is it possible to be an ethical influencer?

a deep dive into earning affiliate income and receiving gifted products

There’s been a lot of chatter here on Substack recently about influencers and affiliate linking, so I thought I’d share my experience.

I’ve gone back and forth on my approach to affiliate links and gifted and sponsored content for years. When I first started mindful closet in 2013, it was a big deal to get something sent to you for free (quick definition: an “affiliate link” means that if someone clicks through your specially coded link, you either get an amount of money per click or a percentage of the item’s cost if it is actually purchased, “gifted” means a free item has been sent to you, “sponsored” means you have been paid an amount of money to promote the item). 

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Early on I decided that I would only accept something gifted if it was something I was actually in need of and was my style. Basically, something I’d have bought with my own money.

I should mention here that at no point have I ever been in danger of becoming a career influencer. Believe me, I wasn’t having to turn brands away.

In 2019, I wrote:

When sponsored content, affiliate linking, and gifted products first started becoming common in the world of blogging, I made a conscious decision not to engage. Blogging isn’t my actual business, personal styling is, and with very little childcare, I didn’t have the extra time to devote to it. 

Even more than that, I had a philosophical objection. There’s a big difference between having a “minimalist” style and actually *being* minimalist. If someone is constantly receiving new items from brands to review, they can’t really be maintaining a minimalist wardrobe. 

I also didn’t want to perpetrate the societal norm of always needing new things. It may be boring to wear the same things all the time, but it is the most ethical, frugal, and environmentally friendly way to dress. 

Of course, that long lead in was because I’d received a free pair of jeans from both Everlane and Mott & Bow. 

My rationale at the time was that I am always looking for good clothing to recommend to clients, actually needed new jeans, wanted to try multiple options, and would be completely honest in my review of them, regardless of the fact that they were free. I ended up going with the third option, a pair I’d actually purchased myself from Madewell. I remember writing both companies asking to return the (free) jeans and that had clearly never been requested before.

baby Dacy in those Madewell jeans that are about 3 sizes too small for my today body 

Since 2015 I’ve also worked with a styling platform that has a visually organized way to send clients links to the items I wanted them to purchase, and the ability for those links to be affiliate links (when available, often the brands I recommend are not). Any commission from these fees went to offset the membership fee for the platform and I rarely ever earned any money (I’m always going to encourage my clients to be uber picky about what they end up buying). 

(this is what the deliverable looks like when I shop for a client)

That was the extent of my earning money through affiliate links until April of 2023, when Universal Standard reached out to me.

Of all the companies that I’d have been excited to work with, this one was definitely at the top. By this point, my business had evolved to focus more on body acceptance/neutrality/awareness than minimalism, US was one of the few companies making clothing as size inclusive as possible, and I was already recommending their items to clients. Also, not gonna lie, I felt pretty special that I was one of the people they reached out to. 

As I began the partnership, it was pretty awesome to get to shop their site with their money.

I was excited to try as many of the items as I could since I’d never personally tried anything (although clients had).

I attempted to keep my content from tempting people to spend on things they don’t need by asking them to check in with their shopping lists first and to think carefully about whether the item in question would actually be useful to them. I give brutally honest reviews:

mindfulcloset

A post shared by @mindfulcloset

and hope that with that detailed information, people can make a better buying decision.

I also know that there is also a large group of followers/readers who are fans of Universal Standard through no influence of mine who know what they like and want, would be shopping there anyway, and are happy to use my code in return for a discount.

I didn’t mind making the content, people liked it, and hey, free clothes, right? 

Wrong.

As

Jess Kirby

says in this post:

What’s harder than not buying things? Not accepting things for free. Shopping without spending money is a really nice benefit. But nothing is truly free. Gifting from brands comes with its own costs; expectations (to share and post), time and attention (spent “shopping”, corresponding with the brand), environmental waste (packaging, shipping, returns if something doesn’t fit), and the lack of control over my own personal taste (does that make sense?).

It’s possibly one of the biggest revelations I’ve had since the start of this experiment. Reclaiming my time, attention, and the freedom to explore my personal style is priceless. Without the influence of social media or “cool” brands clamoring for my attention and approval I can re-discover what I actually like.

Those free clothes started to pile up pretty quickly. I also started doing the math Jess describes above and reconsidering whether I was actually benefiting from the situation. I don’t get paid for making the content in return for those free clothes, which is usually a few hours of my time. The items I try often don’t work for me. Since I don’t want to add unnecessary clutter to my closet, I truly will only keep what does, usually about one in 4 or 5 items. If I do like and keep the item, I pay taxes on the retail value, so the $178 “free” item still costs me $48 at my tax rate. 

mindfulcloset

A post shared by @mindfulcloset

My first solution was to hold Instagram giveaways for all the items I didn’t need because I wanted them to go to good homes and because I know the price point is out of reach for a lot of people. However, after trying this a couple of times, I had to accept that the time and cost to run giveaways and send items individually (in addition to actually making the content) was too much for me to take on. 

I thought I might try selling those unwanted items to offset the cost of the time spent on them. It’s a not so secret secret that influencers sell their clothes after they’ve appeared on their feed.

Here’s where I say that I find what traditional influencers do unethical.

Many of them are making content promoting how much they like the item in question in order to make sales, only to wear them once in said content and then sell them on the secondhand market. I’ve heard that the big timers even have special assistants just to handle this. The items that are purchased because of this person’s “influence” then often go unworn (I’ve seen it many times in clients’ closets) because, guess what, what works for someone else likely won’t work for you. I really try hard to stay away from any sort of advice that is meant for everyone based on my own experience, and work to help people tune into their own needs instead (see: every diet ever).

The World's Worst Influencer

So I tried selling the items on Instagram and Poshmark. The tricky part here is that if you sell the item, you still have to pay tax on the original retail cost of the item. It’s hard to price something that is discounted enough so that the buyer feels like they’re getting a deal while also making sure that you’re making enough on the sale to pay taxes on the original cost. For instance, if I got an item that retailed at $178, I’d probably want to price it to move at 50% or more off. Let’s say I price it at $89. Poshmark takes 20%, so I get $71.20. I pay a tax rate between 25-30%, so let’s say I have to pay taxes of 27% on the original retail cost ($178), which equals about $48. I’ve now made $23 for the time it costs me to photograph, list, store, and ship the item. 

To my surprise, regardless of how much I would have made on a sale, most of the items didn’t even sell at all.

I took a pause from taking the gifted items for a few months, but I’m not ready to give up yet. I literally recommend clothes for a living, and commission from sharing them should be part of my business plan and a way to diversify my income streams. So far, I’ve made very little from affiliate links, around $2000 in 2022 and $1000 in 2023, and about $1400 so far this year (before taxes). If I want to make commissions from Universal Standard links, I have to create content around it. 

Also, I still want to continue to work with Universal Standard. They’re a brand I really believe in. Every single item I’ve ever tried from them, whether it worked for me or not, is extremely high quality and the fabrics are like no other company in this price range. Selfishly, I like to get a new piece here and there. Professionally, it’s helpful for me to try various items so that I’ll know if they would work for clients. And of course, there’s that lure of affiliate income, hopefully earned in an ethical way (ironically, the more I sell, the more free stuff they give me).

So how can I continue to do that, while dispensing of the items ethically?

This is the solution I’ve come up with for now:

I’m going to continue to get the free items. I’ll try an item for myself here or there, but I’m going to use the bulk of the “free” money on items to donate. I don’t get taxed if I give the items away, so that seems like an easy solution. 

Over the years, I’ve volunteered many times for Dress for Success. Dress for Success provides training for the workforce and other social supports, but the most visible thing they do is operate “boutiques” in each location that women entering the workforce can come to and be styled with free clothes. The location I volunteered at was incredible at making this a luxurious experience. The boutique is decorated and merchandised like a retail space. The women are able to shop and try on multiple items with a volunteer serving them and are also given accessories, jewelry, and often skincare and undergarments depending on what donations have come in. Just like you might imagine, it’s incredibly gratifying to be able to dress a woman coming from poverty or the prison system in beautiful clothing. It does exactly what you’d expect it to do - the women stand taller, they smile at themselves in the mirror, they strut around. 

mindfulcloset

A post shared by @mindfulcloset

One of my local location’s biggest challenges, and I’m sure a challenge for many other locations, is that they have plenty of clothing donations in the middle sizes, size 6-14ish. Above that the options are slim, just like they are for people in larger bodies anywhere else. So how better to put items from a size inclusive company to use than for a organization who’s in desperate need of extended sizes?

I’ll still get to see the items and share about their fit and quality in content that will potentially result in some income, I won’t have to pay taxes on the donated items, and the items will be useful to others. Win/win/win? We’ll see.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this - is this even possible?

P.S. If you have something on your shopping list that you might like to try from Universal Standard (not because of my influence!), you can use code INFS-AMBDACY to get 10% off sitewide.