The Hidden Cost of Black Friday Sales

Black Friday (and Cyber Monday and Travel Friday.. ) aren’t there to get us a good deal. They are there for one reason: to get us to spend, spend, spend.

And every year the holiday seems to get bigger and bigger! In 2024, sales in the US alone are expected to hit a record $75 billion! But what’s all this buying doing to people and the planet? 

Fast Fashion and Big Tech: Big Sales on Environmental Destruction!

One shocking fact about Black Friday is how much of spending is driven by just two industries—fashion and Big Tech—two of the world’s most polluting supply chains. Nearly half of the $222.1 billion spent online globally in the 2023 Black Friday weekend went on electronics and clothing.  

If $50 billion is spent on ugly holiday sweaters at $20 a piece, that’s roughly… 2.5 BILLION ugly holiday sweaters, or enough to give a brief embarrassed chuckle to more than a quarter of the world’s population. 

Apart from the apparent taste issue, the problem is that the global fashion and consumer electronics industries account for up to one-tenth of all global emissions—as much as the entire nations of India and Japan combined. 

And that’s because the Scooby Doo villain beneath the mask of both industries is fossil fuels. Almost every T-shirt, sweater, smartphone, or TV bought in a Black Friday sale was made in a way that was heavily dependent on oil, gas, and coal.  From the materials they’re made of – polyester is a type of plastic made of oil – to the enormous amounts of coal and gas burned for electricity and heat to make computer chips or dye fabrics. 

 Let’s dig into it.

Fast Fashion = Fossil fashion in a cheap green coat

The global fashion industry is guilty of increasingly promoting a throwaway consumerist culture while greenwashing its massive climate impact and embedding inequality.  

A new wave of ultra-fast fashion brands like SHEIN and Temu has developed AI to instantly respond to consumer demand and produce thousands of new items daily at ultra-low prices. Ironically, SHEIN claims this makes them more sustainable by reducing waste products despite officially being the biggest emitter in the fashion world. 

If the product is cheap, it’s because someone else is paying. In this case, it’s the millions of garment workers, mostly women, who are paying the highest price. They work for poverty wages to intense deadlines and are under the effects of climate breakdown. 

Yet even brands that appear more sustainable are harming the planet by pushing people to buy more and more when their products are made in coal-burning factories out of toxic oil-based fabrics. Regulators are investigating SHEIN and athleisure giant Lululemon for greenwashing, making vague sustainability promises while drastically increasing emissions!

Meanwhile, low levels of regulation have allowed the fashion industry to avoid accountability and set climate targets that brands have yet to achieve. Our latest report on fashion’s climate progress found only three brands on track to reduce emissions by the bare minimum required to combat climate breakdown.

Here’s what you can do to ensure lululemon prioritizes phasing out coal and transitioning to 100% clear energy across its entire supply chain.

Big Tech: Selling off our future at bargain basement prices

Big Tech might seem a world away from fashion, but it has many of the same issues regarding climate change. 

You’ve probably heard all the excitement over how AI is supposed to improve our lives, from optimizing energy grids to bringing us personalized episodes of Succession (thanks, Ben Affleck). But while tech leaders love to talk about technology saving the world, smartphones and other devices drive large-scale consumerism, demand huge quantities of electricity and water in production, and run high-tech data centers. 

Since 2020, when the company announced its plan to go climate-positive by 2030, Microsoft’s manufacturing emissions have increased by more than a million metric tonnes – equivalent to the total output of 2.6 gas-fired power stations for a year! Despite big climate claims, Microsoft’s most significant product manufacturing suppliers are still heavily reliant on fossil fuels for electricity, and much of its impact is greenwashed behind low-impact offsets. 

Here’s what you can do to call on Microsoft to stop greenwashing its way out of climate action.

99% off Climate Action! Act Now to Get it Before it’s Gone!

Are you sick and tired of all this greenwashing consumerist craziness? Me too. Here’s what you can do.

1. This Giving Tuesday, help us send a loud and clear message: We won’t stand for greenwashing any longer. Donate today to fuel the fight for a future where people, not profits, come first.
2. Support our campaigns to kick fossil fuels out of the fashion and tech industries and demand accountability from brands like lululemon and Microsoft.
3. Buy Nothing or only what you need. Buying nothing is FREE, and you can get it online and in stores!

Black Friday was never about getting us a good deal. Brands turn big profits by pushing purchases we don’t need while entrenching global inequality and harming the planet. Fashion and tech brands are responsible for investing those profits in removing fossil fuels from their supply chains and ensuring workers and communities benefit, too. 

Let’s not let one more Black Friday go by without demanding better.