• Assuming you’re in the west, when all else fails (or even when everything is fine) you can always buy Chinese… Or whatever other global south brands are available (it’s almost always Chinese though).

    It’s certainly what I do. You can thrift, and you can get things on (Temu/AliExpress/Shein/etc). You can cut out the nasty imperialist middlemen who offer little to nothing of value and charge a premium, and I think you’d be surprised at the variety available, the prices, and the quality if you look at reviews.