Why we are choosing Better Friday over Black Friday this year
We know there is a lot of excitement around Black Friday. People wait to see who is doing discounts, what they can save and which big purchases they can finally justify.
This year at Sustainabub we wanted to do something a little bit different, and we wanted to explain why.
From the start of Black Friday 2025 through to the end of Giving Tuesday 2025 (Friday 28 November to Tuesday 2 December), we will donate 10% of all sales to Save the Children. Every order you place with us in that window will help support children’s programmes around the world, as well as bringing our award winning baby wraps and muslins into your home.
We are calling it Better Friday.
We are doing this in addition to what we already do all year round:
-
Using bamboo and organic cotton in GOTS certified factories
-
Planting a tree with every order through Ecologi
-
Offsetting the carbon from each delivery for 1,000 years through Planet
-
Using recyclable and/or biodegradable packaging
Black Friday and the bigger picture
Black Friday can genuinely help. For some families, it is the moment when a big item finally becomes affordable. For a lot of brands, the extra volume helps them get through a tougher year. We understand that, and we are not here to criticise anyone who takes part.
At the same time, Black Friday has grown into one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Recent research suggests UK consumers could spend around £6.4 billion on Black Friday 2025 alone.
With that level of spending come a few downsides. Just one example is that it is estimated that Black Friday creates an extra 1.5 million tonnes of waste in the UK, with around half of that from packaging. Some of what is bought is loved and used for years. A lot is not. According to one study, up to 80% of Black Friday purchases end up in landfill, are incinerated or are poorly recycled.
Everyone will approach this weekend differently. For us, it raised a simple question: how do we mark it in a way that feels right for the kind of brand we want to be?
Built for the long term, not just for a weekend
From day one, our focus has been on making baby products that last, not quick impulse buys.
Our baby wraps and muslins are both made from bamboo and organic cotton in GOTS certified factories. They are designed to feel soft on delicate skin and to stand up to everyday life. Wraps for those first newborn snuggles and the months that follow. Muslins for feeds, spills, nap times and everything in between.
That is why we aim to keep our prices fair all year, not just for one weekend.
Why shopping small creates a ripple effect
There is also something powerful about where you choose to spend your money.
When you shop with a small brand, you are not just buying a product. You are supporting a real team, real suppliers and often a set of values that sit behind the label. Your order helps them keep going, keep improving what they make and keep doing things in a way that feels right to them.
Many small brands are trying, in their own way, to do the right thing. That might be choosing better materials, investing in kinder packaging, working closely with their local community or regularly giving to causes they care about. It might seem small on its own, but together choices like these can add up to something meaningful.
Studies on local spending suggest that £10 spent with a small, independent business can circulate as much as £50 back into the local economy, and that independents often return over three times more money to their communities than large chains. In simple terms, more of what you spend stays close to home, supporting jobs, services and other small businesses around it.
Choosing to shop small is a quiet way of backing companies that actually care, and brands that are trying to make a positive difference with the work they do.
Why we chose Save the Children
This year has felt full of stories about children suffering in different parts of the world. Whether it is because of conflict, hunger or natural disasters, so many of the headlines have involved children in situations no child should ever have to face. It is hard to watch, and it can be difficult to know what to do on a personal level.
When we decided to donate a share of our sales over the Black Friday and Giving Tuesday period, we wanted that money to support work that reaches children in many different places and situations, both locally and globally.
Save the Children has been working for over 100 years and now supports children in more than 100 countries, helping them survive, learn and be protected. They focus on children in crisis as well as long term projects that improve health, education and protection.
Choosing Save the Children for Better Friday felt like a straightforward way to let part of this busy shopping period flow towards practical help for children living through much harder realities than most of us will ever experience.
What Better Friday means in practice
Here is what you can expect from us over Black Friday and Giving Tuesday 2025:
-
We are not running any extra discounts or flash sales. Prices will be the same as they are the rest of the year
-
From the start of Black Friday to the end of Giving Tuesday, 10% of all sales will be donated to Save the Children
-
We will continue to plant a tree with every order, offset delivery emissions and donate wraps to local baby banks as normal
If you were already planning to buy a baby wrap or muslins from us in that period, your order will also help fund Save the Children’s work alongside everything we already do in the background. If you are not in a place to buy right now, that is completely fine. There is no pressure to shop.
However you are spending this season, thank you for being here, for supporting small brands and for caring about the impact your choices can have.
Love,
Sustainabub x