Many people in the UK probably entered the New Year with family, friends and fireworks. Others may have been affected by the freezing temperatures and flooding and are trying to put together the pieces wrought by such devastation.
I was planning to have a quiet January in relation to Wardrobe Yarns Enrobed, but I have been moved to write briefly about the recent fire that has ravaged the largest secondhand market in the world, Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana on 1st January 2025, which has decimated people's livelihoods and this community. A place that would usually be bustling with 30,000 people including traders, with 15 million garments arriving at the market every week, from Western Europe or North America, is currently in need of dire help. Although, not the first fire in recent years, but is is the most destructive.
Many of the secondhand clothes and our insatiable desire for fast-fashion which leaves much unsold stock from, us in the global North, find their way to large markets such as Kantamanto in the global South. This multi-billion dollar circular-economy provides employment in the garment industry in the global South and the re-circulating cast-offs. However many of the unwanted garments are discarded in unofficial landfill sites or find their way into the local water systems, since there is not the appropriate infrastructure in place to safely dispose of the tons of textile waste as official sites are at breaking point, creating public health and environment challenges including polluting rivers and lagoons, beaches and destroying marine life for locals. In one respect some have viewed this as the global North's waste textile management, in disposing their overproduction without due regard to the consequences on local communities in the global South. Out of sight, out of mind.
The Or Foundation, whom I came across in 2020 when I began to share my joy and passion of circular style, has been working with Kantanmamto market since 2011, centred on building a “justice-led circular economy” and have donated $1million for emergency relief. An additional $88,000 has been contributed to the fund and The Or Foundation hope to raise $5milllion in total to help them to rebuild. It is no surprise that the Or Foundation has called for the fashion industry to assist during this grave time, since many of their overproduced and then discarded clothes find their way to markets such as Kantanmanto, contributing to the global textile waste. This call for a just “justice-led circular economy” draws together, intersectional environmentalism (advocating justice and protection for the communities that are affected by issues as well as the planet, since these do not occur or affect in isolation as they are interconnected), education and fashion development to help to ensure ecological prosperity for local communities rather than destruction and to end waste colonialism. One of the many such schemes is the environmental policy, extended producer responsibility (EPR), which is supposed to hold producers accountable for their products’ lifecycle.
In Asante (Twi), one of the main languages spoken in Ghana, secondhand clothes are known as 'Oboroni wa-wu' (dead white man's clothes), a term that refers to Western consumer habits. When the global North's discarded garments reaches Kantanmanto Market, 30,000 people working in the Market are responsible for "recirculating 25 million pieces of secondhand clothing every month through resale, reuse, repair, and remanufacturing."(https://theor.org/newsroom/post/163)
When you next purchase a piece of clothing, think about where it's final destination may be when it gets to the end of it's usefulness for you. Remember, sustainable style begins with conscious consumption, one item at a time.
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