Black Friday 2021

Every year, the same feeling. A pit in my stomach… 

I have spent more time than I’d like to admit strategizing around Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday over the last 20+ years. The week around US Thanksgiving has become the pinnacle of the “holiday shopping season” and can make or break a retail outlet’s last quarter revenue.

However, this “hard selling” has never been my strong suit, or to my taste, quite honestly. I realize that I run a business which makes things that we then sell to customers; which, by definition, means we are part of the problem that North American society has with consumerism. I get it, and still it is the cause of this pit in my stomach.

I constantly find myself justifying our situation by saying things like “we donate the majority of our profits”. Last year we launched the “Part of the Solution” campaign with an amazing group of partners, and donated a substantial amount of money while raising the awareness of fantastic non-profit community organizations.

But still… that pit.

So, this year, we are going one step further. Will it have an effect on you, our reader, or on any of our customers? I don’t know...  but I do know that when a company walks the walk, it matters. 

If you decide to visit www.vcultimate.com on Black Friday you’ll find our website closed. Our online store is officially shut down for the day. No sales, no promotions, no nothing.

Instead, you’ll find a gentle reminder to go outside. Learn something new. Reach out to someone struggling. Reduce your environmental impact. Push your government to choose the health of future generations over profits. Support an organization that supports marginalized community members. 

Meanwhile, we’ll still be at work, doing our thing in the background. But not selling. In fact, if anyone at VC showed me what they’d spend the day doing to better our/their community instead, they didn’t need to come to work.

Finally, please know that I don’t claim to know anything more than how to reduce the feeling of that little pit in my stomach, so I welcome your thoughts, ideas and suggestions. 

All my best,

Adriana

PS - While this number might seem low to you, and keeping in mind that we asked folks to NOT shop with us, our 2020 Black Friday revenue was CAD $1086.93. Today, we will make a donation in that amount to AGE UP.

All Girl Everything Ultimate Program (AGE UP) invests in black, indigenous, and people of color youth in South Seattle. Our community is rooted in ultimate frisbee and committed to justice.