Almost half of Gen Z adults believe that companies are less interested in making high-quality products than in the past. 

Well, they’re absolutely right to think this, as businesses now prioritize making goods in the fastest and least expensive ways to meet the growing needs of consumers, i.e., us. To be able to do that, they cheap out on materials and labor, which downgrades quality.

This leaves buyers with a lot of crappy things that they’re forced to throw out after a short amount of time. Sadly, these items don’t leave our planet. They accumulate, polluting our environment. Not to mention the resources needed to create them in the first place and the by-products and chemicals that are released into the atmosphere in their manufacturing process.

Concerned with the future of our planet, 44% of Gen Z adults are trying to do better and report searching for information on brands before purchasing their products to make sure they’re buying the right thing.

The Buy It For Life (BIFL) movement that gained in the early to mid-2000s also supports shopping for well-designed and manufactured items that last a lifetime so they don’t have to be purchased ever again, this way saving money as well as the planet. Ironically, it seems that we’re trying to rewind back to a time before the Industrial Revolution when buying something for life was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Now you’ve got Buy It For Life products, or as our grandparents called it, ‘products.’ Buy It For Life only makes sense because of where manufacturing has gone and a newer throw-it-away mentality,” said Dee Warmath, a professor at the College of Family and Consumer Sciences to Forbes.

As previously mentioned, BIFL products are great for our pockets and environment. Even though you’ll have to spend a larger amount of money while purchasing them, you're paying for a good reason. These items usually go through an intensive design process and are made out of high-quality materials to ensure that they serve a long time. 

Take a socks company, Darn Tough, for example. Its CEO, Ric Cabot, confirmed that buying their business products means that customers are purchasing them for life. “In the long run, you could buy one pair of our socks, spend 20 bucks or so, and never have to buy another pair of socks. If you look at it that way, it’s the best investment,” he said. They also recycle everything that people return and make them into emergency blankets, dog toys, and stuffing for airline seats.

This is how every company should look at product manufacturing if we want to stop the devastating effects of capitalism and overconsumption. In case you want to learn more about it and start doing better for our planet, check out our previous article about little things you can do to help the environment.