The second-hand clothing industry produces employment opportunities, promotes environmentally responsible consumption, and generates revenues for national governments. These are among the main findings in the new report commissioned by the Mitumba Association of Kenya.
Dubbed “Global Production Networks of the Second-Hand Clothing Industry,” the report aimed to assess the strategic importance of the global mitumba industry for Africa and to make recommendations for the development of the mitumba sector in the future.
At present, there is too much misunderstanding and misinformation regarding the role of the mitumba sector, following successive attempts to shut down the industry altogether in certain countries.
Speaking during the launch, the Chair of Mitumba Association of Kenya, Teresia Njenga said:
“We are pleased to share this report with you today, at an important time for all of us in Kenya with the election just a few months away.
“The academic research shows the vital importance that mitumba has in producing employment opportunities, promoting environmentally responsible consumption, and generating revenue for governments.
“It is therefore imperative that Kenya sees long-term growth and development strategies that factor in the increased global demand for second-hand clothing, as environmentally conscious consumers seek more reused products.
“We urge all of those who represent the people of Kenya to read our report and join with us in doing everything possible to guarantee its future in Kenya and across Africa”.
The report’s author Anuja Prashar said:
“I’m delighted to have been asked by the mitumba association to write this report. Second-hand clothes are such an important topic across much of Africa, but rarely the subject of important academic thinking.
This report shows how important the second-hand clothing sector is for the economic well-being of citizens in Africa in general, and Kenya in particular, whilst not impacting the domestic production of clothing”.
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The main findings from the academic report include:
- The second-hand clothing industry produces employment opportunities, promotes environmentally responsible consumption, and generates revenues for national governments.
- The scale of international wholesale trade in second-hand garments is estimated to be between 2 and 4 million tonnes of used items traded per year and is increasing exponentially. The annual value of the trade was reported in 2016 to be between $1.5 billion and $3.4 billion and is estimated at over $8.0 billion currently.
- At present only 20% of post-consumer garments are collected for reuse. Of these, approximately 40% end up in the second-hand clothing market – either sold through a charity shop in the same country as the donation was made or in the international second-hand clothing market. As such, the scope to increase reuse and expand the second-hand clothing market is enormous. Doing so is likely to yield significant global and local environmental benefits.
4. Africa has one of the largest used clothing markets in the world. It is believed that four-fifths of those on the continent wear second-hand clothes, mainly imported from the USA, Europe, India, and Pakistan. The global environmental benefit of such reuse is considerable.
5. A significant body of authoritative research links the relative decline of the manufacturing of clothing in Africa to the liberalization of the textiles sector through exposure to international markets, rather than an increase in the size of the mitumba sector. Therefore, it is very unlikely that measures to undermine the second-hand clothing industry would lead to any revival in the domestic production sector for textiles.
6. In particular, the increasing flow of cheap ‘fast fashion’ products from Asia into Africa is likely to continue to undermine African domestic manufacturing of clothing, with negative consequences for employment and GDP. The second-hand clothing industry, on the other hand, is likely to remain a continuing source of employment, tax revenues, and wealth creation as long as national governments provide a competitive operating environment that is conducive to the sector’s long-term development.
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7. It is well known that the clothing industry as a whole is hurting the global environment through increased emissions and energy use with damaging repercussions for climate change. By the simple act of reusing clothing that has already been produced, the second-hand sector has the potential to make a significant contribution to climate change risk mitigation while reducing environmental harm.
8. Africa requires a more effective regulation of supply chains for second-hand clothing, which would include an expansion of sorting centers at key strategic trading hubs such as Kenya.
9. Sorting facilities should be established in free zones, given the advantages, this confers in allowing goods to enter the zone without tariffs being imposed. Sorting facilities will help realize Kenya’s goal of becoming among the leading high-value, high-wage, high-skill economies in Africa. It is estimated each facility will directly create up to 500 jobs with further employment in related sectors. If all second-hand clothes were sorted in Kenya rather than abroad, Kenya would gain up to 14,000 additional jobs.
10. African countries need long-term growth and development strategies that factor in the increased global demand for mitumba as environmentally conscious consumers to seek more reused products.
11. At present, only a quarter of all clothing products are recycled. Policy needs to focus on opening up opportunities for trade that benefits both businesses and consumers. African nations would benefit from taking control of the industry through effective policy-making and regulation which opens up the opportunity for trade – both imports and exports – generating increased economic benefit for local citizens and the finances of national governments. A sorting facility will allow Kenya to export clothing to high-demand markets in the US and Europe where there is growing consumer resistance to ‘fast fashion’, enabling Kenya to acquire foreign currency while reducing the country’s trade deficit.
12. Policy-makers must move away from treating the expansion of domestic textile production and the growth of the second-hand clothing industry as a zero-sum game where gains for one sector mean losses for the other. There is no convincing evidence that a strong mitumba sector crowds out the development of the local textile industries.
13. Many discarded items of clothing are still not recycled. As such, the potential to grow the sector is considerable. Policies that encourage the growth of businesses for the full processing of clothing and discarded textile materials would help increase the rate of recycling, with the benefits of job creation, economic growth, and environmental sustainability.
14. The domestic market is highly segmented between high-income households who generally purchase new clothing, and low to middle-income consumers who predominantly purchase second-hand clothes. Kenya’s strategy should be to leverage agglomeration effects, using regulatory policy to build up its cluster of textile producers alongside second-hand clothing operators, creating capacity for long-term innovation and growth.