In recent weeks, your mailboxes have probably filled up quickly, and the online branches of the big department stores and online retailers have bombarded you with seemingly attractive offers. A digital camera for half the price! Here, haven't you always wanted a new washing machine? Look, Bluetooth headphones reduced by 70 percent! If you don't buy this game console now, you'll bitterly regret it later!
"Black Friday" is an import from the USA - yes, what actually? If you look at all the fuss with which it is carried out year after year, you could think it is a holiday, as important as Christmas or Easter. Ultimately, however, only one thing is celebrated: unbridled consumption. It has been documented in American retail since the 1960s, and there are various theories about the origin of the term: One says that the retailers had black hands in the evening from counting so much money. Others claim that the Philadelphia police coined the term when, in 1966, on the first Friday after Thanksgiving, the streets were so full of shopping enthusiasts that the officers were afraid of losing control.
Of course, we at Soeder also occasionally offer discounts on our goods. If a product is being discontinued, we sell it cheaper, as well as if the best-before date is in danger of being exceeded. But we don't believe in discounts for the sake of discounts. Everything we sell has its manufacturing costs. These in turn lead to the price.
A "Black Friday" is therefore completely incompatible with our philosophy, also because drastic price reductions lead to customers buying things that they do not actually need on closer inspection. We reject this for reasons of sustainability.
We are not alone in this attitude: Other brands that we greatly appreciate also point out the nonsense of this day with the slogan "No Black Friday - Yes, We're All Naysayers" - such as the bag makers from FREITAG, the folding bike pioneers Brompton, flamingos life, known for their vegan sneakers, Secrid, the inventors of the Cardprotector and the professionals for sustainable surf and yoga clothing, Oy.
Thank you for saying no and spreading the word!
P.S.: Incidentally, retailers complained about delivery difficulties for Black Friday this year. With a bit of bad luck, you buy something that you don't get at all.
