Sleepy Wilson is not participating in this year’s Black Friday shenanigans…controversial I know…and frustrating, we all love a bargain, eh? But sadly, the truth of Black Friday paints a very dark and devastating picture. When brands prepare for Black Friday, (months, or maybe even a YEAR in advance) they plan to ‘over produce’ and some set their prices higher, so it looks like they’ve massively reduced pre-Christmas to lure shoppers into thinking there are great deals and savings to be had.
However, if we’re not paying for it, you can guarantee someone, somewhere else is - these massive discounts to us as the consumer have repercussions - the person making your clothes perhaps, who has to work overtime and miss their child’s birthday working late for the 10th night in row…or the people in the stores that have to hit certain almost unattainable targets in order to keep their job, selling goods that actually, we don’t really need…or the volunteers working day in day out to help clear our waterways of massive amounts of plastic waste associated with textile over production; not even mentioning the micro fibres as a by-product of fast fashion that clogs up our marine life.
According to Fashion Revolution, last year in the UK, spending amounted to £1.49 billion over Black Friday Weekend. When we buy into the seemingly good deals, we send a message to brands that it’s okay for them to thoughtlessly produce, at the cost of people and the planet, because we’ll help them get rid of their stockpiles as long as they are discounted steeply.
Sleepy Wilson has worked hard to find the highest grade, biodegradable silks, the socially and ethically audited factories, whose workers are paid a fair wage, to spend a little bit more on packaging that is also recycled and biodegradable, so that our environmental impact is as low as possible. We know our product isn’t cheap, but we also know that everyone from farmer to stitcher, quality controller to packer, who has put their long earn’t skill and passion into what they do, deserves to make a decent and fair wage from it and that means being paid properly and treated with respect. We’d love you to buy our product, but not because its reduced, or for a bargain - but cause you really, really want it - and will love it, use it and hopefully pass it on to someone else afterwards.
So, we are not offering any ‘Black Friday’ discounts, instead we would like to #takebackblackfriday and for any purchases made on our website from Friday 29th November to Monday 2 December, we will plant a tree, in partnership with a trilliontreecampaign.org.
Thank you for reading and your support for Sleepy Wilson and all those associated with us.
*#takebackblackfriday image courtesy of FashionRevolution/ Ecoage.