This is a silly argument in response to someone talking about $300 basketball sneakers. You aren't paying for "quality" at that point, you're paying for branding. The obvious alternative isn't shoes from Goodwill.
that's false. $300 shoes, which I didn't feature, incidentally, are indeed generally manufactured with better materials, higher standards of production, etc.
There's a status associated with various brands that drives up the price but those likely to be 100-130 dollar shoes I posted have pretty decent construction and pattern for that price range.
Conspicuous consumption is another thing altogether and in this case it's inaccurate to claim it