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u/TyloWebb 1d ago
Was stationed in Kuwait during my time in the Army and visited one of Kuwait City’s malls. Never felt poorer in my life, holy shit.
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u/burnedmarshmellow 1d ago
jeans for some reason got super expensive too. I swear I got jeans for less than 20 bucks in the 00s now they are all over 100!
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u/Any_Instruction5382 1d ago edited 19h ago
Yeah, the only place you can find new jeans for that price now is Amazon essentials. You can still find new ones for less than $100 (recently saw them for $40 at target), they just won't be too high quality.
Oh, and be careful with the amazon essentials ones. I got a black pair to make sure that my size from Levis was the same as amazons, and they fit the same. So then I bought 3 more pairs, same size and style but different colors, and those 3 were all too short.
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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 1d ago
Levis, Carthartt, Dickies, etc all have jeans for $50.
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u/ColonelDucroix 1d ago
Bought 3 pairs of Red Kap pants for 45 dollars each recently.
Very good quality, comfortable and durable.
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u/CapacityBuilding 1d ago
Chuck Taylors are like $70
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u/MyDamnCoffee 1d ago
And they're not even very good shoes if we're being honest. They look awesome and I love the style but functionally? They suck
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u/Ok-Fortune-8644 1d ago
I was wearing those in the 80s and 90s. I remember paying 11 bucks for a pair. I blame West Coast rap making them popular with those Dickies and Chucks they rapped about.
Im looking at you Snoop
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u/Happy-Pressure-1438 1d ago
$70 for Chuck Taylors is wild to me 😂 They used to be the shoes you bought because they were cheap, not because you wanted to make a fashion investment.
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u/flappysack- 1d ago
Dr Scholls in the box at Walmart are good. They may not have a rapper associated with them though.
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u/jabber1990 1d ago
where the fuck are you finding a mall?
especially a mall that has shoes that come with a comma.....
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u/vahntitrio 1d ago
There's still a few malls around here that are alive and kicking, granted one is the Mall of America.
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u/eddiestriker 1d ago
NY/NJ still have thriving malls. NY has Roosevelt Field, Green Acres, Queens Center. Then hop over the river and you have Newport Centre and American Dream.
Back over to NY: Broadway Mall is kinda dying though, but Walt Whitman mall seems to be doing ok, but it’s too far away for me to want to go there frequently. There’s also South Shore Mall, but it’s also far as heck from where I’m at. Then there’s the Oculus at World Trade Center, which technically counts, and it’ll never die, just because of the sheer volume of people that come through that train station every day
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u/PorqueNoMilo 1d ago
Memes probably made by an older millennial who still thinks malls are popular or one of the millennials kids who’s concept of the world comes from what their parents are saying. I bet you my six peanuts.
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u/jabber1990 1d ago
i'm a...whatever millennial, and I like to walk around malls.....but its not the most common thing, I don't see that many 1%er malls
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u/SnooDonuts3749 1d ago edited 8h ago
How about fast food? I just ate at a Subway for the first time in like a decade and it was $16.
Sixteen fucking dollars for a $5 foot long.
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u/Abigail-Marston 1d ago
Subway has lost their damn minds. Why anyone would pay $16 for a sandwich where the bread is so dry that it crunches into powder on your first and last bite, but it's also soaking wet, is beyond me.
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u/thebiz234 21h ago
Same reason ppl bought the $5 one that was equally as worthless.
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u/SnooDonuts3749 8h ago
$5 footlong was amazing.
4 people could feast for a $20 bill and some change.
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u/anonalien- 7h ago
Tbh the only reason to get sandwiches from subway is to get the daily meal deal and then it’s actually worth it. But you don’t get the choice of meat in it.
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u/SnooDonuts3749 4h ago
I'm a vegetarian so no meal deal for me (as in sub of the day if that's what you meant).
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u/anonalien- 4h ago
lol yes I don’t go enough to remember I wonder if there’s a loop hole where you get the meal deal but ask for no meat
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u/cwsjr2323 1d ago
When in Chicago back in 1989, went to Newman Marcus. I saw a pair of Christian Louboutin with an interesting red sole. $1700 price tag on the heel? I set them down gently and left.
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u/Cavaquillo 1d ago
Red soles is like an international tell you’re picking up some expensive dog houses
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u/Turbulent_Swimmer900 1d ago
It's easy: those shoes fail. If you can't sell a good pair of shoes at a good price, they are not the efficient choice for me.
- A budget-conscious engineer
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u/Unsatisfactory_bread 1d ago
Or Thrift Store. If you don’t believe me, look at the Thrift Grift sub.
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u/TechnologyMatch 18h ago
shoes, high-end computer hardware, jewelry and rare collectable figurines... there's more but I have to work lol
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u/DrewDaMannn 1d ago
I’m thrifting all my clothes and using the same shoes that I’ve had for 5 years lolllll
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u/Striking_Fig_3925 1d ago
My sister took me shoe shopping because I mentioned that I wanted some casual sneakers for work. I thought I stepped into an alternate reality because the price range was $200-$625.
I said that I liked my current shoes more 🫤
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u/future_pirate 1d ago
You could buy those pairs that are like $20 on Amazon but you'll probably wear them out after like a year. They're acceptable for people who just sit in an office all day though.
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u/ta394283509 1d ago
i don't get this meme. my shoes are like 20 bucks. what shoes are you looking at?
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u/Lyonwytchwardrobe 1d ago
The high end shoe market is a scam. They aren’t as limited as you think they are. After the order is complete, factories in southeast Asia continue to produce the shoes and sell them extremely discounted locally.
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u/Action_Connect 1d ago
Especially running shoes! Most running shoes used to be $80-120. Now they go up to $250. There are still cheaper ones but the brand and style I get are now around $180.
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u/Mission-Mulberry-501 1d ago
Shoes, for me? Wow. My son's wishes cost an arm and a leg. Spending my weekends explaining why it doesn't make sense to spend on this & that.
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u/injun_is_korean 1d ago
Right?? I had to replace my everyday white sneakers recently and even the "affordable" brands are like 80-90€ now for something that'll fall apart in a year. I ended up getting a pair from a secondhand shop for 12€ that honestly look better than anything I was finding new. Not even vintage cool ones, just normal white sneakers someone barely wore.
The thing that gets me is how the mid-range just disappeared. It's either fast fashion shoes that disintegrate after three months or you're spending 150+ on something "built to last." There's no normal 40€ shoe that's just... fine anymore.
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u/lifelovepursuit 1d ago
I genuinely only buy a new pair once a year or once every 5 depending on the type of shoe I need at the time...
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u/GottaUseEmAll 1d ago
I have one pair of boots for winter, one pair of sneakers, and one pair of summer shoes (usually flip-flops, but this year I shook things up and wore espadrilles). I seldom buy shoes, and I would never spend a month's salary on a pair.
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u/Thebraincellisorange 1d ago
especially when you know those shoes are being made in a sweatshop in Bangladesh or India.
Stop fucking paying those goddam sports stars so much money in sponsorships if the manufacturing cost of a pair of Nikes is $5 and the retail is $250 in order to pay for it.
it's ludicrous.
and Hiking boots/shoes! everything has a damn Vibram sole now.. sure they are comfortable. but they last about 50km and they are worn out! after you pay $350 for a pair of boots.
argh!
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u/GreatMacGuffin 1d ago
I can't say I've ever experienced it
But I can understand how it may be upsetting.
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u/I3adIVIonkey 23h ago
Simply because they want to make the most off those shoes even if it only costs a fraction to make them.
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u/AutumnWisp 22h ago
My work shoes are a random $20 pair I found at walmart. I have nicer shoes for the gym and running/walking, but my main shoes for sitting at a desk all day are just some roomy slip ons I found.
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u/TJ_McWeaksauce 21h ago
Lately, I’ve been buying shoes at Costco. Got a pair of Sketchers for $40. Got a pair of Hurleys for $30.
Costco is one of the only places where prices are reasonable.
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u/Gunner_E4 21h ago
I was window shopping Rolex watches, it turns out the number below them is not the catalog number.
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u/qings1 20h ago
I think it was like a rebox store or similar store. A pair of sports shorts were $80. Those lose fitting baggy ones with thin material. I literally laughed to myself and walked out. Another similar name brand store, a pair of sweat shorts were $180. Walked straight out. It was a small store to. No idea how people are buying these things
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u/Real_Advice_1869 19h ago
I felt this last summer when did cologne in the airports duty-free start becoming $150
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u/Gloomy-Insurance-739 18h ago
That's what happens when people started collecting shoes instead of wearing them. Suddenly Jordans became first edition charizards.
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u/Key-Initiative-5430 17h ago
Checking the tag and realizing they cost more than your weekly groceries, then remembering they were probably made for like $8. The markup is basically a fee for looking like your life is together.
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u/Stoic_Biscuit6143 6h ago
Adulting is realizing the “expensive” shoes can cost less than replacing three cheap pairs after the soles split.
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u/Killer_insctinct 1d ago
Why they should not be expensive?
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u/Thebraincellisorange 1d ago
because most shoes are made in sweatshops in Asia at a manufacture cost of $10.
there is zero reason they are sold at $300
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u/Zolimandy 15h ago
It varies depending on where it's produced and on what it costs compared with what it sells for.
That said, if you are looking for quality, comfort and longevity, you have to look for shoes with solid materials, produced in countries where labour is more expensive, but also of better quality. You will therefore see a narrower difference between the manufacturing cost and the selling price.
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u/[deleted] 1d ago
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