4 ways sustainable brands are reacting to Black Friday
Black Friday is the opposite of sustainability. Are ethically conscious brands participating?
Black Friday, famous for its huge discounts, has been widely criticized by environmental organisations as a symbol of overconsumption. As the world becomes more and more concerned with sustainability, fashion is no exception. Even mass market fashion brands are trying to stay in line and create special eco collections, committing themselves to using organic and recycled materials.
Nevertheless Black Friday is not getting any less popular — the Adobe Analytics shows that shoppers in USA have already spent a record $7.4 billion on Black Friday 2019 — 19.6% more than in 2018, while clothing and shoes being best selling product categories.
But the consumerism of Black Friday inherently goes against the values of sustainable fashion brands. As part of the sustainable fashion search engine team at GLAMI.eco I looked into the ways these brands are tackling it.
1. Ignoring it
Probably the most straightforward solution for sustainable/ethical brands is not to participate in Black Friday at all. That’s what Veja, the most successful sustainable sneakers brand did — you won’t find any mentions about Black Friday or discounts during this day on their social networks, as well as on pages of Citizens of Humanity, Sandqvist or Nudie Jeans.
But the majority of brands boycotting Black Friday are not that silent — they also want to inspire others to not participate in this event. 300 French brands got united under “‘Make Friday Green Again” action group, which was started by Nicolas Rohr, one of the co-founders of eco-friendly clothing company Faguo. German brand JAN ’N JUNE also notified the audience about such decision.
2. Closing the shop / using Black Friday for alternative event
Would you prefer something more radical? Close your shop. COPE, shop based in Czech Republic, completely turned off their e-shop on Black Friday. Other brands initiated recycling events to encourage people to analyze their closets and decide what they can repair or give away. For example, Spanish brand ECOALF launched Recycling Black Friday, while U.K. based Raeburn created the “Buy Nothing, Repair Something” campaign, closing the store but opening the doors of their sewing lab and offering free repairs for items of any brand.⠀
3. Giving up the money for charity
Probably the most popular Black Friday strategy for sustainable brands so far is donating part of the revenue to non-profit organizations. American apparel brand Everlane, famous for their transparent production, raised 300,000$ to help Oceana, organization helping to clean the oceans, by giving up 10$ per order. Mud Jeans helped another project connected to oceans — Sea Shepherd. ARMEDANGELS gave 10€ per every order to “Friday for Future”, which is organizing school strikes for the climate, while Free People offered a 20% discount off their activewear collection with 100% of their proceeds going to Girls.Inc.
Outdoor brand Patagonia, one of the most famous and powerful advocates of sustainability in apparel production, also remained open to shoppers, using Black Friday to encourage shoppers instead of buying sometimes unnecessary Christmas gifts to donate to environmental groups that Patagonia supports through the Patagonia Action Works.
4. Growing plants in exchange
Giving the Earth something in return? TENTREE promised to plant 10 trees for each item purchased, which resulted in 710 220 trees. Organic Basics offered -30% on everything with the promise of planting 50 square meters of wildflowers for every order placed — helping to restore habitat for the declining amount of bees, fundamental to our ecosystem. 130 000 square meters — this is the result achieved!
“Buy less. Choose well. Make it last.” — Vivienne Westwood
Black Friday is inherently linked with overconsumption, but for many businesses it’s still an important day. Sustainable brands also need to be profitable, and in order to be so, their items need to be sold. The truth is that people can still enjoy Black Friday without excess consumption we see these days — all that needs to be done is to think in advance. Knowing about how and when you will wear the clothes and how they are made is the key to success for building responsible fashion industry in which people buy clothes that they will wear and care about for a long time.
The best advice is to create a short list of things you plan to buy a week in advance and stick to it.
Moderate discounts for sustainable brands together with better initiatives could be a good stimulus for people to discover and finally engage with sustainably made fashion. But if you are scrolling the web on a late Black Friday evening trying to find the best deal on “smth good”, maybe it will be better not to shop on that day and let it go.
