Black Friday is every year more popular, even in Italy, becoming an occasion of compulsive and wild shopping that has disruptive consequences on the economy and the environment.

Responding to this uncontrolled and harmful consumerism, in the past years many no-Black Friday or sustainable movements have risen, such as the Buy Nothing Day and the Green Friday, mentioned also by Vogue Italy.

Password? Responsibility towards the planet we live in.

In this article we are going to discover what Green Friday is and why it was born, besides its advantages compared to Black Friday.

What is Black Friday and how it was born

Before starting to understand what is Green Friday, it is fundamental to make a little step behind, wondering what Black Friday is.

It was born in the USA in the 80s.

It comes every fourth Friday of November, the day after Thanksgiving day, and it is traditionally the day that let the Christmas shopping begin.

On this day merchants offer their products at very discounted prices that lead the clients to buy in an uncontrolled way, often causing many problems of public order.

During the years this day has become an occasion of overconsumption, in favour of big multinationals and this has an enormous impact on the environment and on workers, often forced to exhausting shifts.

Why Black Friday has such a negative impact on the environment on the society?

As also Giuseppe Ungherese, responsible of the Greenpeace pollution campaign, declared:

Black Friday has become one of the symbols of modern consumerism. We tend to buy without thinking, unconcerned of the possible environmental and social impacts that this wastefulness of resources can generate.

The birth of Black Friday has in fact nourished an economy of disposable consume where the planet is becoming submerged by the waste of common use objects.

This overconsumption leads to consume more resources than our planet can guarantee.

But that’s not all.

Environmental impact

In 2017, according to Sole24Ore magazine, during the black Friday 14 millions of Italian buyers gave birth to a turnover of more than 1,5 billions of euros.

To this it has to be added up the means of transport used for the purchase or the delivery of the goods and the environmental impact of the exhaust gases, much greater than any other day of the year.

The vans addressed to the delivering of the goods are some of the main responsible of the diesel pollution. Their use is constantly growing and it seems they are responsible for more than the 12% of the emission of urban areas.

It seems that the name “Black Friday” is due to an expression used to define the traffic paralysis due to a greater number of consumers traveling in the American streets on this day.

Social impact

It is necessary to think about the social and psychological aspects of the rush towards sales.

In an age totally based on extreme consumerism, the purchase doesn’t mean anymore possessing a good we need but a way to fill the need of happiness with an object instead of discovering it inside us.

This compulsive need to buy products that we don’t actually need becomes a form of addiction, just like the one that comes from alcohol, gambling and drugs.

What is Green Friday and why it was born

Starting from these premises, in the last few years many objection movements have risen toward the negative impacts of Black Friday, promoting values like conscious and supportive consumption, sustainability and a come back to simplicity.

That’s how Green Friday is born.

It is a valid alternative to the compulsive consumption and non-necessary purchases imposed by the promotional logic.

In this way consumers become responsible toward their own purchases and consumes, without forgetting the environment in which we live.

How Green Friday works

Queste campagne di risveglio e di sensibilizzazione stanno prendendo sempre più piede nei giorni del Black Friday e sempre più consumatori aderiscono alle iniziative promosse.

Ci sono diverse iniziative che girano intorno al Green Friday. Una di queste è ad esempio il Buy Nothing Day, dove l'idea è quella di passare un giorno intero senza fare acquisti e dimostrare così di non essere schiavi del consumismo.

Molte aziende puntano invece alla qualità, rendendo i loro prodotti sostenibili e offrendo suggerimento su come allungare il ciclo di vita dei prodotti di consumo, al fine di minimizzare l'impatto ambientale, promuovere il consumo responsabile e l'economia circolare.

Altri ancora, come ad esempio noi di Rifò, mantengono il prezzo dei propri prodotti costante per non andare a intaccare la qualità del proprio operato, donando una parte del proprio ricavo a varie associazioni locali, portando così avanti la solidarietà e il rispetto per l'ambiente.

Green Friday benefits

Embracing Green Friday means stopping for a while to think on our consumption habits, becoming conscious that being slaves of marketing and consumerism it’s our choice.

Participating to Green Friday ventures let us do more reasoned purchases, developing a bigger awareness both to our consumes and on the environmental impact of what we buy.

Instead of participating in the purchase of low-priced things, it is better to think about how to reuse the objects we already have, giving it a new life, like an old piece of furniture or a lamp.

Embrace Green Friday with us

If you have decided to make a different choice you can participate in the Green Friday movement with us.

We’ve always sustained the 2lovePrato initiative, where for every product that is sold, we donate 2 euros to one of the foundations we support.

During this Green Friday we decided to raise our donation: for every product that is sold, we’ll donate 5 euros to one of the 2lovePrato projects.

Choose Rifò for your Christmas presents: you’ll guarantee sustainable products with an extended and high-quality life cycle, offering your help to local ONLUS associations.

Rifò is more than an upcycled cashmere sweater or upcycled cotton t-shirts.

Click here and visit our store.

Happy Green Friday to you!