Desire for Brand Name

I was recently reading a story about the lengths that one girl went to get brand name goods - clothing, purse, shoes, etc. While the story was fictional it was based on real people. She at first did paid dating which escalated to selling her self for money and it nearly became worse before someone stopped her. Personally I don't understand the desire for name brand goods. Why pay $200 for a pair of Nike's when you can get a generic brand that is of higher quality for a much lower price? I was never interested in brand names. Quality matters - for instance I don't want polyester I want %100 cotton. Where it comes from matters - I don't want things made in sweat shops. How it looks matters - I don't want something that looks ugly. Comfort matters - If I'm going to wear the stuff for awhile I want it to be comfortable. Price matters - I rather or have to spend my money on other things. Brand name never mattered to me and I don't really know why it does to people or why some people are willing to go to massive lengths to get it. Quite often the name brand item is made by the same people, even same factory as the non-name brand items.