Unraveling the Paradox: When Sustainable Choices Fuel Global Waste
The Surge of Secondhand Fashion and its Unforeseen Consequences
The market for pre-owned clothing is experiencing an unprecedented boom in many parts of the affluent world. Platforms like Vinted have achieved remarkable sales volumes, and giants such as eBay are now integral to the fashion calendar, processing billions of listings annually. The RealReal, a luxury resale platform, has recently turned a profit, signaling the robust growth of this sector. In the United States alone, secondhand apparel purchases have reached an estimated value of $56 billion, reflecting a significant shift in consumer behavior.
The Hidden Costs of Circularity: A Global Perspective on Textile Waste
While many view the rise of secondhand fashion as a step towards a more circular economy, its impact is far from uniformly positive. The core objective of these platforms is to prolong the lifespan of garments, thereby diverting them from landfills. This goal resonates deeply with a global populace increasingly aware of textile waste. Social media frequently exposes the harrowing realities of textile pollution: Ghana's waterways choked with waste, Egypt's "Garbage City" overwhelmed, and a mountain of discarded clothes in Chile's Atacama Desert visible even from space. These images underscore the urgency of addressing textile waste.
The Global North's Resale Boom: A Burden on the Global South
However, vendors in the Global South's secondhand markets reveal a darker side to this trend. They argue that the thriving resale market in the Global North effectively siphons off high-quality used clothing. Consequently, what remains and eventually arrives in their markets, often through charity donations, is predominantly low-quality or virtually unusable. This dynamic undermines the potential for genuine recirculation and dramatically accelerates the waste crisis in these regions, transforming them into de facto dumping grounds for discarded textiles.
Kantamanto Market: A Case Study in Environmental and Social Devastation
Andrew Rough, CEO of ACS, a Scottish circular fashion hub, starkly describes the situation: the Global South is becoming a waste receptacle for the Global North. His visit to Ghana's Kantamanto Market, one of the world's largest circular fashion ecosystems, brought this reality into sharp focus. The market receives an astonishing 15 million used clothing items weekly. Rough witnessed firsthand the profound environmental and social destruction wrought by these secondhand imports, highlighting a critical imbalance in the global fashion supply chain.
Navigating the Deluge: The Impact of Fast Fashion on Secondhand Markets
While global trade routes for used clothing have existed for decades, the combined forces of the resale boom and the proliferation of fast and ultra-fast fashion have pushed these systems to their breaking point. Markets are now inundated with vast quantities of low-quality garments, intensifying competition for the few remaining high-quality secondhand pieces. This has triggered crises at multiple junctures within the supply chain. Even textile recycling associations in the Global North, which primarily act as collectors, sorters, and exporters rather than actual recyclers, have voiced concerns about the dwindling profitability of secondhand goods. Many are struggling under the weight of high-volume, low-value clothing that clogs their warehouses without clear pathways for use or resale.
The Debt Cycle and Environmental Toll in Secondhand Hubs
The repercussions extend to secondhand retailers in places like Kantamanto Market, who find themselves trapped in cycles of debt. They strive to make ends meet amidst the severe environmental and health consequences of living surrounded by textile waste that serves no purpose. Liz Ricketts, co-founder of The Or Foundation, a Ghanaian-American non-profit deeply involved in Kantamanto Market, observes that this crisis, first impacting communities like Kantamanto, is now being felt by collectors and exporters in the Global North. She emphasizes the urgent need for global solidarity and a comprehensive understanding of the secondhand clothing trade to forge a sustainable path forward.
The Challenge of Sorting Without Local Expertise
Secondhand clothing collected in the Global North typically first passes through charities or thrift shops. However, the majority of donations that cannot be sold through these channels are directed to textile recycling companies for export. These garments are sorted based on their condition, with the highest quality items, often termed "first selection," sent to Eastern Europe, while the remaining, controversially labeled "exotique" or "Africa grade," are dispatched to the Global South.
A Revealing Experiment: Exposing the Flaws in Global Sorting Practices
In May 2025, The Or Foundation, in collaboration with British outdoor brand Finisterre, hosted an event in London to shed light on the inefficiencies and inequities of this process. Attendees were tasked with grading secondhand clothing, simulating the sorting process for a "baby bale" from Ghana. Participants categorized items based on specific criteria: "first selection" for on-trend, like-new, durable clothing suitable for the Ghanaian market; "second selection" for worn but repairable items; "third selection" for heavily worn items requiring significant investment; and "fourth selection" (asei) for irreparable waste. This exercise vividly demonstrated the immense value of local knowledge in assessing marketability and the profound disconnect in current global sorting practices.
The Crucial Role of Local Expertise in Sustainable Textile Management
Upon reviewing the participants' sorting, retailers from Kantamanto Market quickly identified numerous inaccuracies, often downgrading items by one or two categories. While the attendees deliberated for nearly half an hour, the experienced retailers made assessments in mere seconds. The Or Foundation's data reveals that despite retailers in Ghana paying significant premiums (up to $700 per bale) for supposedly top-quality goods, only about 18% of each bale qualifies as "first selection." The majority comprises "second selection" (30%) and "third selection" (46%), with 6% being "asei" (waste). Although these figures are debated by global trade associations, the demonstration powerfully underscored the critical importance of local expertise in effectively sorting and grading secondhand clothing. This lack of localized knowledge often results in garments being shipped to countries ill-equipped to handle the resulting waste, perpetuating a fundamentally flawed global system.
The Power Imbalance: Limited Choices for Retailers in the Global South
Ricketts points out the inherent power imbalance in the current system: retailers in Kantamanto Market are confined to purchasing whatever the Global North donates or discards. Unlike their counterparts in developed nations, they cannot browse online to select items tailored to their customers' preferences. Moreover, they are forced to buy bales sight unseen, unable to inspect the contents before purchase. For years, Ricketts has facilitated delegations of Kantamanto retailers to the Global North, hoping to foster deeper collaboration and understanding between these crucial links in the supply chain.
Bridging Divides: The Call for Human-Centered Collaboration
She believes that such collaborative initiatives could open new avenues for dialogue, enabling Kantamanto retailers to directly advise sorters on desired inventory. Simultaneously, sorters could explain their operational realities, working conditions, and the challenges that occasionally lead to missed stains or rips. Ricketts envisions a more empathetic and human-centered conversation that transcends transactional exchanges, paving the way for more informed and mutually beneficial practices.
The Battle for Quality: Fast Fashion's Impact on Secondhand Supply
The existing sorting model, already imperfect, has been further exacerbated by the proliferation of fast fashion and the increasing adoption of its business model by other brands. This has triggered a global struggle for "first selection" items, reaching a critical juncture. Ricketts notes a significant decline in the availability of high-quality clothing. She estimates that only about 10% of newly manufactured garments possess the necessary quality—durable materials, strong construction, and timeless design—to be profitably recirculated by secondhand retailers. With numerous resale platforms emerging in the Global North, this limited pool of quality items must now be shared among an ever-growing number of players.
Shifting Habits: The Decline of Quality Donations
Dounia Wone, Chief Impact Officer at Vestiaire Collective, a luxury resale site, concurs that the supply of high-quality secondhand goods is rapidly diminishing. Whereas people once readily donated quality clothing to charities, they are now more inclined to sell these items, even for a modest sum. This shift has left charities overwhelmed with low-value items that are uneconomical to recirculate, while simultaneously depriving them of the high-quality goods that could generate much-needed revenue. The impact is particularly acute in communities like Kantamanto Market, which reside at the very end of this linear value chain.
The Illusion of Good Intentions: Unseen Consequences of Donations
Rough observes that many individuals feel virtuous when donating clothing to charity, often unaware that these organizations are ill-equipped to handle the sheer volume of waste. He recounts a striking personal experience in Ghana, where he saw clothing still bearing charity shop tags and prices from the UK. This poignant observation underscores a critical disconnect: while donors believe they are doing good, the current system often transforms their well-intentioned gestures into a cascading problem for vulnerable communities. The realities of the global secondhand clothing trade demonstrate that what seems like a solution in one part of the world can become a significant challenge elsewhere.
The Economic Hurdles of Secondhand Retail and the Price of Survival in Kantamanto
Rough emphasizes the difficulty even for secondhand platforms in the Global North to achieve profitability, citing the substantial operational costs associated with running online resale businesses. Similar barriers exist for brands seeking to enter the secondhand market. ACS's recirculation services, which include cleaning, repairing, and remanufacturing, entail considerable expense. Rough explains that each garment requires multiple manual steps, from sorting and grading to cleaning, photography, storage, packing, and shipping. Given these labor-intensive processes, a garment typically needs to be resold for at least half its original retail price to be viable. He estimates that a minimum retail price of around £40 is necessary just to break even, while a price closer to £100 or more is required for a decent profit, effectively excluding most fast fashion items.
The Rising Cost of Survival: Kantamanto's Struggle Post-Fire
Meanwhile, retailers in Kantamanto Market are forced to operate on significantly tighter margins, despite offering similar services. Following a devastating fire in January 2025 that largely destroyed the market, The Or Foundation conducted a census. Early findings indicate that the price of bales has increased post-fire. This means retailers buying bales from the Global North now need to charge at least $3 per item to break even. However, due to the increasingly low percentage of "first selection" items—even in premium bales—many sellers are forced to price these coveted items closer to $5 to offset their losses. This creates immense pressure in one of Africa's most expensive cities, where the minimum wage is as low as $2 per day.
Towards Transparency: The Call for Disclosed Operating Costs
Ricketts highlights the profound challenges this situation poses for retailers and advocates for charities and resale platforms in the Global North to disclose their operating costs per garment. Her hope is that by fostering a global conversation about these costs, greater solidarity will emerge, revealing the invaluable contribution that ecosystems like Kantamanto make in their efforts to recirculate as much clothing as possible. However, responses to this call for transparency have been limited, with many disclosures made off-record, indicating a reluctance to openly address the complexities of the system.
The Path Forward: Investment, Policy, and Global Unity
The solution to these intricate issues is not simple, acknowledges Wone. She states that redressing the global power imbalances inherent in post-colonial trade routes extends far beyond the scope of most fashion companies. Furthermore, simply halting the flow of secondhand goods is not a viable option, as these ecosystems heavily rely on imports for their livelihoods. Some sellers in Kantamanto Market suggest that individuals in the Global North intending to declutter should send low-quality items directly to local landfills rather than perpetuating the problem in the Global South. They advocate for donating higher-quality goods instead of selling them, thereby providing businesses further down the chain with a better chance to access desirable inventory. Another proposed solution involves amending incoming Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation to redistribute funds collected from producers to countries grappling with fashion's waste crisis, though this remains a distant prospect.
A Collective Future: Embracing Reality and Forging Alliances
Ricketts emphasizes that any lasting solution will necessitate significant investment in infrastructure and the creation of alternative avenues for retailers to sell their products to recyclers or find new markets for upcycled goods, ensuring their economic survival. Above all, she asserts, solidarity between the Global North and Global South is paramount. Companies in the Global North must overcome fear and acknowledge the harsh realities faced by everyone in this industry: an overwhelming volume of low-quality clothing demands a united and collaborative respons