If you're not going to do that, then realize that buying a $100 pair of Florsheims every two years is actually a pretty good deal compared to what we used to do back in "the good 'ol days".
You're not wrong. The cost of cheap mass-produced clothing, relative to consumer income in most industrialized countries, puts such clothes in the range of being effectively disposable to the middle class. A t-shirt can be had for under $10, less than the cost of a decent meal in a restaurant. A cheap pair of shoes for $30. Such abundance would have been unthinkable even a century ago. Of course there are ecological implications to our disposable attitude to clothing.
Spend $1000 on something Italian.
If you're not going to do that, then realize that buying a $100 pair of Florsheims every two years is actually a pretty good deal compared to what we used to do back in "the good 'ol days".