Earthbeats considers itself an ethical shop, as we carefully choose products from members of the herbal association Nadia was working with while in Nepal and we do our best to meet and connect you with the artisans that handcraft those beautiful products.  We only work with people who we’ve met and created relationships with and whose workspaces and factories we’ve seen and visited.

This is really important to us and is why we put so much time and energy into filming “behind the scenes” videos, directly from Nepal, for you. We’re all about the people behind the scenes, the ones putting their heart and soul into every Earthbeats product. They are who you support when you purchase a notebook, or amulet, or pillow off our website.

And as much as we love blogging and doing our videos, at the end of the day we are still a shop that needs to generate revenues for the Nepali producers that we work with, and the herbal collectors and harvesters that they work with. We believe (and hope) that our customers share our values and understand and support what Earthbeats stands for.

And what we stand for is the people. We want you to purchase with us because you make a connection with the men and women behind your favourite products, just like we did, not because we’re holding a mega sale. Which brings us to the elephant in the room today, Friday Nov. 24.

There is a website that exists on the interwebs called blackfridaydeathcount.com.

Just let that sink in for a moment.

There is a whole site dedicated to tracking the deaths and injuries that happen on Black Friday, as a direct result of shopping sprees gone wrong. The current count is 10 deaths and 105 injuries since 2006, in case you were wondering (which you probably were). Since when did getting a good deal on an item that you probably don’t need become more important than keeping your humanity?

And yes, we realize that these are extreme cases of Black Fridays gone wrong. We understand that for most people, Black Friday just means spending the day in long lineups at the local mall, or stuck in traffic trying to get into the Best Buy parking lot. But still, the culture of overconsumption that surrounds Black Friday is just as dangerous as the stampeding crowds can be.

So, as you’ll know if you’ve been following our social media at all this week, we want you to #optoutside with us this weekend. As a small business and online store, you’re probably thinking that it makes zero sense for us to to urge you not to shop on the biggest shopping day of the year but honestly, we care way more about the people than we do the profit and we don’t want to be associated with such a toxic ‘holiday’.

So despite the best advice of all our marketing handbooks, we’re not giving you any flashy sales this weekend. Instead, we’re joining the global movement (started by US outdoor retailer REI) to #optoutside and spend the day outdoors enjoying what Mother Nature gave us instead of frantically scrolling online or top-tapping in a massive lineup.

Why don’t you join us? And then, when it comes time to really get your Christmas shopping done, purchase with a brand that you know cares about its people, and not just drawing huge numbers with outrageous marketing techniques and sales!

See you on the slopes, trails, or beaches!

Paige & Nadia