>>1535014It's spending money to purchase status. That's all. This has been a thing for centuries.
On a tangent, this is a major reason why consoomer basedtards that spend half their income on merch get so mad about "wealth inequality" - spending money to acquire status thru having objects and trendy shit is rising out of their reach rapidly. Trickle-down technology means necessities items that make someone more capable are getting super affordable. Expensive stuff now is marked up for branding, limited-releases and technology that doesn't usually do much but is part of being "cutting edge." And cause there's a lot of new-money and the top end keeps rising, the price for consumer fashion items gets more expensive and ridiculous. Not custom, not industrial-only high tech. Consumer grade.
10 years ago a new pair of Jordans was about 100-160 USD. Now the hot thing is Yeezys which are not only more expensive by about 100USD but also have a limited release every time which means spending more money/time to acquire them from lining up, scalpers, or being "in" with the right crowd.
Same thing with a lot of bike tech. You can look cool and have fun for less, but if you have the latest branded stuff you get an extra thing. Which fades by next season.
