Built to last

I have today bought yet another pair of school shoes for my daughter, I've lost count how many pairs I've bought since last September. It did strike me that things are not made they way they were, or at least they don't seem to be - "not built for purpose" someone told me recently. When I was in school shoes would last a school year or at least until you outgrew them, and if they needed repairing in the meantime you would take them to be repaired. Are things made of poorer quality or are we just in the habit of replacing things rather than have them fixed?