Disguised as “donations”:
the Second-Hand Clothing the Second-Hand Clothing Crisis and Waste Colonialism Walk into a charity shop and there are most likely signs stating ‘no more clothes donations’, go to a vintage supplier’s warehouse and from top to bottom there are piles and piles of clothes that tell the stories of their previous owners from the scuffs on the hems, to the stains and attempted mends. Having worked in a vintage shop since the age of 17, I am somewhat privy to how the second hand clothing market works. It is an expanding complex network of donations, carboot sales, charity shops, thrift stores, suppliers, buyers, merchandisers…
Just on the periphery of this colossal network are the clothes that don’t quite make it to the shop floor. Where do these clothes go?

This narrative probably seems quite odd to you. Why am I critiquing an area of the “slow” fashion industry, when, according to the World Bank, the fast fashion industry is responsible for 10 per cent of annual global carbon emissions. But what the title “second hand” hides and disguises is the ulterior network of second hand clothing that is being dumped across Asia and Africa. It is a flow of clothing from the West to countries that do not have the waste management systems for handling the vast amounts of second hand clothes, resulting in a significant portion being bound for landfill or burned.

The clothes are often framed as “donations” to countries such as India or Ghana. However, this is a form of waste colonialism. It subjugates these countries as vulnerable and needy, the same trope as “children in Africa don’t have food”. These overgeneralisations enable the hierarchy of the West versus all others to prevail, placing the continents of Asia and Africa, who are developing in their own rights, as below the omnipotent force of the West.

Sounds like something you’re familiar with…yes, colonialism. This flow of second hand clothing is arguably a form of neocolonialism. On the coastline of Accra, Ghana the sheer amount of second hand clothing waste has been an ongoing issue for many years and compounded with the dire effects of climate change, Accra is a key site that represents the issues of waste colonialism. The Or Foundation’s campaign “Stop Waste Colonialism” shares how Accra’s coastline has become overrun with textile waste. The masses of second hand clothing smother the beach and become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, increasing the risk of malaria, prohibiting turtles to lay their eggs, wrecking local ecosystems, catching fishermen’s nets and so on.

In India the second hand clothing market has had a detrimental impact on the local artisanal aspects of the country’s fashion industry. A series of total or partial bans, and high tariffs for over-quota second hand clothing imports have been enacted over the years to support India’s this garment sector. However, little has slowed this constant flow of second hand clothing into India, particularly via Kandla in Gujarat where nearly 95% of all is imported into. The Clothing Manufacturer’s Association of India urged for a complete ban on imported worn clothing in 2009, claiming that up to Rs. 5500 million of worn clothing is smuggled into the country every year. But representatives of the Textile Recycling Association at Kandla claimed they are legally supplying wearable clothing for the very poor only. Both case studies of Accra and Kandla highlight the intersections of the environment, capitalism and colonialism.

However, with the work of organisations such as The Or Foundation there are attempts to create alternatives to the dominant model of fashion. Alternatives that bring forth ecological prosperity, as opposed to destruction, and that inspire us to form a relationship with fashion that extends beyond our roles as consumers.