“This importation of yarn makes the TEXDA products expensive for the average Ugandan.” The rise of a new competitorīut secondhand clothes are not the Ugandan textile industry’s only obstacle. “The only alternative is to import it from Kenya,” says Ms. Their biggest challenge is simply getting cotton, she says, as the yarn produced by Ugandan factories isn’t suitable. Grace Kirabo manages the Textile Development Agency (TEXDA) in Kampala, which weaves clothes using handlooms. “We cannot afford industrial machines because the electricity is so high,” she says.Īnd she is not the only local clothing maker who struggles with the idea of expansion. “Anything latest you find downtown.”Īlthough Atal’s designs, which retail for upwards of $70 each, don’t compete directly with the secondhand clothing markets, she says she couldn’t make clothes on such a large scale even if she wanted to. Atal, who makes skirts and dresses using old ties in her studio in Kamwokya, Kampala. Ugandan fashion designer Stella Atal says she loves trawling for inspiration in the stalls at Owino and the dusty roadside metal containers where these secondhand clothes are also sold. “Secondhand clothing buyers in East Africa have a strong appetite for American fashion brands, particularly denim and active wear,” says Debra Stevenson-Peganyee, the chief marketing officer for ATRS. ATRS purchases donations gathered by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and other organizations through neighborhood recycling bins. Houston-based American Textile Recycling Service (ATRS) is one of the suppliers for these bulk exports of used clothing. Many items that cannot be sold domestically are sent to overseas wholesalers.Īccording to the US International Trade Commission (ITC), about 1,589 tons of used clothing worth $1.3 million was shipped from the US to Uganda between January and October 2012. The goal, Oxfam officials say, is to “maximize revenue” for the charity while minimizing landfill. There, 80 tons of donated clothes are sorted weekly into about a hundred different grades depending on garment type, condition, style, and material. The blouse Yokana was selling in Kampala likely began its journey to East Africa at Wastesaver, Oxfam Great Britain’s clothing plant.

And secondhand hawkers themselves face another rising challenge – Chinese imports. In fact, about a third of the clothing donated to charity worldwide eventually makes its way to sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Guardian newspaper.īut with textile recycling mushrooming into a billion dollar industry, many local clothing manufacturers complain they are unable to compete with the flood of cheap Western hand-me-downs. Uganda, along with nations across Africa, rely on this used apparel – exported in bulk from Western thrift store surpluses – as a major source for local clothing markets. What China is – and isn’t – learning from military drills near Taiwan

Second life thrift