Brands ditching Black Friday this year

November is here and just like every single year that means: over consumption, sales and fake discounts. In other words Black Friday or now even referred to as Black Week is here. 

As Fashion Revolution puts it:

“Black Friday represents a sore spot in an industry that runs on overproduction. When we buy into the seemingly good deals, we send a message to brands that it’s okay for them to thoughtlessly produce, at the cost of people and the planet, because we’ll help them get rid of their stockpiles as long as they are discounted steeply.”

We think that explains it all. Also, a devastating fact:

It’s estimated that it would take a major fashion CEO just four days to earn what a female garment worker in Bangladesh will earn in her entire lifetime.

We’ve talked to some of our favorite brands also called as friends about their strategy for Black Friday, what they think about this day and are they discounting or not. Ladies and Gentlemen here are the brands ditching Black Friday this year and the reason why:

CUITU

We have decided not to have any discounts on Black Friday this year. 

Instead, we want to support conscious consuming and share more information about the values and decisions we have made when creating the products. We want to encourage consumers to choose durable and sustainable items that can bring them joy for a long time and not to make impulsive purchases.

Globe Hope

We are closing our online store during Black Friday. While some sustainable brands ignore the day completely, we at Globe Hope don’t want to close our eyes to the so-called shopping hysteria. We think ignorance won’t make a change, so we close our online store to take part in decreasing reckless consumption.

The_Wiman

No, we are not running any discounts or campaigns for Black Friday. This year instead, we are donating a part of our turnover to Plan International's program to support girls´ education in less privileged countries. 

We do not want to contribute to over consumption so this decision is an easy one for us. We design high quality garments that last over time, call it slow or conscious.

ByKatrineGoli

I am not discounting for Black Friday this year because I think the concept contributes to overconsumption, which does not promote quality and sustainability. I do not support the culture of sales, and will continue to sell products at full price. 

Goat Organic Apparel

​​We are not discounting because we don’t want to stimulate excessive consumerism. Black Friday is one of the least sustainable things ever.

Havre Studio

No, we're not. I think the whole concept contradicts our ethos of sustainability and responsible consumption/consuming less and slowing down the modern consumption 

LAISKA EBBA

Nope! It doesn’t go along with our work or our philosophy to promote the kind of consumerism that Black Friday encourages. The stress it gives on our planet regarding contamination, waste and production is just not cool.

Atelier Manola 

We are running a campaign for Black Friday week, we're launching 3 new sweatshirts next Monday and they will have a 30% off plus other benefits depending on how many items you buy etc. We run an on-demand business, therefore these sweatshirts won't get shipped until we close how many orders will be taken. We want to promote PLANNED PURCHASE and not impulse buying by discounts offered only during Black Friday, all the information for the client to plan their purchase is already available here.

SIZ

We rarely do discounts and we are against Black Friday itself. We always do, however, a green Friday campaign, when we try to raise even more awareness  to the conscious consumerism. We always make our Plant a Tree Campaign bigger on this time or we plant trees as rewards for actions that are not orders. This year the plan is to envolve our followers to do something for the planet like clean up the beach our the neighborhood, to recycling, to upcycling old jeans.. By showing us that, they will receive something in return and we will plant trees for their actions! The main reason is to fight the huge consumerism that fast fashion and the shopping business itself create everyday and specifically on this date. Also take this opportunity to educate even more our community.

RE.BORN

No, we've no planned promos/events specifically Black Friday targeted. Previously, we've run promo events over key drive periods, which pre/post summer peak have worked really well however being a swimwear start-up appreciate traction isn't quite as high over the winter period. Equally, with the purpose of Black Friday for mass-market retailers to essentially slash prices as low as they can, we try to remain a little more consistent to prevent competing with the retail giants and instead run our promotions/events over periods that are more relevant to the brand! However, that's not to say going forward we wouldn't consider if we felt it was right/relevant to the brand.

Pampas

It really is a dilemma and a difficult question. I personally don’t like the concept myself as I believe that it contributes to an extreme purchasing power that is unreasonable. But it hits you very hard as a company if you choose not to offer anything extra this day. It also affects the behavior of customers the time before Black Fridas when sales stop completely because people wait to shop if an offer is to come. What speaks for being involved is that you can offer something for those who do not shop for fast fashion. The risk ut brings if all smaller businesses who work on a small scale are not included in BF, more purchases will be made at the big fast fashion stores instead. Dilemma, dilemma.

Murlong Cres

I’m not doing a crazy sale for Black Friday. I might offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount, and a discount on my sewing patterns, but that’s something I do from time to time anyway.

I don’t support Black Friday and I try to stay away from sales in general. I think Black Friday is promoting overconsumption and I think that's a bad thing when we know that our planet is suffering from overproduction already. Also, as a small business I'm not able to compete with the crazy sales big businesses are offering as I'm not selling thousands of one unit (not that I want to compete). 

Luci’s Lemons

No, Luci's Lemons is not discounting for Black Friday 

I believe Black Friday is a really irresponsible way of encouraging overconsumption. With the huge discounts it's very tempting for consumers to purchase items that they don't actually need and might regret afterwards. For Luci's Lemons it's also not possible to give such discounts, as the prices for the items are all the fair prices. This means that any discount I give, I'm giving up myself for my labor. Sometimes Luci's Lemons works with discounts, but I find this important to give more consumers the possibility to order from a slow fashion brand.

Atelier Fanny Castro

I’m not campaigning nor discounting on my website for Black friday. Before I started Atelier Fanny Castro, I worked for a big fashion company which every year marked down a lot for this day. This strategy of theirs certainly created a big desire for people to consume which I think is very unhealthy. Don’t get me wrong, I love shopping but to a reasonable level. Black Friday was always like a mayhem and I hated the stress it came with. Also, since a growing number of companies work hard to change their supply chains and become better and nicer to our planet, other fashion companies should think a little bit extra when they’re stressing their consumers to shop more. 

ASK Scandinavia

No discount!

The reason why we are not participating to Black Friday is that we wish our customers and consumers in general would purchase with a purpose for a need and not only the urge to shop.