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“Buy it for life,” or BIFL, is a shopping movement whose doctrine is thus: Make one financial investment in a durable, well-made item upfront, and you won’t have to purchase a replacement down the road, if ever.
BIFL is a more thoughtful and sustainable approach to shopping in our current era of fast fashion, mass production, and rife consumerism. It’s also almost certainly a response to it. Down with cheap particle board couches from Amazon and polyester Shein shirts that disintegrate after one wash, say BIFL apostles.
BIFL isn’t a new concept — the r/buyitforlife subreddit was founded in 2011 — but it’s now more popular than ever. Google Trends data for the phrase “buy it for life” hit an all-time peak in December 2024. r/buyitforlife now counts over three million members, and many of its recommendations have spilled over to TikTok amid the rise of the “underconsumption core” trend.
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