BFCM Straight Talk

The VC team has joked that no other company on earth has spent so much time debating how to discourage sales during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) period. We think of ourselves as a community organization/social justice-focused organization first, and a company who sells things only second. The massive consumerism push surrounding BFCM feels like a push for fast fashion, which we are not – and consumerism, with which we struggle to identify.

Originally inspired by Patagonia's 2011 Don't Buy This Jacket campaign, we began to rethink our approach to the buying frenzy happening yearly around the US Thanksgiving weekend. 

At first, we wanted our customers to shop consciously, and if they were going to do some spending, to support the great organizations we work with. We felt that this was a good start, but it didn't seem to be quite "enough" to make the point that we were trying to make, so we took it a step further and actually shut down our website.

The reason behind going as far as shutting the website down was inspired by something I read that noted that Patagonia had their best Black Friday sales day ever when that ad ran... it got me thinking, while their intent was obviously good, what was the impact? 

Was it a Gimmick?

Honestly, is it such a bad thing if Patagonia, world leader in environmentally-responsible corporate-responsibility thinking, gets more customers? People are looking to shop during BFCM, and we feel it's great if they opt to support a company who is so values-first. 

So, why not VC? If you are encouraged to pick up a piece of Pride apparel or something promoting Respecting Pronouns, is that not a good thing? We're proud of our Conversation Starters collections, and we want these messages out in the world.

Shop Away!

We are proud of the company we are, the transparent way we manufacture, and the values we stand up for. If you choose to shop with VC this BFCM, we hope you pick up apparel you love at a great price, and feel good about supporting a company that continuously puts its values and community over profit.

The Deals

Set your alarms; here are the special offers we'll be featuring during BFCM:

• November 24th - Black Friday
• 25% off Windbreakers using code "Breaker Breaker"
• 25% off Discs using code "175 gram UAP"
• 25% off Pride Gear using code "Everyone Is Welcome"
• November 25th:  25% off Shorty Shorts using code "Get Shorty"
• November 26th:  25% off Mystery Gear using code "It Could Be Anything"
• November 27th - Cyber Monday
• 25% off Hats using code "Cyber Hat"
• 25% off Discs using code "Compact Discs"

The History

We started our campaign against the blatant commercialism on display during Black Friday Cyber Monday with our Part of the Solution campaign in 2020.

We continued to push back the next year with our refusal to advertise any deals and our The Black Friday Sale That Won't Happen messaging.

Finally, last year, we just shut down our website and announced We're Closed!