I understand that fast fashion brands aggressively cut costs to mass-produce as much trendy clothing as possible, so I'm not surprised when I see a low quality fast fashion item. However, what is surprising to me is that the clothes actually significantly vary in quality, even within the same brand. So in a fast fashion store you may find a garment made from the worst synthetic blend ever, with messy stitches that'll definitely tear apart after a single wash cycle. And then on the same shelf there'll be a fairly well-made item, from a sturdy natural fabric, with very precise seams and details. And oftentimes, those two garments will be sold at the same price point.

How does this happen? Do the fast fashion brands just randomly decide to spend more money on some of their clothes? Why don't they just make all of their clothes equally low-quality to cut costs, or make them all a bit better to increase satisfaction? How can a single company have such different quality standards for different products?

For me it's:

Pants below the natural waist. What can I say, I grew up during the Britney Spears' Time.

Long socks with shorts. Also, invisible socks, apparently I just hate crew or 1/4 crew socks.

ADDENDUM.
This popped up in my feed I see that no one has defended capri pants, yet...I like how at some point in society, a "cupped" clothed ass was considered so provocative.

I live in the desert, and many months out of the year, it's way too hot to be wearing covered shoes. The problem is, though, when it comes to sandals, my feet sweat A LOT and start sliding around, and they become impossible to walk in comfortably. I need a sandal that is super durable, comfortable, will strap to my feet, and look decent enough to be casual or semi formal, and lastly, they will not have their wearability affected by my sweaty sweaty feet. Anyone got some good suggestions?

I've given a lot of thought to what my tattoo(s) would say. Since they're stuck on me for life, they need to be meaningful.

For sure, I know I want a tattoo that says "timshel" which comes from East of Eden by John Steinbeck. There's a whole beautiful verse in the book about the meaning of timshel, which the author explains translates to "thou mayest" -- or, we can choose our destiny. Caveats: I'm not religious, and I understand that Steinbeck didn't get the translation quite right. But I don't care about that -- it's the verse itself and the meaning behind it that is so powerful to me. I want the "Steinbeck timshel," not the actual Biblical translation.

If there will be a second tattoo in the future, I'm leaning toward "this too shall pass" but I'm not quite as certain on that one.

Since I'm a tattoo virgin, I have all sorts of questions:

• Where's the best place to get a "timshel" tattoo?
• So what do I do, just mock something up in Adobe Illustrator or tell the artist "here's what I want in this font"? Or do they have a bunch of presets?
• How do I find a good tattoo artist?
• At this stage in life, should I rethink this scheme altogether?

EDIT: I want this/these tattoos to serve as reminders for myself, not to show off to other people. Not that I care if other people see them... Not sure if that helps with placement.

For those who don't know: Dark Tough sells high quality and really tough socks that take forever to wear out or develop holes. They're made in the USA and have a no-bullshit lifetime warranty. I bought my first pair over a year ago. It's actually kind of crazy that I put up with shittier, cheap socks for so long. I'm never going back.

And now, the ol' underwear are starting to get some holes in them. The kind of holes that let the breeze tickle your balls.

Unfortunately, while searching online for the Darn Tough equivalent of underwear, I found a lot of counter-recommendations. Someone would recommend a brand (like Duluth), but then someone else would provide a pretty detailed account of why and how that brand's underwear apparently sucks now, or they don't honor their warranty anymore, etc.

So, I thought I would ask for recommendations on Tildes, since I generally trust the judgement and reviews of you all more than other people on the internet.

Every single backpack I've seen that is functional and has at least some basic organizational features (see Bellroy, Peak Design, Alpaka, etc.) is usually pretty ugly and makes you look like a weird tech bro. And every single backpack that looks good is usually made by a fashion company (eg Zara, Pull&Bear or luxury brands like Prada) and don't have any utility features, only a single big pocket and maybe a laptop sleeve if you're lucky.

I have managed to find one backpack that looks awesome and is actually useful - Sympl Day Backpack. However, I'm out of luck here, because it has been discontinued by the company, and their other backpack models also have that "tech nerd" look to them (although they're not as bad as some other options)

Do you, by any chance, know some backpacks that both look fashionable AND have more than two pockets at the same time?

Edit: there's also Topo Design Daypack Classic which looks good in the black and white variant, but it does lack some useful stuff like laptop sleeve padding

Edit 2: I managed to find another awesome looking backpack! The ISM Bag. I might actually get this one, although $300 is somewhat expensive