Black Friday: a black day for local businesses and quality products… Kalani has never embraced Black Friday. For several years (2017), Kalani has been communicating on Transparent Friday. This year, Kalani is joining a collective of brands around Blue Friday.

Black, Transparent, Blue,…?

Black Friday is a day of exceptional sales that traditionally marks the start of the end-of-year shopping season. It has become a global shopping event, both online and in-store. The day is known for its deep discounts and the crowds it attracts, creating scenes of chaos and indiscriminate (over)consumption, promoting an unsustainable mode of production.

Black Friday symbolises a form of hyper-consumption, encouraging impulsive and excessive purchases, often to the detriment of the environment and ethics. Fingers are often pointed at the ecological impact of this shopping frenzy, as well as at the pressure exerted on retail workers during this period. What’s more, this day of promotions is detrimental to local businesses and fair-price brands. To find out more about Back Friday, read our dedicated blog post.

In reaction to this unreasonable consumption, some movements see it as an opportunity to highlight and promote a more responsible way of consuming.

Are you familiar with these movements?
– “Buy nothing day”: this encourages people to buy nothing for 24 hours in order to challenge the culture of over-consumption;
– “Green Friday”: encourages more environmentally-friendly and responsible shopping. It promotes sustainable, ethical and local products rather than low-priced goods often manufactured in conditions that do not respect the environment or workers’ rights;
– “Fair Friday”: this promotes fair, transparent commercial practices that respect human rights, often in opposition to the aggressive sales practices of Black Friday.

Transparent Friday

At Kalani, we’ve created our own concept, in line with our values, our mission, and the way we address our customers and our community: Transparent Friday. A day when we seize the opportunity to raise awareness of what’s really behind every product and every euro spent. Because at Kalani, everything is clear: total transparency, no grey areas, OUT Black Friday! (To find out more: here). Our mission is to offer high-quality household linen, produced with respect for the planet and for people, at fair prices for everyone (customers, farmers, production workers, brands, etc.) throughout the year. We don’t encourage over-consumption and impulse buying; we offer products that last over time and don’t have to be replaced every year; we develop timeless collections that people never tire of, that they don’t want to renew every month with limited services.

Finally, for Kalani, Transparent Day takes place every day of the year; it’s inherent to its raison d’être…

Blue Friday

This year, Kalani is proud to be part of a collective of brands united against Black Friday, over-consumption and ridiculously low prices. What are these brands doing on Blue Friday? Rather than offering discounts, the brands choose to donate a portion of their revenues from Black Friday to associations committed to protecting the environment. The aim is to raise their customers’ awareness of ecological challenges and more ethical commercial practices, and to encourage reflection and collective action to protect the environment.

This year, Kalani has decided to donate 10% of its Black Friday sales to GoodPlanet, an association whose mission is to make the first step towards a more sustainable lifestyle easier and more accessible to everyone. GoodPlanet encourages children, young people and adults, both at school and at work, to make a commitment to protecting nature. Its work takes the form of education and the implementation of positive actions: awareness-raising workshops, concrete projects with a real impact and a focus on solutions, and support in the transition to a more sustainable way of life. GoodPlanet’s approach is always positive and educational, to motivate sustainable change and better protection of the environment, biodiversity and the planet. GoodPlanet works on 7 themes: Nature, Food, Circular Economy, Mobility, Climate, Energy and Water.