I had a very similar experience with Adidas shoes. For a long time (~15 years maybe) I was pretty much exclusively buying Adidas shell-toes for my daily footwear. They were the most comfortable well fitting shoes and fit my wide feet well. It was nice not having to spend much time looking or trying on shoes - every 2 or even 3 years when they wore out I'd buy a new pair and they fit just like the last one.

The last pair I bought fell apart in 3 months, the ball of my foot eating through the interior material in that short span. I kept wondering "what changed" and then I looked at the label in the tongue. Different country of manufacture than the last 2 pairs I bought (I'd usually keep my old pair as a backup since they typically still had some life left in them, despite the sole wearing down)