Why I wont be participating in Black Friday Sales this year.

This year I am making a change.  I'm not doing black friday.  In fact I'm going to attempt to cut down to only doing one sale per year, here's why:
I'm moving into a stage in my business of turning my delusions into reality.  This last year for me has been all about learning the business side of business and how to actually do it well and turn a profit.  Basically my prices were set so low that when I had a sale sometimes it was like I was giving clothes away, I wasn't even covering costs let alone making a profit (which is deeply unsustainable if I want to continue this venture).  I was so caught up with keeping up with the big brands that I missed what was actually happening.  I was trying to keep my price point low like the big brands but because I operate on a small scale and do everything as ethical and sustainable as possible my product costs are so much higher than the big brands.  (and the quality shows in imo).  And I was trying to run sales like the big brands, ignoring the fact that as a small business, if I take 30% off my price, then there is literally nothing left for me at the end of the day.
I wasn't valuing my work, and I wasn't giving you an opportunity to value it either.  I was so stuck in the starving artist paradigm and I couldn't even see it!
But now I'm carving a new path for my business.  I've been supporting my family as the sole income earner for almost 2 years now, and last month I even reached a point where I could start saving again, and I want to save big.  I love my life but I'm done with playing small. I love living in a van but we wont want this forever.  I want to be able to buy a house - which feels huge and like it's a goal I shouldn't be allowed to have (starving artist mentality right there).  It feels huge but pretty much every other job you would expect to earn enough to cover your needs for food and housing.

The expectation to always be running sales means that we, as consumers forget the value of what we are buying.  We end up only wanting to buy when it's on sale and not valuing what we have leading to over consumption and a fashion waste problem that is quite frankly, out of control.  It's our job as consumers to be more conscious with our purchasing, voting with our money every chance we get.  Instead of buying a whole new wardrobe every season we can opt to invest only in a few special pieces each year and then fill the gaps with second hand clothing from op shops or depop.

I know you might think this is bad marketing, me encouraging you not to buy - but I think it's important as an ethical brand that tries to be as sustainable as possible to shine a light on this issue.  We can't just consume forever and live in an economy of infinite growth, it just doesn't work that way - and these major sales events cause a frenzy that would make you believe otherwise.  We need to slow down and look to the future that we want to create, envisioning 7 generations into the future.
When you buy from a small business like mine, you know you are getting a special item that is crafted with care and intentionality and that considers the footprint of every product through it's whole lifecycle.  You know that you are paying the best price that I can offer (even when I'm not on SALE) because the money is actually going where it needs to go - into sustainable practices, organic farming, ethical working conditions and carbon offsetting.  And by supporting a small business like mine over the fast fashion giants you are allowing me to keep going so that in the future, small brands like mine that value the ethical still exist.

Thank you so much for your support,  I believe that together we can make the fashion industry a more ethical place,

Sophie

xxx