Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse
Consumers are increasingly reporting a decline in the quality of household goods, a phenomenon often attributed to corporate consolidation and cost-cutting. The article discusses how private equity and large corporations have impacted the longevity of once-trusted brands.
Why it matters
It addresses the growing economic frustration regarding the 'enshittification' of consumer products and the loss of brand reliability.
Wary consumers have noticed a trend in the ‘enshittification’ of products and services. Wary consumers have noticed a trend in the ‘enshittification’ of products and services. Consumed Retail industry Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse Is it possible to avoid the continuing decline in quality of consumer products brought on by corporate greed?
Prefer the Guardian on Google When Keyana Sapp, 31, went shopping for a new backpack, the brands he remembered as a kid were just not the same.
He researched the companies, from North Face to JanSport and Eastpak, and soon realized they were all owned by the VF Corporation after a wave of acquisitions in the 2000s. After a Reddit post he made about his discovery picked up traction, he started looking at other types of consumer goods – cookware, shoes, tools, clothing.
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