Feb 5, 2019 01:11 AM
https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Why-UK-lob...index.html
EXCERPT: . . . Some estimates in the UK say as much as 80 per cent of all unwanted clothes British residents donate each year end up in second-hand markets in Africa. Ghana is the largest market followed by Benin and Kenya. The used-goods market of course has its benefits. Kenya imports about 100,000 tonnes of second-hand clothes a year, providing the government revenues from customs duties and creating tens of thousands of jobs. The market offers quality used clothes to Kenyans at a fraction of their manufacturing cost.
But the cost to Kenyan manufacturers has been immense. Because the average cost of a second-hand garment in Kenya is between five and 10 per cent of that of a new garment, local industries cannot compete. In the early 1990s, Kenya had about 110 large-scale garment manufacturers. By 2016, it had just 15 textile mills, according to Fashion Revolution, a UK based group that promotes sustainable clothing manufacturing. Orsola de Castro, co-founder of Fashion Revolution, says up to 20 years ago donating clothes by UK people was a gesture of goodwill but is now “an act of dumping”.
Fashion Revolution, along with a number of other campaigning organisations, argues that East Africa has become dependent on unwanted western fashion products with dire consequences for local manufacturers....
MORE: https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Why-UK-lob...index.html
EXCERPT: . . . Some estimates in the UK say as much as 80 per cent of all unwanted clothes British residents donate each year end up in second-hand markets in Africa. Ghana is the largest market followed by Benin and Kenya. The used-goods market of course has its benefits. Kenya imports about 100,000 tonnes of second-hand clothes a year, providing the government revenues from customs duties and creating tens of thousands of jobs. The market offers quality used clothes to Kenyans at a fraction of their manufacturing cost.
But the cost to Kenyan manufacturers has been immense. Because the average cost of a second-hand garment in Kenya is between five and 10 per cent of that of a new garment, local industries cannot compete. In the early 1990s, Kenya had about 110 large-scale garment manufacturers. By 2016, it had just 15 textile mills, according to Fashion Revolution, a UK based group that promotes sustainable clothing manufacturing. Orsola de Castro, co-founder of Fashion Revolution, says up to 20 years ago donating clothes by UK people was a gesture of goodwill but is now “an act of dumping”.
Fashion Revolution, along with a number of other campaigning organisations, argues that East Africa has become dependent on unwanted western fashion products with dire consequences for local manufacturers....
MORE: https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Why-UK-lob...index.html