Have you ever wondered where your clothes once you donated them? Probably not, since you gave them away you are hoping that someone else likes them as much as you did. Is it possible that selling secondhand clothing can hurt a country 's economy? The Global Trade of Secondhand Clothing isn’t a new thing, we have all donated old clothing to places like the Salvation Army, Goodwill and other charities. You would think that donating your clothing is better than throwing it away, but at the same time donating clothing can have a negative impact. Even if you donate your clothing companies have to make money so they sell them. What happens to the clothes that cannot be sold, the ones that are ratty and worn? Wholesalers buy them and sell them in …show more content…
Global Trade of Secondhand Clothing. Just as it sounds, when you donate your clothing charities the donate and sell that clothing to other countries. According to the BBC, more than 70% of reused clothing from the UK ends up overseas and becomes part of the Global Secondhand Clothing Trade (Rodgers,2015). Where does this trade start? It start off charities in the US,UK, Canada,etc. when companies cannot find buyers for donated and unwanted clothing. Then unwanted clothing may find its way to landfills or purchased by wholesalers who export to other countries (Kermeliotis,2013). Finally, the second hand clothing makes its way to markets in Sub Saharan African countries. Oxfam reported that used clothing makes up 50% of the clothing sector of Sub saharan Africa (Kermeliotis,2013). Is the global clothing trade really …...buying the old ratty clothing that we no longer want. Clothing also travels illegally, is smuggled into countries and not documented. Taxing is another thing, since it isn’t a set person setting a price for the items who do you determine the tax on the clothing. After colonialism ended in Africa there was a plan for Africa to produce and sell their own clothing, but in 1980s and the 1990s the industry declined and the import of secondhand clothing increased (Brooks,2015). Since then, other countries and Africa have become more dependent on the importing of used clothing. It may not sound like it is a bad thing, …show more content…
The clothes that are ratty and old that no one wants anymore find themselves in markets in Africa being sold for cheap. You would think that it may not be such a bad thing, but it leaves many people unemployed because the clothing and textile industries cannot compete with the secondhand market especially because of the prices. If you could spend five dollars and get a few shirts or one which would you choose? In the case for the textile industry in Africa can’t compete with the used clothing because of the price and there isn’t really an alternative. When trying to clothing a billion people the cheaper route is the way to go. Who knew that the good deed you were doing, like donating your old clothing could actually hurt another country 's economy. Depending on the import of secondhand clothing also prevents Africa from developing. How is that possibly? Well if Africa is still dependent on secondhand clothing they aren’t producing jobs in their on textile industries. Instead of creating jobs and clothing they are import used things and because it is cheaper that way industries decline. There is nothing wrong with donating your old clothes because are still helping those who need
Look down at the clothes you're wearing right now, chances are almost every single thing you are currently wearing was made in a sweatshop. It is estimated that between 50-75% of all garments are made under sweatshop like conditions. Designers and companies get 2nd party contractors to hire people to work in these factories, this is a tool to make them not responsible for the horrendous conditions. They get away with it by saying they are providing jobs for people in 3rd world countries so its okay, but in reality they are making their lives even worse. These companies and designers only care about their bank accounts so if they can exploit poor, young people from poverty stricken countries they surely will, and they do. A sweatshop is a factory
When you go to the mall to pick up a pair of jeans or a shirt, do you think about where they came from? How they were made? Who made them? Most consumers are unaware of where their clothes are coming from. All the consumer is responsible for is buying the clothing from the store and most likely have little to no knowledge about how it was manufactured, transported, or even who made the clothing item and the amount of intensive labor that went into producing it (Timmerman, 3). In my paper, I will utilize the book Where Am I Wearing? by Kelsey Timmerman and the textbook Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age by Kenneth J. Guest to examine globalization in the context of the clothing industry.
Facts of the Case: In 2008, Samantha Elauf applied for a job at Abercrombie & Fitch, Inc., who as part of their “Look Policy” prohibit the use of caps. Elauf, as part of her religious practice, wore a headscarf to the interview. She was interviewed by assistant manager Heather Cooke, who gave her a score that qualified her to be hired. Cooke, however, was worried that Elauf’s headscarf was against the store’s policy and called her district manager Randall Johnson. She informed Johnson of her belief that Elauf wore her headscarf because of her religion, and Johnson replied that headwear whether it was religious or not violated the “Look Policy” of the store. Elauf with the help of the EEOC sued Abercrombie on the grounds of religious discrimination. The U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is an agency established by the government of the United States that imposes federal laws that make it
In China, Kelsey Timmerman spent time with a couple who worked at the Teva factory, traveled to the countryside to meet the couple’s son, insert name, who hasn’t seen his parents in three years due to his parents working long hours and it being expensive to take a train ride. In the US, the author visited one of a few clothing factories in the US to talk to the workers about his shorts, and the decrease of American garment factories. Timmerman wants the consumer to be more engaged and more thoughtful when mindlessly buying clothes. By researching how well the brands you want to buy from monitor their factories and what their code of ethics details, you can make a sound decision on if this is where you would want to buy your clothes. The author writes about brands that improve employers lives like SoleRebels, a shoe company who employs workers and gives them health insurance, school funds for their children, and six months of maternity leave. Brands like soleRebels that give workers benefits most factory workers have never even heard of help improve the lives of garment workers and future generations. From reading this book, Timmerman wants us to be more educated about the lives of garment workers, bridge the gap between consumers and manufacturers, and be a more engaged and mindful consumer when purchasing our
In Packer’s essay, the used clothes are selling in a higher price in Uganda than they were bought from the Thrift Shop, and that is where the profits coming from. Natelie L. Hoang from Claremont College pointed out that used clothing is increasingly becoming the major source of garments in many African nations. In Uganda in particular, they account for 81% of the country’s total clothing purchases. BBC News stated that the imported clothes are so cheap that the local textiles factories and self-employed tailors can't compete, so they either close down or don't do as well as they could. Therefore, the local government tries to ban second-hand clothes, because they want to give a boost to local manufacturing, and help the
“Sweatshops Are the Norm in the Global Apparel Industry. We’re Standing up to Change That.” International Labor Rights Forum. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. .
In the article, “Haiti doesn’t need your old T-shirts,” Charles Kenny explains why donating old clothes or food to countries in need doesn’t help those countries, but rather hurts their own economy. Charles Kenny is a developmental economist and has written a plethora of journal and magazine articles, books, and blog posts. Kenny is able to inform and influence his audience by including examples of the problem, people of authority, and a solution to the problem he writes about in his article.
On the twenty-first of August, our Wearable History class took a trip to downtown Bowling Green, to visit Mosaic Confinement Studio. The studio had an old-fashioned vibe, and was like a vintage-garment haven. There, we were asked to choose a piece that we thought was vintage, identify the time period it actually came from, and also take some additional notes on the style and the garment’s details. After searching through multiple racks, the first piece I found was a lace blazer. It turned out to only be vintage-inspired, so I went searching again. I came across a few other pieces, but nothing was really jumping out at me. Eventually, I came across a lavender dress that immediately made me think of Julia Roberts in “Mystic Pizza”, and I knew I found my garment.
...d up in Salvation Army bins. The U.S. textile recycling industry enables Africans to dress well for very little money. In 2003, used clothing was by far America’s largest export to Tanzania, and it ranked fourth worldwide as a customer for America’s castoffs, with competition from countries such as Beijing, and the Republic of the Congo.”
Linda Lim, a professor at the University of Michigan Business School, visited Vietnam and Indonesia in the summer of 2000 to obtain first-hand research on the impact of foreign-owned export factories (sweatshops) on the local economies. Lim found that in general, sweatshops pay above-average wages and conditions are no worse than the general alternatives: subsistence farming, domestic services, casual manual labor, prostitution, or unemployment. In the case of Vietnam in 1999, the minimum annual salary was 134 U.S. dollars while Nike workers in that country earned 670 U.S. dollars, the case is also the similar in Indonesia. Many times people in these countries are very surprised when they hear that American's boycott buying clothes that they make in the sweatshops. The simplest way to help many of these poor people that have to work in the sweatshops to support themselves and their families, would be to buy more products produced in the very sweatshops they detest.
Globalization and industrialization contribute to the existence of sweatshops, which are where garments are made cheaply, because they are moving production and consumption of those cheap goods. Industrialization has enabled for global distribution, to exchange those goods around the world. They can also set apart the circumstances of consumption and production, which Western countries as mass consumers, are protected from of producers in less developed countries. These factories are usually located in less developed countries and face worker exploitation and changes in social structures. Technological innovation allows for machines to take the place of workers and do all the dirty work instead of workers doing hours of hard work by hand.
It is certain that people are getting more used to wasting products that are still reliable to use and, especially in fashion, not that many people are aware of the concept of sustainability. Although concept of recycling paper, plastic and glass has now spread a cross the states, people still doesn’t know how to recycle or reuse their clothing. “65 pounds of clothing and textiles a year are improperly discarded and only an eight of that goes to charities for reuse [1].” This indicates how unaware people are when it comes to taking care of their garments. Or rather, the way in which fast fashion industry promotes the value of cloth is very low, and it is because the fashion industry wants people to get rid of their clothing as soon as possible in order to sell their new colle...
I hope to use this article in essay to support the policy section of my claim. Finding solutions to fast fashion is one of the harder topics to write about, and this article gives good insight to how I can shape the policy portion of my claim. I will bring up the idea of organic cotton, and other sustainable fiber plants, as a way consumers can shop more ethically. This article has broaden my perspective to possible solutions of fast fashion.
Have you ever wondered to your clothes once you donated them? Probably not, since you gave them away you are hoping that someone else likes them as much as you did. Is it possible that selling secondhand clothing can hurt a country 's economy? The Global Trade of Secondhand Clothing isn’t a new thing, we have all donated old clothing to places like the Salvation Army, Goodwill and other charities. You would think that donating your clothing is better than throwing it away, but at the same time donating clothing can have a negative impact. Even if you donate it doesn’t mean it will also be donated companies have to make money so they sell them. What happens to the clothes that cannot be sold, the ones that are ratty and worn? Wholesalers
Moreover, international trade can be more effective in reducing poverty than outright aid in which trade can help any country become self-sufficient, rather than relying on foreign assistance. However, there are, many disparities within the present global trade system that work against poor countries. That is regulated by a set of rules created by governments over the years. In general, poor countries don't have access to developed countries’ markets because of the barriers of trade and agricultural. It’s difficult for poor countries, because of trade barriers, to sell their products abroad and develop their living conditions. While free trade benefits everyone, governments sometimes aim to protect their goods and markets by providing subsidies to local rules and producers, or creating barriers like tariffs and quotas. This particular practice is known as Protectionism; which can be identified as the economic policies and procedures of controlling trade between states...