How Did Black Friday Begin

How did Black Friday Begin?

The term dates back to the early 1960s, when police officers in Philadelphia began using the phrase “Black Friday” to describe the chaos that resulted when large numbers of tourists came into the city to begin their holiday shopping.

The stats

Everything that we buy has an environmental cost. That cost depends how it was made, what it was made from, how far it's been transported and what happens to it at the end of its life.

During Black Friday 2020, consumers spent $9 billion online shopping, up 21.6% from 2019, making it one of the most polluting events ever recorded. In the UK alone, Black Friday 2020 emitted 429,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions which is the equivalent of almost 500 return flights from London to New York.

A large proportion of those orders contained single use plastic either in the product and/or the packaging. Of the 8.3 billion tons of plastics produced since the 1950s, 79% has ended up in landfills or the ocean, with the annual volume expected to quadruple by 2050.

85% of all clothing also ends up in landfill, and the cheaper the prices of those items, the less times they are likely to be worn before being tossed in the bin.

Typically, 30% of Black Friday clothing orders are returned. A sickening proportion of returned items are sent straight to landfill or destroyed, for the simple reason that throwing away cheap items is more cost efficient and easier for companies than trying to process and resell them.

Our thoughts on Black Friday

We don’t like to encourage needless chaos. We know that everybody loves a bargain and the discounts are tempting, but the crazy consumption and ‘fast fashion’ does come at a cost to the planet - mainly due to all of the extra shipping/returning and short-use of throwaway items.

We won’t be taking part but if you do, we encourage you to shop higher-quality, longer-lasting products and items which are recycled/recyclable rather than those which aren’t.❤️

If you were hoping for a Dinoski discount, you can simply get one by signing up to our roarsome emails, which you can do any day of the year. 💌

Alternatively you could trade in one of your old Dinoski items using our ‘Pre Loved’ service. We’ll wash, repair, restore those items and find them a new loving owner. We’ll then give you a voucher for something new!