I can't think of any retailer I trust automatically to only stock good stuff in general. In the UK perhaps John Lewis and Marks and Spencer would have a higher proportion of good quality items.

For specific stuff there are still places like Richer Sounds, I put more trust in them to give me both a quality product and good advice as to what I need, we were downsold a TV from them about 12 years ago which I was very impressed by.

Other than that it's all local retailers, I trust my timber merchants judgement on wood, there's a great little DIY store in town, and a couple of bike parts suppliers on eBay who I know will always come up good.

You'll have to work out the details with some makers, but you could get yourself some clogs made. You'd be going well to wear through a pair of wooden soles I should think. I get mine (only 6'6", 170lb, UK size 14) from Walkley Clogs in West Yorkshire, UK (they export). They are surprisingly reasonable.

Ask an expert. I got talking to a tailor in a beer tent which is how I stumbled into moleskins.

Welding and grinding are going to put a lot of strain on any material, I wear overclothes when I am metal working these days for that reason.

Arse pockets failing isn't something I have had with denim, but I've holed some chinos that way, for work clothes (actually for general wear to be honest) you can often darn holes like that pretty invisibily.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Sorry, I gave up on denim as I found it too susceptible to thorns and I grew tired of darning, although it is a very forgiving fabric to repair.

You'll be looking for a higher weight fabric and a high number of stitches per inch, but I don't know what numbers those should be.

If your wearing through in particular areas because your body shape isn't what jeans are designed around (I cycle so really struggle with thigh fit) you might benefit from buying a size up and getting them tailored to your actual shape.

I've been lead to believe that denim is particularly sensitive about how it's washed so you might want to look at that aspect too.

There are objective measures, but your requirements are different to my requirements and so you'll need to build on your experience to know what these are.

It's not quite guessing to take a known good item (I use my Rapanui t-shirts as a yardstick) and compare that to unknown goods to make a suitably assessment.

I wear moleskin trousers because I find them very hard wearing and their water resistant and tight weave qualities are good for cycling. An objective measure I use is to buy 250gsm or above fabric, it makes for heavy trousers but it suits my needs. If I were somewhere hot that measure would be useless because they would be too insulative to be fit for purpose, I'd be looking at lighter weight fabrics and need to find my own metrics.

Some manufacturers list these details (thread count or weight per area), some will answer if asked, but for most it's a case of making a personal comparative assessment based on known good items, or knowing specific tell tales for certain items.

Top comment over there pretty much nails it. Putting my quality management auditor hat on, quality does not mean high end, it means fitness for purpose and meeting customer expectations, take designer dresses for example - some require the wearer to be sewn in, their expected service life may be just one evening, but they are undeniably high quality- they meet the wearer's needs and expectations exactly.

If your definition of low quality clothing is clothing which falls apart after a few uses, then by definition higher quality clothing lasts longer or wears better.

You don't have to pay through the nose for clothing which lasts, and you should never trust a brand or price point as evidence that an item will last. Things like higher thread counts, stronger stitching, higher quality zips, appropriate warp and weft of fabrics for their application will make for longer lasting clothing.

They are absolutely fantastic boots, I've not got safety clogs but I've a pair of normal derby boot clogs going on 4 years old now, still basically mint condition (with a bit of looking after).

The clog sole takes a bit of getting used to apparently - I didn't particularly notice but I went from 7 years of no shoes straight into clogs and they felt the most natural thing in the world to me.

I'm guessing the low relative price is because unlike conventional shoes there's no challenging sole stitching as the uppers are nailed to the soles.

Safety clogs, can't tear around a flex point if there are no flex points! I don't know any welders who use these, but I know a couple of forge workers who rate them highly.

We've a 30 year-old Le Creuset and it's going well, some damage to the coating over the years but it's still useable.

My mum also has a 15 year old one which is great, but then she also has some Aldi ones of about the same age which are in just as good condition - and she uses them more because they're smaller - the only issue with them was the knobs which cost about £3 to replace.

They're one and the same. You can buy both Braun and OralB toothbrushes, the Braun ones tend to be in "manly" colours and the OralB ones in "girly" colours, but that aside they are identical.

Walkley Clogs do a few options, they are a little but over €150 (but in that ballpark), they do several style of paraboots, from reconditioned ex-army, resoled new army, and new high leg style. The rubber soling option (it's a walking boot sole glued and nailed to the wood) which I have) lasts around 1800km between replacements (depending on your gait and the surfaces you're walking over). The wooden soles are basically indestructable, the leather uppers will last for as long as you look after them, being clogs there's no bending in the sole so you won't get pinch holes in the uppers as you would with rubber soled shoes and boots.

They do exports, but I don't know at what cost, it could push it well over budget.

In which case we have a Bosch TWK4P439GB (which is currently reduced to £29 at Euronics) which has served us very well so far, Mum's previous Bosch lasted until someone left a pan on the on switch causing it to boil dry and then fuse.

It's well built although not user serviceable, the contact on the base is more robust than the likes of Russell Hobbs which we've had (and had problems with) previously.

If you have an induction hob a stovetop kettle is pretty much your best option, same cost to boil but literally nothing to go wrong with it (except the whistle I suppose).

Where do you live? Kettles are one of the big things which differ between the 230v 50hz world and the 120v 60hz world.

Check the availability of the cd mechanism parts (particularly the laser) and if they are still available NOS buy one now if you intend to keep it going. I bought (possibly) the last NOS laser for my 1988 Panasonic boombox from a seller in Romania, experience tells me I'll get another 15 years before I have to start component level replacements.

My Teasmade does that, but also has a pot of tea ready when it does. Best £5 I've ever spent!

I'm afraid I can't recommend any specific model, I looked at the heat pump dryer model TR718L4B, which would be just about in your budget, but was outbid so have no actual experience of it.

Speaking from an EU/UK perspective, I've been really impressed with the AEG goods I've been buying recently, fantastic spares availability (I've been buying shipping damaged items) and good construction practices.

Our LG Direct Drive washing machine is now 7 years old and showing no signs of giving up, we currently run it 5 nights a week as our daughter is in cloth nappies. The only thing wrong with it from a design perspective is the use of spring washers as anti vibration fixings - an easy fix when they went wrong but an own goal from their design department!

Bosch also very good, probably my favourite appliances to work on (just slightly behind AEG because spares availability to the consumer is sometimes limited) - easy access, good spares (mostly), good design.

Absolutely avoid Hotpoint (and anything Whirlpool group), absolutely the worst for reliability and repair, spares availability poor, sharp edges all over the place.

You'd do well asking for advice on r/DIYUK, a similar question was posed earlier this week.

I personally have found Erbauer's range of battery tools (Screwfix own brand) to be well made - I've not had to disassemble any yet to look inside but they've withstood a lot of abuse at my hand! They don't do a light drill driver type thing, only 18v an multidrill. For space saving you'll want to buy one tool in box with battery and charger, and then expand buying bare tools (and perhaps the occasional additional battery). The chargers are wall mountable (mine is inside the cupboard under the sink) which saves counter space.

Equally Aldi's Ferrex branded tools have stood up to similar abuse at the hands of my sister - they had a 9 month period of terrible battery availability (and online reviews tend to reflect that strongly), availability of specific tools is semi-seasonal but they've been online throughout the last year (possibly because of the lack of batteries meaning nobody was buying them).

Yes, not sure why my link failed there but we move. Another thing to consider is that you might get better mileage by having two pairs and alternating, allowing them to properly dry between uses.

The clogs are genuinely brilliant, +10 for endurance, but a definite -20 for stealth.

Personal experience of similar use, M&S (T034100S) have lasted me about three years so far (weekends and winter evenings only). I have had to restitch one of the soles after some fire happened and I had to use them for light firefighting.

Alternatively, the hardcore option would be some clogs, can't speak for their sheepskin ones, but my general purpose clogs are still basically mint after three and a half years. If you do go for this option I would recommend going to the clog shop, or following their instructions for getting a good fit.

Here I go again, the mad clog guy! Walkley Clogs (W. Yorkshire, UK) hand make BIFL footwear with a wooden sole, mine are new (veg tanned) leather as I made the judgement call that it was preferable to buy something leather that would last 20 years, than petrochemical based which might last 5. After 3 and a half years of daily use still look basically new. If you want to further reduce plastics you could also opt for clog irons, but these are -5 grip, -20 stealth!

They do now do vegan leather (I've not seen / touched / handled it so won't comment on the quality or suitability) - although their website doesn't list it as an option for boots they might if you drop them an email or facebook message, and they also resole ex-army boots (UK size 6 and up) onto a clog sole, and have in the past resoled customer provided boots too.

Vegan leathers I've seen don't wear as well as real leathers yet, from the docs I've seen they are really susceptible to pinch failures where the sole bends (new leather docs also suffer this) - obviously the advantage a clog sole has is that there is no flex at all which removes this failure mode entirely.

An actual slip on clog, wooden sole and leather upper? Walkley Clogs of Mytholmroyd are my go to clog makers in the UK, but I'm guessing that's not where you are.