Clothing sale allows customers to choose the price they pay

A clothing chain has introduced a sale promotion with complete pricing transparency.

Countries around the world that do not celebrate Thanksgiving in November have still adopted the tradition of having a huge pre-Christmas sale. This year a Brazilian fashion brand, Basico, has combined its Black Friday sale with a promotion aimed at demonstrating the exact costs of making and selling clothing. Named, Black Friday Transparente (Transparent Black Friday) the promotion gives customers three separate price tags that displays the costing breakdown. The first tag displays the highest price, which includes Basico’s profit margin. The second price covers only the company’s operating and marketing costs, with no profit margins, and the lowest price covers only the basic production and core operational costs to manufacture the clothing. The promotion offers customers the choice of which price they want to pay.

Basico’s Black Friday marketing strategy taps into the customer demand for greater transparency about clothing manufacture. The fashion industry is often accused in the media for the exploitation of low-paid workers and its lack of transparency as to their true manufacturing cost.

Efforts to introduce greater fairness into the clothing industry has previously included self-assemble shoes and an online atelier that lets customers design their own clothing. While Basico’s campaign may not necessarily convince people to pay more for their clothes, it does raise the bar on customer’s expectations of transparency in the garment industry. Will other businesses take up the mantle of greater pricing transparency?