Due to fast fashion and the steadily changing styles, people tend to get tired of their clothes very quickly, which leads to a lot of textile waste. The solution for our problem? Shipping it all to the global south, claiming it as charity. Clothes get sorted, packed into bales and then sent to various countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda, where they are sold on local markets. Every year at least 3,500 tons of used clothes get shipped to Uganda alone. While the west is profiting from the second-hand business, the local clothing industries suffer, making the countries dependent on imported clothes. On the other hand, the second-hand industry employs many people and allows them to buy affordable clothes, which makes the industry a debatable topic.We went to Uganda’s biggest open market “Owino Market”, in Kampala, to talk to vendors and shop owners about their take on the second-hand industry in Uganda. Read the article in a/part magazine Issue 01.
