Sublime and Ridiculous

The last few days have provided me with personal examples of the worst sort of product of the consumer society, and not far off the best.

To begin with the worst: I bought a belt at Sainsbury's on May 17th. It looked smart but casual, something to wear with jeans. Today, May 29th, I returned it just before it had time to break. The backing had peeled off, and it was nearly worn through. At the customer service desk there was no argument, just immediate repayment. It left a bad taste nevertheless, this was a waste of effort, something so temporary and so poorly done.

The best by way of contrast is a pair of fairly smart brown boots (the sort you can just about wear with a suit if needs be) that I bought I think before my now sixth-former son was born. They have finally worn through at the sole. I am tempted to have them repaired, but as I bought a second pair at the time (oxblood rather than brown) that I have worn far less, perhaps not.

Those boots were not expensive - if memory serves a pair cost £15, reduced drastically at I think Clark. Doubtless they were not stylish enough. But they lasted maybe 20 years.

If all shoes lasted 20 years would shoe shops go bust? Not necessarily, I have bought other pairs meanwhile.  But carry such workmanship over to other things and we would be depleting world resources at a far slower, maybe even sustainable rate.