This video summarises your responses to the survey I sent out over a month ago. THANK YOU so much for your feedback across all areas of Theo! I appreciate your input immensely and I love involving you in the process that it takes to create beautiful, ethically-made garments. I have also written a blog under the video which explains why Theo WILL be on sale during this Black Friday period, and as always I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings about such a divisive decision.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Power to the people! This was the theme that emerged from my latest YouTube video (above) as I realised just how much POWER we have as customers! 💪💪💪 This is especially relevant going into BLACK FRIDAY and the pro's and con's of running sales around this time. After going back and forth about whether Theo would participate in this sale period, I have finally made up my mind. We WILL be participating and I will even give you the code right now to get an additional 25% OFF current online stock (which is already on sale!!!). The code to use is GREENFRIDAY 🎉 (This will expire at midnight AEST Friday 29th November 2019)

Have a read of The Green Hub's post about Black Friday - Kira really nailed how I feel as a small business owner trying to sell product to make a living (and a difference!) and compete with less ethical brands at this time of year.

In a nutshell, I believe that Black Friday CAN perpetuate unsustainable attitudes of consuming more, more, more, and that it definitely IS unsustainable for people to keep shopping and discarding at the rate they currently do. To be fair though, spend any average Saturday or Sunday in a shopping centre and the behaviour is not much different! For a lack of something better to do you'll see families, groups of friends and couples walking around aimlessly, so we must acknowledge and address the bigger broken system at play.

I have also come to appreciate the role of sales periods both as a customer and a business owner. Just this week I have been adding items to my cart that have been on my 'wish list' for a long time (Girlfirend Collective bike shorts I see you), and I have equally felt the need to promote my online store as much as possible in order to make some moolah! Will I participate every year? I don't know. I will give you a heads up though, that embracing the new direction for Theo in 2020 (have a look here if you're not sure what that direction is!) will mean less sales in future.

Currently, almost every single item online is on sale (even without the additional Black Friday discount!) because I desperately want the hodge podge of sizes and styles to go to new homes before the year is out.

There are styles I have 1-2 sizes left that have been floating around for 18 months or more! But because Theo pieces are timeless and very, very good quality, I believe I can find new homes for these and I need to do that quick smart. So if there is something you've had your eye on and that you believe will create joy and flexibility in your wardrobe for years to come, do go and have a browse.

As always, I encourage you to shop mindfully and to direct your hard-earned cash to the hard-working businesses and organisations trying to make positive changes in the world. The power is yours! (Is that a Captain Planet quote?! 😆) Until next time,