My tiny contribution here is to look things aimed at commercial use, not consumer grade. For example, next time you need to buy a can opener, buy it from a restaurant supply shop instead of Amazon or Walmart.

To a large extent I tend to think the same way I was taught with cars, simple is sturdy. Skip the fancy features and WiFi widgets and you’ll replace things a lot less often. It’s not always practical, but I’m willing to bet my cast iron cookware is going to be in roughly the same shape far longer than some stamped sheet metal with anti stick coating and a glass lid.

I am suspicious that a lot of what is claimed as ‘BIFL’ has been enshittified

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.

I think it depends on exactly what item you’re looking for. Plenty of vintage coats out there, I just bought two 40+ yo military wool coats this season since my old jacket is wearing out and isn’t that stylish. There’s probably local jeans manufacturers that also recycle fabric, like Jeansverket in Sweden. Rose Anvil on YouTube is a good source for finding boots that will last decades.

There is definitely enshittification out there, but it’s not impossible to find BIFL out there.

Throwing in a little odd advice for the secondhand scene - even if the shops are bad, I’ve had some good luck with estate sales and cleanouts (where a family or realtor basically opens the home to anyone who’ll cary stuff away and save them the trouble and cost of throwing it out). It can feel kinda bad, picking through stuff in that context, but we’ve saved a bunch of nice old tools and kitchen stuff that way, and the houses generally have everything else you might need for a house. Personally I think the best BIFL stuff is old and made before they really perfected enshitifying their products.

The cleanouts I’ve been to we found through postings on our local free groups (which I also really recommend) or word of mouth, but I used to know some folks who went to them professionally, looking for merchandise for their own businesses, so they must be advertised somewhere normal people would find them too.

i think one thing to keep in mind with BIFL is that it’s gonna be painfully expensive, and we tend to have a skewed perspective since a lot of what people buy these days is second hand and thus nowhere near the original sale value.

Like has been said for new BIFL stuff you want to look for business/industrial stuff, or handmade things from passionate people, which is not cheap.

I think it’s pretty unrealistic to expect most of your things to be BIFL unless you can get second hand/inherited things, i’d say think about what things are most important to you and try to invest your money into those few things and find ways to make everything else as minimal and sustainable (and cheap) as possible.
For example people in the medieval era and before generally just wore simple leather turnshoes in the warm seasons, which were fully expected to wear out and they’d need to slap together a new pair every now and then. But that’s fine because literally all you need to make them is some crummy leather scraps!

Military and police gear tends to be local, high quality and available as second hand. If you can tailor and it somewhat suits your style then it is a good option.

If you are able to tailor, try to find a group. They will have local knowledge and know where to find quality cloth and other products.

American Giant (i think) grows and mills their cotton in America and the garments are made in the US as well. Last I checked. I don’t wanna say it’s BIFL, but I have an American giant hoodie I bought probably 9 years ago that I still pull out every fall and wear until spring. It’s got holes in the elbow patches, but the elbows are double or triple layered, so it’s still warm.

good advice for finding sustainable, local textile production

There largely isn’t any of this. There’s really very, very little in the way of locally-sourced textiles, and what there is is going to be art rather than functional. I don’t know where you live, but in the US, there are only a handful of mills that remain, and you’d need to be placing a mill order (e.g., hundreds or thousands of yards of fabric) in order to do business with them. OTOH, there are often local tailors that will be able to order high-quality textiles to make bespoke garments for you. The downside is that this is REALLY expensive. For instance, I’m a bit slow at patternmaking, and not the best at fitting, and if I charged only $25/hr, you’d be looking at around $100 for the initial sloper, and probably another $150 to tune the fit. From there, patterning for a specific garment can take a day or more, depending on what you want, and that’s not including cost of materials and sewing time. For a bespoke suit, you’re starting at about $5000 from an experienced tailor.

That aside, there are certainly a large number of things that are buy once, cry once. Take kitchen knives; if you buy a Yoshimi Kato nakiri, a good set of Shapton glass stones (…which, TBF, will probably cost well over $1000), and take care of it, it will easily last your entire life. If you buy furniture from highly skilled carpenters, you’ll likely be buying something that will last over a century as long as it’s not abused; my grandfather made Craftsman-style furniture and cabinetry in the 20s-30s, and I know for certain that a number of his pieces are still around and in use. But buying the kind of quality and craftsmanship that will allow certain products to last for a lifetime is NOT cheap. While expensive doesn’t always mean quality, high-quality is almost never inexpensive.

I use Goodonyou.eco to check out fashion and beauty brand’s ethical standards. It’s not perfect but it gives a pretty good ‘quick view’ of whether they’re dog shit or not.

In terms of BIFL, other than my Sunbeam Coffee filter machine, we’ve taken to buying second hand or locally made furniture.

Like others have said it depends what you are looking for, but durable goods still exist. I’m generally on the look for tech but digital tech isn’t really going to be BIFL no matter what and no one really makes analog or mechanical tech anymore. Asking around in this community and others like it for suggestions for specific things that you are looking for may be your best bet. Additionally, some folks like myself will occasionally write up a review on something that they have bough new that has the makings of being durable.

Basically what I look for is how “stout” does the thing feel (does it feel like it might fall apart just looking at it?), will it fail gracefully (will it remain somewhat functional even if parts of it have failed), how difficult will it be to repair (in the case of tech how is it sealed and are parts available), and what is the reputation of the company in question (do they make trash or do their things last a while). Edit: Another thing I look for is, is the thing overly complicated in design. The simpler it is made the more likely it is to survive the kind of abuse I am likely to put it through.

As for locally made, I wouldn’t worry about that overly much. Just because something was “Artisanally crafted” does not mean that it was necessarily well made.

You mentioned clothing specifically so I’ll put in a good word for Carhartt’s work wear. Most of their stuff that I’ve owned has been destroyed through actual abusive use and not shoddy workmanship. I can also vouch for Saddleback Leather, at least as of about 10 years ago. The bags I’ve bought from them are still going strong despite borderline abusive treatment by me. Not sure of their current reputation though and their owner is a bit “odd”. Military surplus also tends to be well made, assuming it is actual surplus. I’ve seen multiple examples here in the US where cheap Chinese copies have been put on the shelves and called surplus, particularly with uniforms and bags.

For tools, I’m fond of Husky and Kobalt hand tools and Ryobi power and yard tools, though in truth I haven’t had to buy new tools in 10-ish years, Though I did just have a Ryobi leaf blower die on me after 6 years service. Still debating with myself whether to replace it with another Ryobi blower or begin transitioning to Ego. Which is another tool company I hear very good things about.

apologies for the doomer title, I’m just truly out of my depth and hoped it would bring more eyes over :)

I was told the rotring 600 was bifl. Nah I put it through the ringer and it didn’t last a year. The metal pusher thing just flew off because it’s poorly designed.