When did the Black Friday Sales thing become a thing? To me here in Australia, it seems to have only arisen in the past 5 years or so. And it’s not just the one day of “Black Friday” or the corresponding “Cyber Monday”. It feels like most of the month of November has been claimed.
I’ve been finding myself feeling uneasy about the whole thing and I couldn’t quite pinpoint why. So, it was refreshing for me to see some fellow small businesses pushing back against the pressure to participate. I’m particularly grateful to social media posts by @highteawithmrswoo and a blog post by @missmaudenz (https://missmaudesewing.co.nz/blogs/miss-maude-musings-1/black-friday-sales) as these really helped me to crystalise my thoughts on the matter. I have come to the conclusion that as a whole, Black Friday sales further entrench the wealth, influence and buying power of the larger players, whilst having a negative impact on the environment, and eroding the long-term ability of all small businesses to survive, despite individual small businesses being able to make some short-term gains from these sales.
To be clear, we are not anti-sales. In fact, we have already had a couple of sales this year. But these were at a time of our choosing to benefit the specific needs of our small business. The most recent of these was a sale on Winter fabrics- a warmer than anticipated Winter and late deliveries of certain fabrics from some of our suppliers meant we had a larger amount of these bulky fabrics at the end of the season than we can store. It made sense to try and move some of these fabrics on, while encouraging our customers to plan ahead for next year.
We pride ourselves on choosing quality fabrics we love, and we hope that you will love them too. We don’t buy in huge quantities. At the end of a roll of fabric, anything less than half a metre is generally offered as an end of roll bonus. Longer lengths are bundled up as remnants and discounted for purchase in store, and these tend to go reasonably quickly. Quite simply, we don’t normally have the excess to justify the type of regular and repeated discounting behaviour you may have seen from some larger retailers.
Things are really tough at the moment for many people- we get it, and we aren’t immune to it either. We have seen measurable changes in the way people buy since interest rates started rising. So, if the buying power and discounts offered by the bigger players is something you can leverage right now, especially for planned purchases and things you need, particularly if you couldn’t afford those things without the discount, we do not begrudge you these purchases. I have personally made a couple of purchases this week where I benefitted from a discount, so I’m not going to be so hypocritical as to suggest that I don’t take advantage of discounts when I can, because I do!
So much of Black Friday seems to be about getting people to buy for the sake of getting a discount, not because that item is a planned purchase or needed. And many of the purchases people will be making fall into the category of fast fashion. And this is terrible for our environment.
Fast fashion and the fabric waste it creates is a contemporary scourge. The choice to make clothes for yourself or someone else is a deliberate act to participate in the slow fashion movement. Sewing, by its very nature, forces you to slow down. It makes you appreciate the sheer amount of work (and skill!) required to produce a finished garment. At the shop, we get to be a part of the process of our customers planning their slow make. Wherever possible, we will talk to you and get a sense of what you are planning. This often means encouraging you to truly assess how much fabric you need for your project, and frequently this means we suggest you buy less than the pattern asks for, sometimes considerably less. Customers are usually surprised when we recommend buying less fabric. We are genuinely committed to helping you get the right amount of fabric for your project- its why we sell in 10 cm increments. We want to help you generate less fabric waste.
Our choice to not participate in any Black Friday sales is a choice to take a stand for thoughtful, careful and considered purchases. It’s a choice to demonstrate our concern for the environment, because this post has barely even touched on the true environmental cost of Black Friday sales. It’s a choice to try and help propel the slow fashion movement. It’s a choice to stand up for small businesses everywhere who do so much work to support their own local social and economic ecosystems. Do we think our stance is going to make a measurable impact on consumerism and environmental issues? Honestly, no. But for us, it’s the right thing to do.
Rebecca
