>>... now they’re €40 and the quality is down. I’d be lucky if I get a season’s worth of wear out of them.
Buying quality is actually cheaper if you plan to use it for a number of years. For instance, I found a deal on high quality sweaters (you'd call them jumpers) made of Merino wool (tags say 'Handmade LTD'). I bought one, realized how good it was the first day I wore it, went back, bought 3 more. I forget exactly how much I paid as this was in 90 or 91, but USD 100 or so. Here's the thing: I am still wearing them. One's about worn out; I wear it for yard work. One's starting to fray at the cuffs. The third looks new and the fourth is still in a cedar chest (duplicate color) . I live in New England. It gets cold in the winter. These have gotten a lot of wear.
OK, so that works out to about $13 / year to have good merino sweaters - and only one is not fit for business wear. My wife rolled her eyes when I bought the 3 additional ones, went on about male buying pattern, but if you're a guy, know what you like, why not?
All that said, those factories were there as super cheap ocean bulk shipping was a thing. Without getting into the geopolitics, it still is, but that's changing - looks like it's going to be one of those 'gradually, then suddenly' things as the US Navy gets out of the business of protecting everyone's shipping (’44 Bretton Woods Accords / ‘globalism’), which is going to cause insurance rates to spike. Personally, I'm concerned for the people working in those shops.