Why don't we do black friday ?

The phrase "Black Friday" appeared in the 1950s in Philadelphia, it refers to the Friday before Thanksgiving weekend, when the Navy military held their annual American Football game. Police officers would see crowds of people pouring into the city on Friday, hence the use of the term "black".

In the 1980s, instead of using the term "Black Friday" to refer to the crowds, retailers use it to refer to the start of the winter shopping season and the promotions that go with it. Once again, the word black makes sense: on the books, it was written in red when there was no profit, and in black when the sales generated a benefit. This gave rise to the expressions "To go into the black", then "Black Friday" which now designates this period of promotions.

Black Friday arrived in England and then in continental Europe in 2013.Large online retail groups imported this tradition with very large promotions, forcing small merchants to match the prices and participate to ensure sales on the day when the most consumers make purchases in the year. According to the National Retail Federation, 164 million people plan to shop between Black Friday and Cyber Monday (a day with similar promotions, but online).

Promotions mean aggressive marketing and manipulative techniques to push consumption. Promotions are not as beneficial as you might think. Originally they help retailers to get rid of their unsold stock to make room for new products, however, during Black Friday, some companies have shady practices to push consumption. We already told you about it in a post inspired by Loom, but to summarize, here's how you can get manipulated:

-The group effect: "Everyone buys the latest fashionable item, I want one too! This is not the fault of the brands, but some of them have understood that this bias is useful to make customers buy more and more. That's why, on many e-commerce sites, when we put a product in our cart, we notice the mentions "other customers have also bought this product".

-The scarcity bias, especially on the internet, when we read "only 5 left in stock!" for example. This pushes us to buy products, even if we don't need them, because there won't be any more left.

With 50 million bank transactions in France on Black Friday alone, it's easy to imagine the amount of compulsive shopping and waste it generates. According to Forbes, 80% of the purchases made this day are thrown away before or after being used once. The most selling sectors: fashion, technology, beauty, very polluting fields: for example, according to the UN, fashion is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, it employs underpaid workers on the other side of the world who are intoxicated by dyes, washing processes or the cultivation of cotton (which represents 25% of pesticides used in the world). It is therefore becoming essential to consume responsibly, and more and more brands are seeking to produce clean products, respectful of the environment and manufacturers, like Ubac.

Another issue is deliveries: in 2020, according to Money.co.uk, online orders for Black Friday in England produced 420,000 cubic tons of greenhouse gas emissions (or 435 round trips London - New York). However, be aware of the method of calculation, we cannot deduce the totality of this figure because there is no calculation of previous years. It is also necessary to add other emissions to the life of a product, such as its manufacture and what it implies (raw materials, transformation...), but also its end of life.

-Giving Thursday: Launched in 2012, this event takes place on the Thursday after Thanksgiving. People are encouraged to donate items they no longer use, or to take part in volunteer actions (waste collection, fundraising, helping associations...).

-" Make Friday Green Again" is a collective launched by the French brand Faguo with 1200 other brands to date, including Ubac. The goal is to communicate on a healthier way of consuming, by buying only what we need. For brands, two conditions to become a signatory: not to do Black Friday, and to communicate on a more responsible consumption. However, beware, some brands take advantage of this to greenwash their image.

-The "Block Friday" is a set of operations led by the activists of Youth For Climate and Extinction Rebellion. They consist of demonstrations and actions in front of stores or shopping malls in order to spread the message that overconsumption of goods during Black Friday is very harmful to the environment.

All these alternatives aim to make consumers aware that promotions and overconsumption, especially during Black Friday, are very damaging to the environment. It is therefore time to change our way of consuming.

Let's learn to love our clothes again!

We offer the fairest price all year round: the one that allows us to pay each person involved in the creation and manufacture of our products. More expensive, yes, but timeless and qualitative. This does not mean that we will never have a sale, but we do not include in our selling price any discounts. Promotions are useful when we want to renew our stock, to make room in our warehouse. They are not normal when they occur all year round.

Because the garment that pollutes the most is the one that remains unused in our closets, we are committed to developing our products with our customers through creation surveys.

And to avoid throwing away your sneaker or your sweater because it is damaged after two washes, we always innovate to offer the most resistant products possible.

We are always looking for the most sustainable and local solutions possible, giving priority to recycled or natural materials, and limiting the frills, from the product to the packaging.