BLACK FRIDAY: WHY WE DON’T DO SALE

We live in a consumer’s society. There is no season without sale, as sales only exist because of the overproduction that companies unnecessarily maintain. So much stuff is produced that it exceeds our imagined needs. Commercial businesses knowingly exploit, manipulate and build our emotional stress and anxiety, which we sooth with buying material goods. The whole system is based on making consumers buy more and more, cheaper and cheaper and of degraded quality. More and more reasons are given over time to buy even more stuff. Apart from the seasonal sales we are triggered to buy things we don’t need for Valentines day, Singles Day, No VAT day, and the worst of all Black Friday. But do we really need so much cheap stuff?

Black Friday history

Black Friday historically is the name of the Friday after Thanksgiving to describe the crowds and traffic congestion accompanying the start of America’s Christmas shopping season. It has been around for decades and grew into a worldwide madness. Sale prices have never been so low as on Black Friday. Of which you can really question; how fair are these prices? Can it actually be produced for the prices it is sold? In our eyes Black Friday is actually a really black day in the consumer’s society.
 
Don’t get us wrong, we really support the Christmas thought of giving to show gratitude, love and peace. It has been proven that people who give more than they receive are actually happier than people that mostly receive. However, the commercial thought and the urge to buy cheap stuff we don’t need goes way beyond our comprehension. If you really think about it, isn’t it insane?

For us at Studio Elsien Gringhuis this is a very legitimate reason to not participate with the madness of Black Friday (and other commercial days). We don’t do sale in general, apart from our sample sales, simply because we consciously don’t have any stock. We only produce what we need to fulfil the orders of retailers and customers.

Christmas season inspiration

We would like to inspire you for the coming Christmas season to actually make a Christmas gift with our own hands. That puts a lot more soul into giving, isn’t it? You can also ask your spouse, for instance to make a sustainable wish list. Agree with them to buy eachother only one gift that lasts long and that you really need in stead of buying lots of cheap crap. Because it will end up in the garbage can after a very short while.
 
We wish you a happy and very sustainable Christmas season! 🙂
 
Studio Elsien Gringhuis