Your post put me in the mind of tailoring tools or gear that was better "then" than now.  What stuff would you say was better made in yesteryear, and what stuff has been superceeded by the march of technology?  I'm assuming that something like a shirt knife can be better made today than it was yesterday, though the costs of such a thing would probably be exorbitant.  (setting up ooling for a little used (or at least sold) item, etc.)