How To Make Black Friday Sustainable + All Eco Fashion Deals 2023

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but some people are way more excited for the event that takes place a month before: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. For anywhere between one day and a few weeks, stores all over the world offer massive discounts, and this year’s Black Friday is right around the corner. Ethically Dressed was created to research sustainable fashion and promote brands that have a positive impact on the world. A huge sales event like Black Friday naturally encourages overconsumption because it allows consumers to purchase more than they usually could and would. So can sustainable fashion and Black Friday coexist? Spoiler: yes, you have the ability to make conscious decisions while still getting involved in the discounts. In this article, I’ll explain why Black Friday is generally a harmful time of the year, how you can still engage in it sustainably, and you can see a list of sustainable brands that are offering deals this year.

When we reach the last weekend of November, Christmas is only a month away. For many, this marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season and retailers play into that by offering huge sales on a day we now know as Black Friday. This year, it will be on 24th of November. Black Friday originated in the United States as the Friday after their Thanksgiving and it has nowadays spread all over the world. It started with just one day, but many companies now extend their offers throughout the entire weekend from Black Friday to Monday, which is then called Cyber Monday. Some brands even start a week ahead and have a sale for several weeks.

The Main Issues With Black Friday

Black Friday is undoubtedly seen as one of the biggest villains for the sustainable fashion community. The evil arch-nemesis that we need to defeat. And one of the first things you’ll learn about sustainable fashion is that you need to stay as far away from this event as possible. This is definitely for good reason. Every year around this time, the resilience of our earth is put to the test as millions of products are packaged and flown from one side to the other. Black Friday puts an immense strain on the environment. Let’s look at the three biggest reasons.

Overconsumption

When you’re given the opportunity to buy products at discounted prices, you usually become a little more careless and make impulsive purchasing decisions mainly based on the low price rather than your needs or even wants. So naturally, Black Friday has become a day of mass consumerism and materialism. In previous articles, like this one, I explain the negative environmental and social impact of the fashion industry; harmful production processes, toxic materials, exploited workers… All these issues are multiplied during Black Friday because more of these unsustainable products are manufactured and bought. Unconscious consumers will give into all the deals and discounts and start impulse buying with complete disregard for the consequences for the rest of us and our planet.

Transportation

A big contribution to the damage caused by this yearly shopping event is the transportation of all the freshly produced goods between factories, distribution centers and stores to eventually the eager consumers’ home addresses. The last few years, most of the shopping during the Black Friday weeks happens online which also allows consumers to order things from all over the globe, and of course we expect our orders to arrive quickly so the fastest and most polluting modes of transport are used. All this shipping heavily impacts the environment and leads to air pollution and millions of tonnes of CO2 being released into our atmosphere. Unconscious consumers will place many orders from different places all over the world and won’t think twice when returning items if they’re not happy with them.

Waste

With new products, come packaging. And lots of it. After opening all the packages you ordered, you’re often surrounded by cardboard boxes, plastic bags, paper hang tags, shipping labels and tape. Many of these packaging materials are made from non-biodegradable materials like plastic. And that’s only part of the waste generated as a result of Black Friday. Most new products, up to 80% according to Green Alliance, are thrown away by consumers after only using them a few times, or never even using them at all. Unconscious consumers will treat packaging like trash, ripping the boxes and bags so they can’t be reused anymore. And when the holiday season is over and the excitement of the brand new goods wears off, they will realize they’re not interested in most of what they bought and will throw things straight into the bin after which the wasted products will do some more damage as they are burned or sit in landfill for decades.

You Can Still Participate In Black Friday Sustainably

There is a lot of talk in the sustainable fashion community about Black Friday and most feel this shopping event shouldn’t exist at all. A lot of sustainable clothing brands therefore take a stance against it by not taking part in offering sales. Some brands completely close their stores during the weekend and others do participate but change the name to Green Friday and give it an eco-friendly touch.

After reading the previous paragraph, you might think the issues I discussed are clearly reason enough to boycott the whole thing and take to the streets to protest. But before you get your marker out to write a banner, let me share my opinion. I personally believe there are ways to take part in Black Friday shopping in a responsible way that won’t be at the expense of the planet and everyone inhabiting it.

The keyword in each of the issues I discussed is ‘unconscious consumers’. When facing difficult questions about sustainability in the fashion industry, I always end up with the following conclusion: how sustainable you dress, depends more on your own behaviour than the types of products you buy. Yes, this capitalist world has given us a tradition that is inherently not sustainable, but it’s still up to you to decide what you do with it and you do have options. If you already shop frequently all year round and use the Black Friday deals as an excuse to buy even more things, many of which might already be cheap anyway, like fast-fashion, then of course it’s not sustainable. So if we look back at the three problems, you can already treat Black Friday more responsibly by: not buying excessive amounts, buying locally, reusing the packaging and carefully considering each purchase so you don’t end up throwing products away.

But the main reason I don’t want to completely shun Black Friday from the sustainability community, is this. For many people, discounts do lead to excessive consumption, but for many others, this sale season might be their only opportunity to purchase from businesses that align with their values. A lot of people are aware of the environmental impact of fashion and want to support eco-friendly clothing brands, but are simply not able to afford it. Clothes from sustainable brands are generally more expensive than the ones you see in your average shopping mall. Now, as explained in a previous blog post, there are ways you can dress sustainably without buying products from ethical brands such as thrifting and mending old clothes, but sometimes you just need something new. Black Friday does make it easier for more people to participate in sustainable fashion.

10 Tips For Being A Conscious Black Friday Consumer

So how can you take part in Black Friday as a conscious consumer? Here are 10 tips.

• Buy from sustainable brands. If price usually holds you back from checking out these brands, this is your chance to invest in higher quality items that have a lower environmental impact. Keep reading to see a list of eco-friendly brands that are offering discounts this year.
• Don’t go into the sales blindly. Prepare a list of things you need or have been wanting to buy for a while, or gifts you want to get for the holidays. You can also stock up on things you only need to buy occasionally, like underwear, socks and other basics like tank tops.
• Try to not look at the prices while checking the items. Only if you see something you really like, you can check the price. If you focus too much on prices, you are more likely to be tempted to buy something just because it’s a good deal
• Buy locally. Search for local sustainable businesses in your area. If you’re ordering online, try to only order from brands within your continent, preferably of course within your country.
• Share shipments if you can with friends or family. If there is a particular brand you and your friend want to get something from, try to order together so the products don’t have to be shipped individually.
• Make the waste from your packages useful by keeping them intact as much as possible while opening, and reusing them next time you need to ship or wrap something.
• If you end up buying something you’re not entirely happy with, don’t just throw it away. But also before returning it to the company, consider other options like selling or swapping with friends. If it’s not a very sustainable brand, you can’t always trust them to put returned items back up for sale because many don’t, and if the shipment came from far away, you want to avoid making the package travel all the way back.
• Try to steer clear of promotional ads and even some social media pages if you have to. Even if you’re very committed to sustainability, marketing campaigns can be powerful and very tempting. That’s what they’re there for.
• Don’t just mindlessly buy everything you like and don’t get distracted by the ‘almost gone’ and ‘only 1 left’ talk. Think before every purchase whether you really need it, love it and will wear it.
• If you do end up buying a lot more than you really needed or wanted, try to limit your purchases the rest of the year to compensate.

A Very Important Note

A final thing I want to say in case you have decided to do some shopping this Black Friday: don’t get accustomed to the low prices and keep in mind that you’re not paying the true price for products. The prices sustainable brands set for their products are usually fair and much better reflect how much clothes are worth than the prices you see at fast-fashion and many high-street brands. Check out this post to read all the steps it takes to produce a clothing item.

Do some honest reflection on your current life situation and evaluate whether you need to participate in Black Friday and to what extent. If you are able to purchase eco-friendly products the rest of the year without reduced prices, please consider doing that instead. With still the ever growing competition from harmful but cheaper fast-fashion brands, sustainable brands can really use the support.

Sustainable Black Friday deals For 2023

Now that you have probably made your decision on your involvement in this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you can take a look at which eco-friendly fashion brands are participating. Only companies who make an effort to produce items in a sustainable and ethical way are featured. Keep scrolling to see the full list of brands that you will be able to purchase from with discounted prices. I will also include some who are not offering sales but are using it as an opportunity to give back in some way. To encourage you to order from brands close to your location, I am categorizing them into continents.

Most brands don’t announce their sales far in advance so I will be updating the list below all the way up to Black Friday. Be sure to check back later if you’re reading this before November 24th to see all the sustainable fashion deals. The following brands have already announced their participation:

NOTE: a few of them contain affiliate links, which doesn’t cost you anything extra if you purchase something but helps me to continue putting together these posts

Europe

North America

Oceania

Asia

Sources

Peake, L., & Brandmayr, C. (2019). Building a circular economy: How a new approach to infrastructure can put an end to waste . London: Green Alliance.