Definitely not the only company to suffer from this, but most charging cables from other companies are sleeved with plastic - which seems more durable but will wear out too. Usually they don't feel or look as good, compared to a new Apple cable. Which is, I assume, the reason they keep doing this, to look great at the store.

Problem is, like you say, it can wear away relatively easily, depending on conditions. And they don't look anywhere near as good once dust starts building up.

Now, you can fix this (and any other cable for that matter) with some paracord and optionally some plastic sleeving (techflex or similar) and heat shrink. That's better than throwing away cables. You can also do this for aesthetics with perfectly good cables. Bunch of youtube videos on how to do this (keep in mind, most are sponsored or made by the very companies selling these).

The thing I don't understand is - colorful paracord makes the cables look great. They come in different colors, which would make a lot of sense for Apple. Protected by good plastic, they are pretty much indestructible. At scale, they obviously have access to even better materials with they could use to make their cables look unique.