The problem with 'letting the customer decide', is that SL doesn't have enough competition between a variety of different creators. If you need one particular thing, it's not unlikely at all that you can only find one thing like that in all of SL. That doesn't leave the consumers with much power...
Not saying there is much else you can do about it, other than trying to choose when you can, and to remind creators that no one else likes it. Like, if they care about the people who buy their clothes, they should listen to them and whatever suggestions and criticism they may offer. Not everyone may even realize just how much no-mod permissions suck, so we might as well keep repeating this again and again, and hope some people out there will listen.