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.
“It seems like that was a story that just repeated in every industry,” Sapp told the Guardian.
I wish I had more upvotes to give, you get one alone for the Reel Big Fish reference. But I wholeheartedly agree with the rest of your comment. Enshittification has taken over the whole world, everything is made to be replaced, nothing is made to be repaired anymore. Interfaces are about capturing as much of your time as possible and collecting as much data as possible. You can’t own software anymore, just subscribe.
I can’t believe people are accepting all this. I’m a greybeard engineer/architect so I keep replacing services with my own, and we’re here on the fediverse to push back, but we’re in the minority. Something’s gonna break soon…
Speaking of RBF, I did just buy a nicely made new record player, and I think we’re in a high point for good new music. So there’s that.
Feels really nice to know I’m not just losing my goddamn mind, though. That’s encouraging.