In reply to AlanLittle:
I do the same... my Inov8s are now pretty shredded and no longer waterproof but I guess I'll just buy another pair.
This whole topic is really interesting (not moaning about how everything is rubbish, but the economics and psychology of price vs quality). My perception of the cost of something is obviously based on the exact monetary cost, but also on the relative cost of things I perceive to be similar. My perception of value is based on all kinds of things, but largely on incomplete an unreliable information.
For example, I want to buy an electric mixer. Tesco Value is a £20, Tesco standard is £50 and there are some branded makes for £80 and £150.
Instantly, that's established in my mind that electric mixers are worth £20-£120. Even if an electric mixer would save me thousands of pounds in some way (through saved time, or whatever) I am now loathe to pay much over £100 as that feels expensive. (If I got a 'proper' engineering company to designed and mass-manufacture a genuinely fit for purpose mixer you can be damn sure the unit price would be far higher)
When it comes to choosing which one to buy, what is my main indicator or the quality of each product... well, to some extent the price so that doesn't help. But if I buy the expensive one and it breaks after a month I'll feel like a complete mug, whereas the cheap one I can just replace and feel okay about it... therefore take a punt of the cheap one (or maybe the second cheapest one just in case the cheapest on is 'cheap rubbish')
Nowhere in this process have I actually assessed the absolute quality of the product vs its price, I've just chosen the cheapest thing which is ostensibly a mixer. Indeed, I have no way to assess the quality objectively even if I wanted to. When someone finds a way to make one cheaper (and probably worse), but still fulfilling the basic criteria to be called a mixer, the price will go down further. Hence we have race to the bottom.