The Enshittification of products and goods causes befuddlement in the consumer. What the buyer has relied on time and time again fails them, seemingly at random. They blame themselves for the issues caused by the product, not knowing their once close friend has become a stranger. It was like that for me when Gutermann threads enshittified their product. I didn’t notice because my faith in the brand outweighed my common sense, but my domestic sewing machine wasn’t fooled. It began to skip stitches and the thread was constantly breaking. Despite rethreading, cleaning the machine, adjusting the tension, replacing the needle and and even attempting to get it serviced. I was convinced something was wrong with my machine. I just hadn’t realised that the problem might lie elsewhere.

I went to Sewing Machine City in Bayswater and I asked if they could service my machine for me, they fortunately or unfortunately were unable to do this because of their massive backlog. Instead, I explained my issues and immediately told me it was my thread that was the main problem not the machine. According to the staff, Gutermann thread was originally high quality, but a change in manufacturers had led to a decline in its calibre. Knots, slubs, and breakage became common problem. In other words, the very essence of enshittification: a product that consumers once trusted becoming increasingly unreliable.

They recommended Rasant Thread, a German-made polyester and cotton thread, that can be used in a majority of sewing projects. It’s a little more expensive but the prospect of better quality and greater reliability made the extra cost worthwhile. It’s just so disappointing to find yourself slowly falling down the enshittification rabbit hole, and the saddest part is that you don’t even know how far you’ve already fallen.

Brands rarely announce these changes in a way that makes their consequences clear to consumers. Instead, products change, quality slips, and customers are left wondering what they’re doing wrong. We waste time troubleshooting our machines, replacing perfectly good parts, and questioning our own abilities, all because the product we trusted no longer performs as expected.

And for what? The bottom line.

That’s what makes enshittification so insidious. It’s not just that we end up paying for an inferior product. We also pay in wasted time, frustration, and the erosion of trust. Sometimes, we don’t even realise we’ve been shortchanged until someone else points it out.