Don't get blinded by the brand

If there was a phenomena I never fully understood and often looked upon with a healthy amount of disdain for most of my life, it's the need of people to spend an absurd amount of money on brands. 

Because you know... slap on a logo and suddenly the shirt made in China is made of better fabric and better constructed than the stuff from Walmart and justifies you spending 20 times the price, right?

The history of fashion has always been about creating a visual status symbol, an indicator of wealth or power that separates you from others. In the old days that used to be velvet and silk fabrics due to the high cost of import, rarity and its high maintenance. The colour purple was also a huge status symbol due to how difficult it was to manufacture the colour with natural dyes. 

Today it's all about the brand as a status symbol. The bigger, the better.

But that's just it; sometimes you're not paying for a better fabric, a better constructed piece, a better item. Often times all you're paying for is a logo. And why? Because it makes people think you have a lot of money and it makes you feel good inside?

Why spend more money on something that is just as cheaply made as something from Walmart just because it has a Club Monaco logo attached to it?

You aren't earning distinction when you are wearing brand clothing you can't afford. All you're buying into is your own delusion and a delusion that is often encouraged by retailers and advertisers. It's not good for your health and you can bet it's not good with your finances.

According to the CBC, the middle class retailer is dying a slow death. This is mostly because the middle-class is actually shrinking, but it is also because the people in the middle class are either taking on one of two personas; the poor or the rich. That is to say they shop at Walmart either to buy more or because they prefer to, or else they shop as if they're rich and regularly peruse the likes of Holt Renfrew.

And given the rise of consumer debt in Canada, you can guess which side most people fall upon. Heck, even those who can't afford to call themselves the middle class are even shopping like they're rich.

Listen, I have nothing against buying clothing that are well made, of good fabric and will last a long time. It's why I was able to swallow (barely) spending $250 on a real leather jacket from Danier. I'm all for investment pieces.

But when people become so focused on a brand name and the status and power it seems to evoke is when the trouble begins. Suddenly, an item that is constructed just as well as the brand piece isn't good enough because it isn't a brand name - even though it should be good enough as a purchase.

Don't let brands blind you. Keep in mind what you want when you shop and why you spend what you do for a particular item.