Are ‘Mountains’ of Clothing Waste the New 'Height of Fashion?

 

Sales of used clothing are part of fast fashion, but the industry is breaking down because of COVID-19 restrictions¹.

Fast fashion is a term for the manufacture and marketing² of clothing that often looks like popular fashion creations. But fast fashion goods are mass produced and sold at low prices.

Fast fashion appeals to the many people who want to wear the latest styles from major designers but do not have enough money to buy them. The industry is worth about $35 billion a year. However, it depends on a complex process of used clothing sales.

Clothing re-sale and recycling helps prevent the fashion industry's growing amount of waste from going directly to landfills. It can also help many people clear out old clothing and shoes from their homes to make room for next season's designs.

But now, the system is facing a crisis.

Exporters are struggling, as are traders and buyers. Many buyers are from poorer nations and depend on a continuous supply of used clothes.

The signs are everywhere.

From London to Los Angeles, many used clothing stores and clothing banks have been filling up with more clothing than could be sold. Mountains of clothes are building up in storage centers.

Since the COVID-19 crisis began, clothing recyclers and exporters have had to cut prices as their supplies grew and health safety measures restricted movement and business.

"We are reaching the point where our warehouses³ are completely full," Antonio de Carvalho wrote to a client in June. De Carvalho is the head of a clothing recycling company in Stourbridge, England. The client had requested a price cut for clothing he collects.

De Carvalho pays towns for clothing collected in his containers then sells it to traders overseas. Since May, he says, he has had to cut the price for a ton of clothes from about $725 to about $515. He said that is making it hard for his company, Green World Recycling, to pay the costs of collecting and storing products.

Buyers were also asking to increase the credit period before they had to pay from 15 days to 45 to 60 days, de Carvalho wrote.

"We are losing ... a huge amount of money, making a big loss for the operation."

‘Going out of business'

De Carvalho's experience is shared across the industry, leading to expectations of a slow recovery even if the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

Recycling businesses are already taking steps in hopes of saving money. Reuters spoke⁴ to officials of 16 such companies in Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, and the United States. The officials reported that they are removing containers for clothing donations from streets and reducing the number of times these clothing banks are emptied. They also are considering dismissing some employees.

At the same time, donations have increased as many people stuck at home are clearing out old clothing.

"This is unlike any other recession in a century," said Jackie King. She leads the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART), a U.S. trade group. "I would anticipate there will be companies going out of business," she said.

Exports of used clothing have shrunk this year.

In Britain, the weight of used clothing exported from March to July was around half what it was for the same period last year, official trade reports show. Exports improved in July - the latest month on record - as countries began to re-open, but were still down around 30 percent.

In the United States, the value of exports from March to July fell 45 percent compared with the same period last year, government records show.

Up to a third of clothes donated in the United States – the world's biggest exporter of used clothing – ends up for sale in markets in the developing world.

Kenyan troubles

The results of the drop in sales can be seen in some African countries.

Kenya imported 176,000 tons of second-hand⁵ clothing in 2018.

On a recent day, business was slow in Gikomba, an open-air market in Nairobi, the country's capital. Gikomba is one of the biggest used clothes markets in East Africa.

Traders have been hit with an already shrinking supply, made even smaller by COVID-linked bans on clothing imports. And COVID restrictions and worries have meant more people are staying at home.

"Before coronavirus came in, I would manage to sell at least 50 trousers a day," said trader Nicholas Mutisya, who also sells hats. "But now with coronavirus," he added, "even selling one a day has become difficult."

The ban on textile imports ended in August. Yet the struggle continues for traders like Mutisya and Anthony Kang'ethe. He is a driver for a store selling used clothes shipped from Britain. Kang'ethe said the business had been hit hard by the supply crunch⁶. "Before we used to have five workers in our company," he said. "We are left with two."

Fashion as an environmental enemy

Major trade in used clothing from Europe and the United States rose in the 1990s as demand for Western fashion increased in Africa and Eastern Europe.

Such demand has provided badly needed help for a growing fashion market. Clothing production has increased 100 percent over the past 15 years, reports the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a British aid group.

In March of 2019, the United Nations Environment Programme reported the fashion industry was the second-biggest industrial user of water. It also noted⁷ that fashion businesses are responsible for up to 10 percent of carbon releases worldwide, more than international flights and shipping⁸ combined.

And old clothing represents a massive and growing amount of waste that ends up in landfills.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says America produces just under 15.4 million tons of cloth waste a year. More than 65 percent of that waste goes to landfills.

Words in This Story

fashion –n. the business of creating and selling clothes in new styles

style –n. a particular form or design of something

recycling –v. to make something new from (something that has been used before)

client –n. a person who pays a professional person or organization for services

anticipate –v. to think of something that will or might happen in the future

manage –v. to have control of (something, such as a business, department, sports team, etc.)

trousers –n. pants

textile –n. the businesses that make textiles (cloth and clothing)

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

3 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

6 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。