Welcome to Black Friday
The time has come to celebrate the orgy of capitalist endeavour, Black Friday (and the lesser known cousin, Cyber Monday).
That’s right. As people start panicking about Christmas, the ‘American Boxing Day sales’ comes bounding into view, providing BARGAINS on recently marked up goods from tea lights to televisions, oven trays to games consoles.
And this year, it feels like it has started earlier than ever, where no one is safe from the email campaigns, the adverts and sponsored content littering our day to day lives.
HOWEVER, NOT EVERYONE IS HERE TO FLOG CHEAPLY MADE GOODS.
For those of you new to Goose Studios, or those who want a little reminder because it's been a hectic year, let us introduce you to Black Friday - The Goose Studios Way…
Back in 2019, we decided to do things a little differently - inspired by brands such as Patagonia, where they turned what frankly is a gross thing into something positive, to help instigate some form of change.
As such, for Black Friday, Goose Studios focuses on Donations not Discounts.
Rather than cutting prices, we donate 20% of all revenue from 00.01 Black Friday to 23.59 on Cyber Monday to a good cause.
That’s right! Whether you are buying a new hoodie as a treat to yourself, a t-shirt as a gift or snagging a bargain in our seconds and samples sale, 20% of your order value will be donated to a fantastic cause that we hold dear to our heart.
This year’s cause - C.A.L.M (Campaign Against Living Miserably)
For the first time, we are returning to a cause - C.A.L.M.
Back in 2020, after a year of COVIDy lockdown, we decided to raise money for C.A.L.M after both finding lockdown a wee bit intense as the world spiralled out of control. In the years since we’ve raised money for more local causes, foodbanks, youth homeless charities down here in sometimes sunny Brighton.
However, mental health and male mental health once again feels more pertinent than ever.
Whether this is just what life is as you get older or yet another shit blip along the way, but most of 2023 has felt like a runaway freight train. Both Sam and I can say with confidence that we’ve probably experienced fairly significant chunks of the year where we have felt completely pants, like everything is getting away from us.
Globally, the Ukraine war rolls on, the Middle East is teetering on implosion not seen in decades. Throw into the mix the ever worsening Climate Crisis and the prospect of Donald Trump winning the American Presidency in 2024. The world is frankly a tough place at the moment.
Sadly there is little reprieve domestically either. Whilst Suella might have exited stage left in recent weeks, the ongoing slip to far-right, nationalistic rhetoric is now normalised.
We have folk living in tents out of choice, armistice marches decried as hate marches, the constant vilification of any ‘other’ for political gain. All to a backdrop of a cost of living crisis that simultaneously reinforces regional and generational divides alongside a big dollop of ‘how fucked is the housing market’ as rents spiral out of control and forcible evictions explode.
In short, it’s all shit and it’s easy to feel helpless. And for many this helplessness can lead to personal crises…
What do CALM provide and why is it important?
C.A.L.M are an absolutely incredible organisation, who provided over 2,500,000 minutes of conversation to individuals who were having a tough time last year.
In their most recent annual report (2021-22), they saw an increase of 11% year on year for the use of their services, with website visits clocking in at 561,331 individual sessions.
The cold hard facts though remain. There are 125 lives lost every week to suicide, 75% of which are male.
In a world that feels ever more tumultuous, its organisations such as C.A.L.M that offer support, guidance and hope to hundreds of thousands of individuals across the UK.
There we have it.
Goose Studios and Black Friday! It’s not the cheeriest of reads but for us, it's something that feels exceptionally important.
If you are looking for a super soft organic hoodie, a vaguely cool tee for a Christmas gift or a little self-care treat, then you can take a little bit of warmth knowing that between 24 - 27th November, 20% of your purchase at goosestudios.co.uk will go towards helping someone out who is having a bit of a crap time.
You can also donate directly to C.A.L.M here.
Thanks for reading and look after each other out there,
Rich, co-founder @ Goose Studios
