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The other day on the train there was a guy wearing
KT26 runners. Oh, the memories! Once when we were kids our grandfather treated us to a new pair of 'branded' sneakers for our birthdays. We could choose any sneakers wanted and we were so excited!
My sister chose KT26's and I spurred on by my new favourite movie
BMX Bandits, I chose some sort of shoes that had a BMX bike embroidered on them that I can't find a link to (oddly enough). Oh my god, we were in heaven in our expensive, trendy shoes.
So, this was in 1983 and Nike et al were unheard of in Australia. I think Reebok made an entrance into the tennis world the year after (I think - I'm not going to fact check that, I'm not a newspaper sub). All those expensive $100+/ $200+/ forgodsake$300+ shoes hadn't been invented yet and who knows who could have afforded them anyway? KT26s and BMX shoes - it makes me smile. Our idea of what constitued an expensive pair of shoes are now so far down on the luxury ladder it makes those longed for 'brands' seem like a sweet joke. Our family wasn't poorly off by any stretch of the imagination, but 'big brands' just weren't the kinds of things purchased by average Australians back in the eighties.
What happened to that?
Rampant marketing happened, that's what. It started with the sneakers and then... kapow! The rise and rise of The Brand. You had to buy... stuff in order to be... something. Branded clothing, leather couches, pools, two bathroom houses and carat diamonds - these were all things that were only for the very rich when I was growing up. At least, that was my perception as a child. And instead of all of us lacing up our Dunlop sneakers and running as fast as we possibly could away from the snarling dog of consumerism we embraced it like a longed-for puppy.
These days, what were once considered luxury items are pretty much considered 'needs' by everyone and charged to an awful lot of credit cards. I'm not talking personally (some of these things I have, some I don't) and I realise that not everyone gets caught up in this untethered consumerism or has the money to even consider it. But
so many of us do. It is my perception that
as a society we are definitely flashing a lot more cash around than we have previously ever been able to do.
Add to that all the things we've invented in the past twenty years or so that cost A LOT of money - the smartphones, broadband internet, flatscreen televisions, gaming devices, apps galore - and I just don't get how we're all affording everything.
How are we affording everything?
There are
so many stores selling
so much stuff. Fashion changes every other week rather than every other season. We even have special clothes that are 'must haves' for Autumn and Spring. I don't remember that as a child. You put a Winter cardi over your Summer dress in Autumn and you stopped wearing your singlet under your Winter outfit in Spring. How are people managing to 'stay on trend' four times a year?
And don't get me started on the new Australian Dream of a quarter acre house on a quarter acre block. Oh, go on then, do. So many of the features that are 'must-haves' today were considered inaccessible luxuries just twenty years ago. Two or more bathrooms, media rooms, walk-in wardrobes, spare bedrooms, studies, family rooms, outdoor rooms... dear god, who can afford all this stuff?
Did incomes increase at some stage? Did everyone get promoted? Did we all win the lottery?
I'm naive in all areas of finance, but something definitely doesn't add up to me (even with my calculator).
When did our society get to be so rich? And how do we avoid buying all this stuff?
