Merchants are rubbing their hands this Thursday a few hours before the start of one of the most important days of the year for their sales: Black Friday. The discount signs are already installed in the windows and the consumer knows the sales that their favorite brands will apply tomorrow. Some will take weeks.
There are few, although increasingly, firms that position themselves against this strategy that encourages excessive consumerism, purchasing without conscience or logic. Beyond not joining the sales, firms like Ecoalf take on the task of raising awareness among the population and showing that consuming responsibly is possible.
“We defend the importance of buying quality over quantity,” explains Ecoalf’s Director of Innovation and Sustainability, Carol Blázquez. In fact, this Spanish company that was born in 2009 goes far beyond responsible consumption. Its production model is based on collecting nets and plastics from the sea and making its collections with them. “We want to appeal and raise consumer awareness about what is behind Black Friday. Therefore, this year’s campaign is based on showing what the real impact of consumption is,” says Blázquez. The numbers speak for themselves.
According to a 2022 study carried out by the European Environmental Agency, the average consumption per year of a person is equivalent to 15 kg of clothing. “Over a lifetime it amounts to a ton,” he adds. “Our positioning is never to tell the consumer what they have to do, it is not up to us to decide what the correct figure is or not, we simply show a reality so that the population is aware of their consumption,” he points out.
The firm estimates that the average life of these garments is, in Europe, 80 years, that most of these pieces are used less than five times and that although a part is recycled, 73 percent ends up in landfills.
“At the end of your life you will be consuming 1.18 tons of clothes and what we have done is display it visually through a shopping cart with that amount of clothes. Imagine dragging this cart full of clothes throughout your life. poor quality clothing,” he explains and asks that before clicking the “buy” button you think about this burden of consumption, and the waste it generates for the planet.
“In the end it is being aware that what you are buying are more kilos of clothing that are added to that cart that you are going to drag for the rest of your life and what we propose is that you make a responsible purchase,” he asserts.
And how do you buy responsibly? Blázquez states that we must look for timeless pieces and not fall into trendy fashion, consume quality so that it lasts in the closet, that have a local origin and a low-impact production. “We want to encourage consumers to look for recycled pieces that are designed under eco-design, that is, garments made from a material so that tomorrow they are easily recyclable,” he says.
