I have lived for decades in an very rainy country and almost never use an umbrella.

Umbrellas often get left behind in bars and are available for cheap second hand, sometimes even free. I have one, that I almost never use but I had it for 5+ years and it was many years old before that and it looks like a really cheap model and its still usable.

So sorry, I don't buy a social theory based on higher quality umbrellas being not affordable. Specially for an item that isn't actually required. A cheap umbrella can still last years.

If you could built a real social theory based on this concept, then it should be easy to list lots of things that are really high impact, not umbrellas that are a vanishingly small portion of spending.

^ this is a perfect example of how smart people are typically more prone to rationalization than others.

We could paraphrase the above as "the cheap version will last as long as the expensive version if you just don't use the cheap version!".

While technically true, it's also not useful.