How to Approach Black Friday

How to Approach Black Friday

Black Friday is here again. It gets noisier and more intrusive each year – if you let it.

Every single client I see is overwhelmed by having too many clothes. I regularly see:

• overflowing wardrobes  
• lots of ‘money’ sitting unrealised in wardrobes
• unworn clothes sitting in wardrobes
• ‘bargains’ sitting unloved in wardrobes

And all those extra, unloved, unworn clothes don’t add joy or confidence. In fact, they do the opposite. They create overwhelm, decision fatigue, confusion. They also create clutter so you can’t see what you have and what you haven’t.

Every item you buy, that you don’t need, takes something from you. It takes:

• Your time
• Your space
• Your spare time
• Your bandwidth
• Your confidence
• The joy of getting dressed and showing up

That quick dopamine hit becomes another thing to find space for, to care for, to add to your indecision, or to feel guilty about when you don’t wear it. And it costs more when you don’t get the return on it.

Black Friday, and any sale, can lure you in. The “bargains” look exciting. The emails are relentless. The social media posts are tempting.

My advice is simple.

If you’ve got a list of items you genuinely need and have been planning to buy – amazing! You’ve probably already been stalking them. You know what you have and you know what you haven’t, based on your wardrobe stock take. You don’t need me to tell you that you’re doing the right thing. Go and invest. Take account of your colour palette, your style profile, your lifestyle. Ensure the item fits properly and that you can make at least six outfits from clothes you already own.

If you genuinely don’t need anything, then give yourself the gift of less stuff, no guilt, no unwanted purchases. Your style, your confidence, and your peace of mind will be in a much better place from having less than from adding more.

And as an aside, according to ChangeClothes.org, Ireland consumes 53kg of textiles per capita per annum, more than double the average, making us the second largest producer of textile waste in Europe after Belgium. Together, let’s work to reduce that number.