Anti-movement on Black Friday. The North Face “Policy is to avoid sales as much as possible”

The fourth Friday in November is “Black Friday,” a huge sale. It is originally an American culture, but now many companies in Japan are holding large-scale sales.

On the other hand, some companies have come out to object to the move to stimulate consumption. An effort to promote environmentally friendly and sustainable consumption in contrast to Black Friday is called “Green Friday.”

On the 24th, Mercari held a “Sustainable Fashion Show with Zero New Items” to coincide with Green Friday. This is the fourth year of Mercari’s initiative, but this year, for the first time, apparel companies known for their primary distribution, such as Goldwin, have joined.

Why reuse is “not the enemy”

“Through the Green Friday Project, we hope to reduce the amount of waste thrown away by society as a whole and promote a recycling-oriented society by proposing ways to enjoy sustainable fashion that go beyond the boundaries of primary and secondary distribution.”

Hideharu Kono, executive officer of Mercari, talked about the aim of the project as follows.

At the fashion show held in Shibuya, Mercari customers served as models, and stylists focused on “clothes bought on Mercari” and “clothes that have not been worn often”, as well as reused items listed on Mercari and clothes from participating brands. I added this to the coordination.

I participated by providing costumes for Goldwin’s “THE NORTH FACE”, second-hand clothing store’s “RAGTAG”, a reuse shop developed by Bay Cruise “CIRCULABLE SUPPLY”is.

Goldwin was the only participating brand responsible for primary distribution.The timing of Black Friday is supposed to be a chance to sell new products, but Yoshihiro Katsuta of the company’s ESG Promotion Office said,

“We have no intention of competing (with secondary distribution sites such as Mercari).Our main premise is to have our products used for a long time.The fact that more of our products are being carried on Mercari means that our brand value is well permeated to customers.There is also. It’s not a negative for us.”

and talk.

There is also data showing that the spread of reuse will lead to positive effects for primary distribution.

According to a survey (2023) by the Recommerce Research Institute operated by Mercari, “I bought a new product from a reused brand/manufacturer that I fell in love with.”The people who answered9.4%So, compared to 2022Increased by 2.0 points. Through reused productsI learned about brands and manufacturers that I didn’t know about before.”People too20.3%So, compared to the previous year4.0 pointsis increasing.

The sale is “different from our company’s policy”

Goldwin has always focused on sustainable initiatives, such as free repair services and the sale of upcycled products.

At this fashion show as well, we will be offering clothes from Green Baton, which buys unwearable children’s clothing from the company’s brand, repairs and cleans it, and then resells it. At the fashion show, ordinary sisters and brothers modeled The North Face clothes and appeared cutely.

Have you ever taken advantage of Black Friday?

Mr. Katsuta said, “We do have sales such as clearance sales.”

“Our policy is to avoid selling on sale as much as possible.is. For several years now, we have started to reduce the number of products that will not sell next season as much as possible, so we do have sales, but we do not do them in the form of Black Friday (with high discount rates). This is different from our policy.”

and talk.