make them look moss-grown?

Husqvarna.

This has turned into a FAT WHORE! thread.

R192 Pretty much EVERY thread on here is a Fat Whore Thread...or, turns into one.

R171 Aunt Jeremiah? Lawd the trannys done hijacked that too?

Billy Porter will portray Aunt Jeremiah in the new commercials.

Bose never disappointed me until I bought the latest surround sound system for our TV. Way too fiddly and underwhelming. Major letdown. And expensive.

Someone needs to create a thread for "Brands that are still associated with guaranteed quality".

But, for now, I'll add Duluth Trading Company. While I still buy many items from them, their jeans now contain too much poly/spandex and I can't figure out their sizing anymore and I hate jeans with too much spandex.

Calvin Klein nor Macys belong here. I feel like some of yall are using your online purchasing interactions which may have been poor. It’s the nature of our culture now. Take your stankin asses to the store if you want top notch customer service.

[quote] their jeans now contain too much poly/spandex

All the clothes at the usual chain stores have been "flex" for the last few years, i.e. a good deal plastic, which may suit the fat whores among us but makes the clothes wear out faster and, let's face it, just feels cheap.

R186- True- I've paid $8.99 for a pint of that stuff

R200, so it was on sale then?

The most expensive furniture purchase I’ve made was 3 Billy bookcases with glass doors. And I put it together.

I’m sure you can still buy a shitload of pure denim jeans somewhere.

Corbin Fisher and Sean Cody.

Mar-A-Logo

When most items were made in the USA, they lasted longer. It's true.

I have an LL Bean winter hat that's 40 years old and still in great shape. I'll never get rid of it, it cliimbed a lot of The White Mountain peaks in winter.

Bose is practically the case study in “once-great brand syndrome.”