This Friday, consumers will be confronted with the garish big red sale sign in its distinctly 21st century guise. It will continue through to Monday, and it is expected that there will be an increase on last year’s whopping £1.49 bn spend. Consumers are misled, throwaway fashion proves its appeal once again, and landfills struggle to accommodate the weight of last year’s glut of purchases. Merry Christmas, one and all!
It’s a problem that overwhelmingly lacks workable solutions, and each brand must decide where it falls on the pro/anti Black Friday divide. With awareness increasing of its harmful consequences, brands have been taking a stand and not participating. This isn’t good enough- consumers need real, sustainable alternatives. Instead, we have chosen to offer a fair deal for consumers and our artisans with Archibald, Naked. Here's why, and how.
Unethically made, environmentally unfriendly, and unsustainable.
In Bangladesh, leather factories dump their toxic wastewater into the Buriganga River and discard their leather scraps along its banks. Today, parts of the river are almost dead.
Black Friday mostly relies on the mass production of cheap, poorly made products. The kind that shed, disintegrate, unravel or rip after a few inconsequential wears. The success of black friday legitimises shoddy methods of mass production and rivers of waste (in some cases, literal rivers). Black Friday is highly popular across two industries that produce garbage at an alarming speed- tech and fashion. In 2016, the world produced 44.7 million metric tonnes of e-waste, while 10,000 items of clothing are sent to landfill every five minutes.
The time-limited nature of Black Friday encourages consumer panic, and a consequent spending glut on impulse purchases. They’re not considered buys and are more likely to be thrown away after minimal use, simultaneously contributing to throwaway culture and to the demand for mass produced goods. Let’s not forget that fast fashion has consistently failed to address unethical practices across shadowy supply chains. Don’t be fooled by heavily marketed accords for factory safety which only pay lipservice to ethical principles, and are unregulated by governments or third parties.
Consumer exploitation
‘The amount of money that consumers spend on clothes, footwear and jewellery each year is equivalent to the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the 126 poorest countries in the world – or just slightly larger than the size of the Italian economy’
(source)
Consumers are financially and emotionally exploited to power the Black Friday machine. Despite growing awareness about its moral questionability, those who do participate are spending more than ever before on the annual event. Encouragingly, under 25s spend the least on Black Friday- whether this is because they are broke or taking a moral stand is anyone’s guess. Perhaps a mix of both?
Household incomes are stagnating and consumers are spending less. Black Friday allows shoppers to feel like they’re getting a good deal on christmas stocking fillers and presents, with many racking up a serious debt as a result. In fact, the interest rates on credit card debt cancel out any savings that may have been made.
Products on sale are so rarely the things people actually want to buy, use or wear regularly. Seasonal items, often things that will be declared no longer in, already have a built in margin for sales priced in. So consumers are misled into thinking they’re getting their hands on a bargain, when in fact they’re still paying an 800% markup on some polyblend, pre-distressed crap that cost $6 to make.
Archibald, Naked
Access it here: https://www.archibaldlondon.com/archibald-naked
We didn’t much care for the options traditional brands had laid out on the table. The red pill (slashing our prices for a discount blitz) is impossible for us to execute, because our entire pricing model is predicated on low markups. We’re basically always on sale prices if you compare our markups to those of other brands, except we don’t care for seasonal trends, polyblend pre-distressed crap, or big red sale signs.
The blue pill isn’t really very appealing either. Dying on a sword and declaring a stand without actually offering an alternative seems a waste, especially as most 'blue pill' brands still charge significant markups on crappy product. So they’re part of the problem year-round, and get a nice annual morality boost from a Black Friday declaration endorsed by tote-carrying millennials with more purchasing power.
Above: the at cost pricing model for our men's cashmere v neck
So here is our option 3: Archibald, Naked. Call it the green pill. Quality at cost of production, with no markup whatsoever. We have long said the only strong alternative to throwaway fashion is offering reasonably priced, high-quality alternatives. We can’t offer a sale, but we also need to allow newcomers to experience the Archibald difference at an accessible price. Through entering Archibald, Naked and sharing it with friends, more and more people can try out the finer things. Items that in some cases have been restricted for centuries, and that through Naked are price competitive with premium fast fashion brands. We’ve already had thousands of sign-ups, and we’ll be running Naked until at least December 12th. You can even pre-order items, symbolic of the fact that this is not an exercise in offloading stock. And we promise the blue and red pills are no match for the green.
