Black Friday and the Things We Could Do Without

# Black Friday and the Things We Could Do Without Luxury Activist | The Notebook LA (Luxury Activist) 3 Nov 2026 https://luxuryactivist.com/carnets/black-friday-and-the-things-we-could-do-without/ ## In brief A discount can make a planned purchase more affordable. In the Black Friday sales reports, I’d also like to see how many items were ordered for the occasion. I can go a whole autumn quite happy with my winter coat. Then an email arrives on Friday, and by Monday I’m looking at another one. The shop can tell me precisely when the price will go back up. My coat is still hanging by the door. In 2025, the Swiss retailer Galaxus started its Black Friday campaign on the preceding Monday and advertised new deals in limited quantities each day through Cyber Monday. Friday lasted eight days. A parent on a tight budget can put off buying a child’s winter boots until the price comes down. In France, the national statistics agency Insee found that purchases of electronics and household appliances have increasingly shifted towards Black Friday. The weekend’s sales figures can tell me how much people spent. I’d like to know how many purchases began with an offer on something the buyer had been doing perfectly well without. ## Black Friday in Philadelphia In 1951, an American factory journal used ‘Black Friday’ in a piece about workers calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving. By 1960, Philadelphia police were using the name for the traffic jams that came with the Christmas shopping rush. A local reporter remembered the police band being sent out to direct traffic. A city official proposed ‘Big Friday’. Some retailers were saying by the 1980s that the name referred to the day their shops went into the black for the year. ## A coat left in stock A markdown can get a coat out of a warehouse and onto somebody’s back. The European Environment Agency estimated in 2024 that 4 to 9 per cent of textile products placed on the European market were destroyed before use. Since July 2026, large companies in the EU have been barred from destroying unsold clothes, shoes and accessories, with limited exceptions. By the time a retailer has an unsold coat on its hands, someone has already cut the cloth and sewn in the lining. A retailer could publish how many discounted items it ordered for Black Friday and how many it sold from stock it was trying to clear. I’d read those figures alongside the sales total. Those of us with enough already ought to buy less. I write about clothes and perfume because they give me pleasure, and I count that pleasure when I ask myself what I need. A bottle I wear for years has a place in my life. The promise of free delivery can still tempt me to add a second bottle I’ll struggle to use. I’d like the shop that sells me a coat to make a repair as easy to arrange as a purchase. A number to call and an idea of the price would help. On Monday, I could take my coat off the hook and check the lining. I might get another winter out of a few stitches. ## Sources & references - Galaxus, its 2025 Black Friday campaign: https://www.galaxus.ch/en/page/black-friday-at-galaxus-a-week-brimming-with-deals-21588 - Insee, shifts in French household spending around Black Friday and the holidays: https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/8388028 - Factory Management and Maintenance, November 1951, excerpt transcribed by Bonnie Taylor-Blake: https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2009-August/092018.html - Wordorigins.org, archival references including Women’s Wear Daily (1960) and Public Relations News (1961): https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/black-friday-cyber-monday - The Philadelphia Inquirer, Joseph P. Barrett’s account of the city’s post-Thanksgiving traffic: https://www.inquirer.com/archive/black-friday-thanksgiving-origins-history-philly-20221122.html - Barry Popik, newspaper excerpts on Black Friday and the black-ink explanation: https://barrypopik.com/blog/black_friday_big_friday - European Environment Agency, 2024 briefing on the destruction of returned and unsold textiles: https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/the-destruction-of-returned-and-unsold-textiles-in-europes-circular-economy/ - European Commission, July 2026 ban on destroying unsold clothing and footwear: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/news/ban-destruction-unsold-clothes-and-shoes-enters-application-2026-07-17_en