It’s all relative to your income so it’s no surprise that top tier outdoor aspirational clothing commands top tier pricing, you could make the same example with our expenditure on mtb’s and associated bike clothing – the other day when it was well below freezing and wet heading to work i was wearing berghaus goretex overtrousers (£90ish) Northwave arctic boots (£160ish) , Castelli sorpasso bib tights (£140ish), merino socks (£15ish), Waterproof Down filled mitts -“i have reynauds 😉 ” (£80ish), icebreaker merino top (£130ish) merino base layer (£40ish) and my 8 year old but trusty/never let me down Patagonia stretch element jacket (£350ish when new) – add all that up and it comes to a figure that is more than my monthly take home wage …that’s before you add in the couple of £4k bikes etc…….if i had the income to splurge money on such a jacket for a sport that meant so much to me i prob would, sometimes the snobbery on here fails to take into account the vast majority of the population would laugh and snigger at the amount we spend on bikes.
The above explains why at the age of 42 i still live in council accommodation and whilst i do have an espresso machine/coffee bean grinder/wood burning stove/30 yr old concurs Golf GTI 16v classic car/ take 6 month + holidays/apple everything/cdj2000’s/djm900 etc…etc……. i have nae so called aspiration to get with the program and buckle down/mortgage myself to the hilt so i cannot see the point of decorating/spending money on laying carpets/flooring as i drag my bikes through the house all the time so what’s the point – my money buys me things i want for a specific purpose rather than to impress others. Dunno where this spiel is going so i’ll buggeroff and finish the 1997 bottle of pinot noir that i accidentally opened earlier – there goes my bro’s xmas present but i had to taste it to check it was suitable….Hic!…..yeah 😀 …..very very nice indeed so i’d better get another bottle.
As an aside i have a mate in his late 30’s who rallies, he still lives at home despite earning almost £70k/year as he spends so much on what he loves doing – i bet he’s had more fun out of his life than pretty much all of us on here.