Second-hand clothes, popularly known as mtumba, are a thriving part of Kenya’s fashion industry, especially in Nairobi’s Gikomba market.
According to Nation, Fashion Revolution, a UK -based group that promotes sustainable clothing manufacturing wants the country to ban the export of second-hand clothes.
The clothes are donated by UK people as a gesture of goodwill, but they do not clothe poor children as intended but end up feeding the second-hand market.
Britain, the world’s second-largest exporter of used garments, annually gives an estimated 365 million unused items of clothing, worth approximately £5.4 billion.
Kenya is the third largest importer of these clothes after Ghana and Benin which are offered at a fraction of their manufacturing cost.
The country imports approximately 100,000 tonnes of second-hand clothes annually, hence earning revenues from customs duties and creating tens of thousands of jobs.