Are Black Friday bargains worth it?

Who doesn’t love snagging a good bargain? Saving a few quid here and there? You’d be crazy not to love Black Friday’s insane deals, right?

But ask yourself, are bargains worth the environmental impact of overconsumption and impulse buying so central to Black Friday’s success? 

The answer is no, in case anyone had doubts.

Popular fashion retailers spend massive amounts of time, energy, and money to lure you in during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Many of these retailers, including Vero Moda, C&A, Forever 21 and Esprit rely heavily on synthetic materials such as polyester to make some of their garments.

Here are just a few of the ways in which synthetic textiles, which now make up about 60 percent of the material in our clothes, impact our environment:

🌊 About 35% of the microplastics pollution present in the ocean is from synthetic textiles 

🐳 Around 100,000 marine animals are killed each year by plastic waste, including microplastics 

🌳 Synthetic fibers are non-biodegradable and can take up to 200 years to decompose

For more insight into how cheap fashion is harming British seas, watch this 2-minute video.

 

The harm done to our environment is virtually at its peak during the Black Friday season, with UK shoppers estimated to spend a whopping £8.57bn this year 😱😱!

So no, we don’t love Black Friday bargains.

Because no matter how good that cheap top looks on you now, it probably won’t survive much past the first wash. And not buying those black pumps on sale won’t sink you into depression.

On the contrary, a survey of 1,759 American adults conducted by the U.S firm Finder found that approximately 52% of people have purchased something on sale during Black Friday or Cyber Monday that they later regretted.

Regret AND pollution? No thanks, Black Friday. We have enough of those two already!

We know avoiding temptation can be hard. After all, you’d have to live under a rock to miss Black Friday advertising. In 2018 alone, U.S. retailers’ digital ad spend exceeded $23 billion between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We can only expect British retailers to quickly follow suit.

But there is hope. If you genuinely need to add something to your wardrobe, try shopping second-hand or from a sustainable, eco-friendly brand with a transparent business model. At RubyMoon, we’re committed to a circular economy model, taking a restorative approach from production to delivery. You can learn more about our impact here.

If you’re a retailer or small business and rely on Black Friday to boost your profits, choose standard mailing options to keep a low environmental footprint and use 100% recycled and biodegradable packaging or mailing bags as we do at RubyMoon.

If this isn’t an option for you, donate a percentage of your Black Friday profits to green initiatives.

Here are some worthy causes:

  1. Healthy Seas
  2. Surfers Against Sewage
  3. Big Blue Ocean Cleanup

Even small changes in our consumption patterns can make a big difference, and not just during Black Friday but year-round and for decades to come.

Because we’re more than consumers; we’re citizens and what we choose to buy is how we vote for a better world.

How will you shop responsibly this Black Friday?

 

 

 

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