It's never been the case that more expensive products are better, despite better products being more expensive.

Quality isn't the only reason something may be expensive, and costly signaling will always dominate, whether or not the products are of high quality.

Silver isn't a better material for making jewelry than stainless steel; if anything, it's worse. Jewelry's purpose is to show that the owner doesn't care about costs, but it's not the only way. Buying needlessly expensive technology works too, like cars and computers and phones, and the more expensive ones are not known for lasting long, and they are used for much shorter period of time than a cheap version of the same, despite the cheap one being hardier and longer lasting.

Given its lower melt point and ductility, silver is actually much much better to make jewelry with than stainless steel. Especially if you are also trying to include gold in your piece!