Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse
Is it possible to avoid the continuing decline in quality of consumer products brought on by corporate greed? When Keyana Sapp, 31, went shopping for a new backpack, the brands he remembered as a kid were just not the same. He researched the companies, from North Face to JanSport and Eastpak, and soon realized they were all owned by the VF Corporation after a wave of acquisitions in the 2000s.…
Americans are increasingly finding that the quality of many once-beloved consumer goods is declining. Keyana Sapp, a 31-year-old consumer, noticed the decline when he couldn't find the same quality in backpacks from brands like North Face, JanSport, and Eastpak, which are now owned by VF Corporation. This pattern of declining quality has been observed across various industries, from cookware to clothing, according to a 2025 National Consumer Rage Study.
The study found that 75% of Americans experienced quality or service issues, double the rate since the survey began in 1976. Customer complaints have also reached record levels, according to the University of Michigan American Customer Satisfaction Index. Sapp's research led him to create a database of brands, ranking them from "approved" to "avoid" based on corporate ownership.
He argues that large conglomerates and private equity groups are buying out trusted brands, exploiting their reputation until they become a fraction of their former selves. The financial transactions involved in these acquisitions often prioritize profit over product quality, as new corporate owners may not share the same emotional investment as the original founders.
This structural issue within the consumer retail industry has led Sapp to advocate for supporting small, independent companies as a way for consumers to avoid products with compromised quality.
Written by urgent.news from The Guardian US's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
