Black Friday
Fast fashion, inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-markets in response to trends, has greatly changed our relationship with shopping for clothes. Not only are we buying more than ever before but with the low prices and lightning speed of changing trends we’re throwing them away at an alarming rate. According to the Guardian, Britain was expected to send 235 million items of clothing to landfill in the Spring of 2017.
But this isn’t new information. With endless documentaries informing us of the environmental dangers of fast fashion and Extinction Rebellion protestors not so subtly sharing their view that consumerism = ecocide. You’d have to have been living under a rock to not know anything about the issue.
With the public demanding more from big brands and retailers, they’ve started showing us that sustainability is something they care about. But with Black Friday just around the corner and those same brands already promising huge discounts can we really take their commitments to sustainability and the environment seriously, and how much responsibility do we have to take when it comes to Black Friday’s tempting power.
Black Friday was thought up by retailers in America as a way to encourage big spending in the run up to Christmas. It was brought over to the UK in 2010 by retail giant Amazon and has remained a crucial time for stores as they enter the golden quarter of retail. Originally just one day, some brands now advertise a whole ‘Black Friday Week’ with additional ‘Pre Black Friday’ Sales.
The discounts that can be found online are absolutely huge. Starting at the lower end H&M is offering 20% off everything all weekend, Urban Outfitters, Bershka and New Look are in the middle with 50% off and Nasty Gal and Boohoo are offering a massive 60, 75% off respectively.
Discounts themselves aren’t the worst thing, if they’re limited to just one day some people, including the British Retail Consortium, argue the event allows people to buy things they may not otherwise be able to afford. But some brands are going even further than just discounts. In The Style are offering ‘mega prizes with every order’ and Femme Luxe Finery have 20 hidden products throughout their website selling for 99p. Its moves like these that are encouraging people to keep buying more and more. Dr Patsy Perry, a senior lecturer in fashion marketing from the University of Manchester told the BBC; “On the one hand, retailers are increasingly talking about sustainability now and all the good stuff they’re doing but, on the other hand, it feels like they’re encouraging people to keep buying more stuff.” And it’s this incessant buying that we’re doing so frequently that’s the problem.
However, some companies are choosing not to participate, such as Swedish fashion retailer Monki. Last week the brand posted a message on Instagram explaining that they would not be participating in Black Friday this year. They stated that they have listened to what their audience and “want to be a part of the solution not the problem.” Brands like Monki can give us hope, they are prepared to forgo an event that would bring in a huge profit because they’ve listened to their audience and are taking their views on sustainability seriously. Hopefully soon moves like this from big brands won’t be a rarity.