Why we need to stop Black Friday
With all the spectacular discounts and deals, Black Friday encourages impulse buying and overconsumption. Moreover, it’s mainly the larger retail chains that can afford these discounts. Small retailers often can’t compete.

There’s also criticism of these so-called ‘discount actions’. Some stores actually raise their prices just before Black Friday. That fantastic Black Friday discount then turns out to be not so high compared to the price a month earlier, or never existed at all.

Moreover, a large portion of the (impulse) purchases are returned. In the Netherlands, a whopping 40.6% of women’s fashion items are sent back, according to research by thuiswinkel.org. For vehicles and accessories, this averages 10%, and for electronics about 9%.

For webshops, it’s sometimes even cheaper to destroy returned or unsold items than to put them back into distribution. “In Europe, billions of euros worth of usable goods such as clothes and electronics are destroyed each year,” writes Radar. So there’s a good chance that your returned package ends up in the incinerator. A waste with major impact on people, animals, and the environment

The negative impact of stuff on the environment
All these impulse purchases – from clothing, shoes, toys, electrical appliances, furniture to magazine subscriptions – have an enormous impact on the environment. The production of our stuff requires many precious raw materials, water, and land. Then the items need to be shipped and transported, causing even more harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, all these items need to be packaged, requiring lots of packaging materials.
In short, all of this is harmful to the climate, biodiversity, and our own living conditions. That’s why we’re calling on everyone not to offer Black Friday deals or buy unnecessary items. It’s time, especially now, to consume less.

“The collaboration with Appel & Ei didn’t come out of nowhere.”

Finding a responsible way to handle surplus stock has been at the top of our priority list for quite some time. As a fashion brand in a changing world, we feel our responsibility, and we take it quite seriously. For us, this goes beyond making the entire production chain sustainable. With the PLEIN PUBLIQUE collection, we aim to make our customers’ wardrobes more sustainable.
We strive to ensure that each product lasts long, has timeless class, and can be worn for years. A primal form of sustainability that’s often overlooked amid all the commotion about the growing global clothing mountain.

Nicole continues: “We’re thrilled to have found a great partner in Appel & Ei. Because the stores not only give used clothing a second chance but also offer brand new surplus items and stock from fashion brands, shopping at Appel & Ei is like treasure hunting. A sustainable way of buying clothes that can turn out surprisingly well: we’re confident that our lovingly and carefully made clothes will find grateful homes. To give our sustainability initiatives an extra boost, we’re directly transferring the money Appel & Ei pays for our clothing to the ‘Giving Back To Nature’ savings account, an initiative we started last year.