Hi there, I came here to the BIFL Lemmy out of suspicion that the reddit posts are just unlabelled marketing, and I was wondering the possibility of sourcing goods that are more to a BIFL standard? In my area, second hand goods tend to be really quite poor in quality (reselling fast fashion) or otherwise not present, and I have not inherited anything that does last. So I would apprecite advice or reccomendations for finding goods at a BIFL standard. I was also wondering if maybe there would be anyone with good advice for finding sustainable, local textile production so that I may be able to tailor what I need without having to buy from the poor selection aforementioned, does anyone know of any of this?
TL:DR I am suspicious that a lot of what is claimed as ‘BIFL’ has been enshittified, and would like advice on being able to search for sustainable goods for a local area (not specified because I’m hoping for advice with searching, not exactly for specific reccs)
Sadly, I’m sure this happens a lot in the name of “marketing”.
There are a few things that I look at to help ensure the best chance of getting something that’s BIFL:
Does the company or product have a good track record? I’d trust my Leatherman to be BIFL over whatever no-name clone you see on Aliexpress.
Does the company offer a lifetime warranty (or one that’s 20+ years)? If so, has the company been around for decades?
Is the item repairable and easy to maintain? Even if something isn’t marketed as BIFL, you can likely extend the product’s life by decades through simple maintenance and care.
Does the item have any built-in planned obsolescence features? Proprietary built-in battery? Components that are glued in place? Sealed shut so you can’t open it without destroying the item? etc…
Is the product simple or complex? The more complex, the more likely it will fail, but this isn’t always the case if you are able to maintain/repair components.
Textiles can be tricky, but not impossible to keep going for decades if the quality is good enough.
Sadly, I do think that many companies aren’t interested in making BIFL products because PROFITS!!! I think the market for BIFL will be more with custom fabricators and small businesses.
Sadly, I do think that many companies aren’t interested in making BIFL products because PROFITS!!! I think the market for BIFL will be more with custom fabricators and small businesses.>I think it just has more to do with how much it costs to make a products that is BIFL vs features. Some features are nice to have but just can’t be made in a way that is BIFL. Think of super-soft and comfortable jeans. They wear much more quickly than the cardboard style fabric. Truly non-stick pans simply wear out.
For sure. Some things really can’t be made to last forever due to their function.
But every attempt should be made to make things easy to repair, or recycle when it’s at the end of its lifecycle.
Baking in planned obsolescence is what we tend to see these days, and that’s a decision by the company to do that for nothing more than profits.
I wish governments would force manufacturers to make products that last longer than they currently do. Even if they frame it as an environmental initiative.
For instance, non-removable batteries should be so rare that it would be hard to find a product made with one.
One thing I would watch out for is “has the company been purchased by another company?”. If the answer is yes, then the product has almost certainly gone to shit and you should definitely not rely on older reviews, etc.
That’s an unfortunate reality. Yes, for sure, be cautious of that!
jansport backpacks. but when i sent them a backpack i’d been using since the 90s that started coming apart, they replaced it with the shittiest cheapo version they have
so unless the product only has one version of a thing, don’t be surprised when they replace your $80 thing with the $20 version
That sucks!
I support a company out of Quebec that makes bike panniers. They ended up sending me free replacement parts to fix a SECOND HAND bag I purchased locally.
Some companies have certainly enshittified their warranty, but hopefully that’s not too common.
Two Wheel Cycle Gear? If so, I absolutely love them. I have a one of the convertible pannier backpacks, and absolutely love it.
I’ve got a few of their handlebar bags, but I was referring to Arkel. Their cam lock latch is bomb-proof!
For convertible pannier backpacks, I picked up two Arkel Bug packpacks off Kijiji. But I’ll admit that the Two Wheel backpack looks better.
Cool, thanks for sharing those. The cam lock looks solid. The klick-fix system that two wheel uses is solid, however it’s popped off once
Klick-flix is a good ecosystem, but not easy to find in Canada. I have a Tern folding bike that uses a klick-fix front mounting block and I can seap from front basket to rack to bag if a wanted, because they all interface with the same mount!
Other than the Arkel bags, my only other experience with rack mounting systems is with cheap ortlieb knockoffs 😂