The document examines the complexities of the secondhand clothing trade, questioning whether it benefits or hinders developing countries relying on such imports. While it highlights the economic opportunities and affordability that secondhand clothing provides, it also discusses the negative impacts on domestic production and local economies. Ultimately, the significance of secondhand clothing varies widely across cultures and countries, influenced by individual preferences, job creation, and globalization.

1. SECONDHAND CLOTHING
TRADE
Justine Fitch

2. Argument
 Should we send used clothes to be given to
people in the Third World countries? Or should we
help people there to make or buy their own
clothes?
 Do secondhand goods around the world benefit or
hinder countries?
- Developing countries who don’t have established
economies- benefits
- Opposition:
 Countries look towards becoming developed
through focusing on exports rather than imports .
- They are relying too much on SHC imports.

3. Secondhand Clothing Industry
 Industrialization Mass Production Halt (domestic production)
 Growing business
> 2002 The New York Times reported that of the approximately 2.5
billion pounds of clothes donated to charity in America each year, as
much as 80 percent is shipped globally
 United States- 1 of the largest exporters
 Toronto, CA
 Biggest importers of secondhand clothing: Sub-Saharan Africa,
Central and South America, Asia, and Eastern Europe
 Different meanings around the world
 Affordability or Mimic Western Style
 Some of the largest donators of clothing include: USA, Germany,
Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands

4. Globalization
 “Globalization is the process whereby
the world’s people are becoming
increasingly interconnected in all
facets of their lives—cultural,
economic, political, technological, and
environmental”
 Developed vs. Developing-
secondhand clothing due to lower
levels of income
Developed- Export SHC
Developing- Import SHC
 Secondhand clothing trade is
dominated by economics unless there
is governmental interference
 Secondhand clothing can be found in
more than 100 countries across the
world

5. Charitable Organizations
 Largest source of SHC
 United States: Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries,
St. Vincent de Paul, Amvets
 Europe: Oxfam, Terre, Humana, Abbey Pierre
 Dispose of their massive stock for a large sum of
money to secondhand dealers Salvation Army, Colorado Springs,
CO
 Many bins in the United States often appear that
they are for third-world relief, when in reality they
feature names of non-existent charities
Norwich, England
Germany

6. Thrift Stores
Buffalo Exchange (San Francisco,
CA
 Other major contributor
 Warehouse feel
 Plato’s Closet and Buffalo Exchange-
growing businesses
 Buffalo Exchange is growing in which
their earnings topped $3 million in
2006 with $43 million in revenue-
 They recognize top fashions and
receive products from fast fashion
mavens Zara and H&M
 Plato’s closet- guides for the
employees on whether or not they
should accept specific clothing based
on the style and year of the product
(they have to be within the last year)
 “Thrill side”- hunt of fashion

7. Secondhand clothing process
 Garments are passed on through donations
to charities, community groups, or
commercial collection banks
 Sold to textile recycling plants- are sorted,
graded, and put into bales
 Recyclers look for type, fabric, and quality of
the garment when sorting
 Clothing can be categorized into more than
400 groups
 Poor quality garments may be processed
into fibers or used as rags in industrial
establishments
 Lower quality items are also sent off to Africa
and medium-quality is sent to Latin America
 Bales of clothing may be received by local
traders or local trader’s market stall in which
people can buy the clothing right away
Oxfam International

8. SHC helps countries around the
world
 Can be thrill-seeking: satisfy
specific needs, recreate
16-foot mountain of secondhand clothing- Hong Kong
clothing
 The world’s largest
destination of secondhand
clothing is in Sub-Saharan
Africa- 26% of total world
exports in 2004
 Exports of this trade:
Malaysia, Singapore,
Pakistan, Hong Kong, Japan,
India, and Cambodia by
receiving close to 20 percent
of word’s exports in 2004
 Other: Tunisia, Kenya,
Uganda, and Guatemala
 Developed countries: Japan,
Belgium, Luxembourg, and
the Netherlands

9. The meaning of SHC
 “Thrill” side consumers throughout the
world like to rummage, browse and
look for clothing in different places to
satisfy their specific needs they cannot
find elsewhere
 “Quality-and style-savvy consumers
recognize the potential that may not be
immediately apparent in garments” -
Karen Hansen
September issue (2011)- Marie Claire  Recreating the clothing into “something
-6 of Australia’s top fashion designers visit St else by means of embellishment,
Vincent de Paul Society op-shops to recreate patchwork, buttons, and trim, among
garments many other practices” Hansen
-They made 6 one of a kind creations that were
auctioned through Marie Claire to raise money
for St Vincent de Paul Society.

10. SHC in Kenya
Second hand designer bags: Gucci and Louis Vuitton
Clothes and shoppers at the Adams
Arcade market, Nairobi
“Although the second
hand clothes imports
have undermined the
textile industries in
Kenya, they have
provided more
affordable choices for
Kenyans and employed
many, hence a welcome
trade.”
http://www.iq4news.com/lauramkenya/fashion-second-hand-
clothing-booming-business-kenya

11. The meaning of SHC- Zambia
 Satisfy individual preferences- mediates
between individual and collective desires
 Worn by any class, not just the poor wanting to
mimic western style
 Referred to as “Salaula”- both men and women
prefer to reconfigure clothing to mimic western
dress
 Appreciate the clothing they receive

12. The meaning of SHC- Haiti
 Secondhand clothing trade from shoppers in Boston and
Miami deals with a large unregulated market of pepe
 Beyond significant for survival- tents or stuffing in
upholstery
 Hanna Rose Shell and Vanessa Bertozzi documentary-
visuals of the streets explicitly show rags of all colors
lying on the roads
 Far worse problems
 Enjoy refashioning the garments Bundles of used clothing being unloaded from
large cargo ship in Miragoane, Haiti.
 Miami and Boston in the United States are large
intergenerational markets

13. The meaning of SHC- Haiti
 Countries are able to purchase far
cheaper clothing than they would be
able to afford with domestically produced
clothing.
 Zimbabwe and Kenya: affordability of
clothing is more important especially
during harsh times
 Zimbabwe: SHC should not be the
blame of their economic disadvantages
as it is often due to political wars and
government exploitation
 Secondhand clothing may complement
domestic production rather than hinder it
 Not producing “equivalent competing
goods”- garment makers in Zimbabwe,
they do not blame SHC and do not view
it as competition.
http://www.secondhandfilm.com/project.html
 Western style clothing

14. Employment Opportunities
 In developing countries the trade
is creating more jobs than ever
 Trade helps with the global
economy creating jobs such as
wholesalers, importers, traders,
and vendors
 Cleaning, repairing, re-styling, and
distributing
 Rwanda- textile and
manufacturing facilities provided
no employment to their people Used shoes for sale in the Nyamirambo market
until the secondhand clothing
trade developed there creating
jobs in handling, cleaning,
repairing, and restyling

15. Recycling and the environment
 Keep the textile and apparel industry more
environmental friendly
 Recycling reduces environmental impact if
consumers are properly educated
 Consumers can easily buy secondhand
clothing which reduces affect on the
environment because the life of a garment
is extended
 Yarn and fibers can be recycled and used
for a future product
 India doesn’t allow importing of SHC, they
do recycle their clothing domestically
involving barter, donations and resale

16. Opposition
 Lack of domestic production- hurts developing countries
 Destruction of local livelihoods
There are several challenges for industries in developing countries
1.) Unreliable and expensive infrastructure
 Nigeria experiences high fuel prices, a lack of consistency with power and electric,
and a lack of water supply
 Affect how long producers have with producing garments and other textile products
2.) The cost and availability of raw materials for textile producers
 One of the biggest raw materials that causes problems for developing countries is
cotton which requires constant quality development to meet standards
3.) Cost and availability of fabrics for clothing producers
 Senegal and Ghana struggle with sourcing options
4.) Other challenges include: competition from imports, widespread customs fraud,
outdated capital and failure to take advantage of trade preferences

17. Opposition
Job loss
According to Oxfam International, it is hard to
determine how many jobs have been lost
because there are other factors that may affect
this other than secondhand clothing trade
alone.

18. Opposition
 Dishonesty
 Complex process of secondhand clothing, Philippines
information regarding products can be
misconstrued
 Anthropologist Karen Hansen discovered
that many people believe their cast-off
clothing is just going to charity for a good
cause when it is really sold to the poor.
 It allows countries to rely on imports rather
than improve domestic production- Veseth
 Charities not honest, don’t always have best
intentions- charities should come clean
 Clothing bins that are placed on the street in
the United States and Western Europe
which claim to belong to charities when they
are not

19. Countries who do no import
SHC
 Philippines- believe it harms their local
production but is recently finding imports
due to illegal shipment from Hong Kong
 Philippines also does not import due to
dumping
 Haiti also experiences dumping where
clothing often covers the ground
 India- does not allow imports of SHC but do
allow imports of woolen fibers which are
used for blankets, knitting yarns and wool
fabrics
 Other countries do not participate in imports
of secondhand clothing due to health
reasons. Charity shop tags, trimmings &
leftover wool garments from India
 Tanzania-prohibit the import of used
underwear to prevent from diseases

20. Summary
 There may be negative sides to the industry such as lack of
domestic production, the positives outweigh this main factor
 Many developing countries rely on the trade for a means of clothing
since they cannot afford infrastructure to produce their own clothing
 The meaning of secondhand clothing differs amongst countries but
this is significant when determining who accepts the trade
 Some prefer secondhand clothing because they may not be able to
afford the latest fashions, while some prefer SHC just for the thrill of
finding new fashions that they can recreate
 Second-hand clothing is falling as a share of total clothing imports
due to the increase of cheap imports from Asia

21. Sources
 http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk
 http://www.maketradefair.com/en/assets/english/shc_0905.pdf
 Garner, M. & Kunz, G. (2011). Going Global
 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1627026,00.html
 http://www.jstor.org/stable/3694995
 Hansen, K. (2001). Salaula: the world of secondhand clothing and Zambia
 http://www.bergfashionlibrary.com/view/bewdf/BEWDF-v10/EDch10032.xml
 http://reason.com/archives/2008/07/25/the-afterlife-of-american-clot
 Rivoli, P. (2005). The travels of a t-shirt in the global economy: An economist
examines the markets, power, and politics of world trade.
 Veseth, M. (2005). Globaloney: Unraveling the myths of globalization