How to Combat Over-consumption at Christmas
Christmas can be one of the happiest times of the year – family time, beautiful decorations, and the general spirit of giving. However, there is a downside to the excessive shopping and consumption from this season – if you are feeling this cognitive dissonance, there ARE solutions.
Whether you’re a conscious shopper looking for ways to combat the negative social and environmental impacts of “too much stuff”, or a brand looking for ways to support the season responsibly, we hope that you have been inspired to make your Christmas more sustainable, while still embracing the spirit of giving, and treating your loved ones!
As the debate around sustainability is growing every day, Charlie Ross, founder of Offset Warehouse invited myself, Ali Clifford; Sirena Bergman and Jen Gale to discuss the impact that Christmas consumption can have on the environment, and to look at some ways to encourage people to work around this, while still embracing the spirit of giving during the festive season.
1.) Consumer behaviour – how can we normalise slower shopping habits? What should brands be doing to encourage responsible shopping?
With all of my clients, we have been working with the message to shop consciously and mindfully this Christmas.
My client Po-Zu Shoes went with a ‘Green Friday’ – championing an alternative to Black Friday – encouraging behaviour change, talking about the materials used to make sustainable and ethical fashion, and supporting change by spreading the word.
For us this was a worthwhile marketing cost, as we felt that we were reaching a new audience via our FB advertising, who would in turn be spreading the word about ethical fashion.
Earth Conscious are taking part in a twitter campaign to #ShopEthicalInstead – encouraging thoughtful consumption, and with more people now aware that plastic can take 450 years to biodegrade, and, with millions of people using roll-ons everyday, a cardboard tube alternative, full of lovely natural ingredients, is a pleasant stocking filler right?
Brands need to collaborate, to support other brands, this sort of altruistic approach can benefit both parties – such as Francesca at Stamptastic who has launched a reusable logo stamp project, brands apply for their free branding stamp, and in return the brands share content for both to use on their social media and blogs.
Also, writing a Christmas gift guide blog posts or a social media post – featuring like-minded brands – great content creation, and fab for SEO as well as highlighting brands that your own customers may not know about.
Holly Tucker, founder of NOTHS is promoting ‘shop local’ #campaignshopindependent #shopsmall, and highlights the importance of Small independent businesses supporting other small businesses – through projects like this and #smallbizsaturday.
But ultimately – the question when you are planning your gifting should be – Do you need it? Do they need it?
2.) The social aspects of the Christmas Spirit – the cultural acceptability of not giving presents? How much of Christmas is about sharing your time?
Having teenagers makes it pretty hard to NOT give gifts at Christmas.
So we have a ‘want, need, wear, read’ policy – the four gift rule guideline for gift-giving/receiving.
We try to give our kids things that they ‘NEED’ as Christmas gifts – rather than just during the year as their needs arise – it’s tricky but they have got used to it now!
For example, suddenly in November, our sixteen year old reached 6ft tall and his old bicycle from year 6 didn’t fit him so well – so we found him a decent second hand bike on eBay and this is officially his ‘Christmas present’. This perhaps seems ‘unfair’ to the onlooker, however, these things are expensive, and they are mature enough to get it…
Amazingly, although they do ask for the odd computer game (generally their ‘WANT‘ part of the four gift rule), gifts like Bonsai Trees, or Air Drying Clay, and incense holders are actually really popular with teenage boys!
WEAR – Supporting brands like BlackandBeech who design and make brilliant ethically sourced merchandise, with a large percentage of sales going to thought-provoking charities – (and stylish enough to be suitable for Dads who are inevitably impossible to buy for). And Howies undies always gets a look in too, boxers made in Portugal.
READ – It’s long been a tradition, that the Christmas stocking has to contain something to read, I think probably harking back to the days when kids get up at about 5am with the excitement of Christmas, and it would keep them occupied for at least an extra half an hour, so that habit has stuck – even if it’s just a rolled-up-comic – it’s good to have something that’s not screenbased right?
Interesting fact, Icelanders have a beautiful tradition of giving books to each other on Christmas Eve and then spending the night reading. This custom is so deeply ingrained in the culture that it is the reason for the Jolabokaflod, or “Christmas Book Flood,” when the majority of books in Iceland are sold between September and December in preparation for Christmas giving.
Of course it was easier when they were smaller, we asked for wooden toys and gifts from lankakade and cute plastic free stuff here plasticfreepartybags
But even teenagers like little things – Add fun items like fairtrade chocolate coins, bathbombs, and funsnap bangers, and bicycle horns are great in the stockings too. Don’t forget to add the walnut and the orange!
3.) Solutions and creative ways to target over-consumption during this period – some alternative ideas!
How about visiting a pop-up shop selling presents for people truly in need? This could be a solution to your Christmas shopping:
Every single purchase you make goes towards a similar item for a refugee, delivered via one of the 80+ projects Help Refugees support across the world. The items on sale will include emergency blankets, children’s shoes, warm gloves, mobile phone credit and more. Costs will range from £4.99 to £499: an option to ‘buy the store’.
CHOOSE LOVE LONDON:
Opening: 23 November 2018 Closing: January 2019
Address: 30-32 Fouberts Place, Carnaby, London, W1F 7PS
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11 – 6 pm, Sunday 12 – 6 pm (or buy online)
Buy what you need
Support small and local business
Choose ethical and sustainable options
How green is your christmas tree?
Sometimes having a conscience can turn the smallest decisions into a minefield. There are times when the most eco-friendly option is obvious. But Christmas Trees? Not so straightforward. Get a fake one, and you’re going plastic. But do you really want to cut down a tree that you’ll only use for a few weeks? I cringe every time someone asks me about my Christmas Tree – I acquired a fake tree when I worked at House of Fraser about 15 years ago – and it’s been appearing out of the loft every year since – I figure that it’s avoiding joining the annual discarding of around six million real trees every Christmas. Planting, maintaining, felling, transporting and recycling that many trees takes a lot of resource.
Seems crazy to chop down a tree, only for the Council to shred it a few weeks later. In terms of the direct environmental impact, this isn’t a terrible environmental choice – but it’s not great, either. How about renting a tree instead? Love this idea – or indeed having your own little tree in a pot in the garden.
Aniela asked: Brands treat their social media presence very seriously, but these days almost everyone has a personal feed. How
could we curate our content as individuals to influence our friends and family without being preachy?
My social media content has I think always subtly highlighted things I believe in. I don’t do many paid ‘ads’ – and when I have, I’ve been fortunate enough to have been given free rein creatively to incorporate my own lifestyle into any sponsored work so I’ve not lost too many followers who may be disappointed by a perceived ‘sell out’ on my instagram feed.
Be yourself as much as you can, and if you want to mention a brand you support, do it. Don’t be afraid to champion small businesses, particularly if they are sustainable brands – or are championing workers’ rights – generally curated content needs a good mix of humour and style and if you can do that whilst highlighting/influencing readers, friends and family all the better.
Sharing Sustainable Christmas ideas on your feeds may inspire others to do similar, how about gifting an “I O U” of a weekend away on a retreat?
Or have a go at making home-made soaps, and Christmas wreaths from foraged foliage, or jars of jam with all of those windfall apples in your freezer?
We love the Japanese art of Furoshiki, wrapping with scarves or fabric offcuts – so it doesn’t have to ‘preachy’ if you can shoe-horn sustainable nods into your posts at the same time as being creative?
Aniela asks: Sharing moments on social media is one of the ways how we connect with each-other but when it comes to Christmas… is it the moment to turn all devices off?
You may have downloaded the moment app – I’m too scared to, however, chatting to other small business users, acknowledgement of on average spending 5-7 hours a day on their phones has been quite alarming.
Have some rules, we do already have a ‘no phones at the dinner table rule’ – which of course applies to Christmas too, cut yourself some slack and have some time off – be in the present – no pun intended, tempting though it may be to share a photograph on instagram stories of that Cashew nut roast vegan Christmas Dinner.
Don’t apologise to your followers for your seasonal absence – 24 hours online should not be the default – take a break! If you are a small business, maybe schedule an instagram post to say that you are closed for the holidays, and try not to look at your phone! If you’ve shared your holiday opening hours on your website, or your instagram feed, people will not expect a reply on Boxing Day. BE PRESENT with your family and friends x
Panelists:
Ali Clifford is a London based marketing consultant, who in a previous life ran the design studio for a well-known British department store group, and went on to be creative director for one of the UK’s founding organic and fairtrade childrenswear brands. Now with her own business, incredibusy.com; Ali works with predominantly ethical and sustainable brands, establishing and maintaining a strong, engaging online presence for them. In her spare time she love writing, getting crafty with her two boys, upcycling old reclaimed furniture, baking (and eating) and curating the Instagram project #sgiew {so good in every way}.
Sirena Bergman is a London-based freelance journalist who has worked in-house as a commissioning editor at The Guardian, Mental Floss, The Independent and Metro.co.uk, as well as having written for publications including Vice, Refinery29, Huffington Post and more. Her writing focuses primarily on social justice issues and current affairs, as well as the intersection of technology, business and internet culture. She’s written about mental health, startups, YouTubers, politics, podcasts and pumpkin spiced lattes. Sirena also runs a newsletter called Sartorially Happy, where she chronicles her journey towards a more ethical, sustainable lifestyle – one wardrobe item at a time.
Jen Gale is head honcho of sustainable(ish). Jen spent a year buying nothing new with her young family, something that was a real wake up call. Jen’s whole ethos is “sustainable(ish)” – which means working out what works for YOU and your family. It means small tweaks and changes that create change and make a difference – empowering you to think about the changes that you can change, rather than berating for all the things you can’t. Jen has written an “Essential Guide to a Crap-Free Christmas” that we’re eager for her to get stuck in to during the panel, plus a free downloadable “101 easy doable sustainable(ish) changes”.
This event was live-streamed to members of the ethical designers’ platform, The Members’ Club. Register your interest to find out more in becoming a member here.
Moderator
The panel was moderated by Aniela Fidler, MA Fashion Futures student & The Kering Award for Sustainable Fashion finalist.
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Fforest glow in November
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