Often, the discussion surrounding Africa’s import trading victimises the continent, emphasising the significance of importing western goods to sustain Africa’s economic standing. When observing the textile industry in particular, this harmful ideology that deems Africa in need of an endless supply chain of second-hand clothing negates three major factors. 

First, the gross environmental impact this has on the continent by way of waste colonialism. As well as the economic strain that global imports have on domestic textile suppliers. Lastly, it dismisses the legislative action that African leaders elicit to combat material dependence to the West. 

Historically, Africa has been indebted to the West,  The debt cris is of 73’ and recolonisation of Africa by the BWI (World Bank) cemented their economic instability and larger political vulnerability. Subsequent to the debt crisis, the West had decided that they would take over African countries' debt, which reestablished Africa’s positionality as economically subservient to Western order. In other words, the West have historically used Africa’s economic vulnerability to weaponise trading and mineral extraction and importing. 

However, Africa has not capitulated to the West or acquiesced, as their individual leaders are enforcing legislative action to establish production sovereignty. In particular, I’ll take a closer look at how the textile industry, galvanised by mass colonial waste, has incited policy change to combat export trading tariffs and reclaim material and cultural wealth. 

In order to critique textile waste colonialism, we must observe the funnel system of second-hand clothing distribution in the West. Take the UK for example. As of 2019, it was estimated that Londoners got rid of 142,000 tonnes of clothing with roughly 60% of items collected by charities, local authorities, and textile merchants. This assumes that approximately 40% of garments are being insufficiently disposed of. But even still, the 60% of collected items aren’t being redistributed back into London homes, but being shipped to textile landfills, whereby usable items are resold at local markets although most are disposed of due to their condition. 

The Environment for Development estimates that around a third are unusable items that end up in landfills, mostly made from plastic-based materials like nylon and polyester that do not biodegrade. The assumption that charitable donations in this instance is an unwavering good deed, is a harmful rhetoric as it absolves the individual of responsibility of where their unwanted items actually end up. It stems from the same rationale that led to the undertaking of Africa’s debt by the BWI in the 80s, it is pitiful charitable neo-colonialism. 

The West assumes the notion that any form of ‘giving back’ to their less fortunate neighbours in the global south is unequivocally good, when the reality is for clothing donations to have a net positive impact, there would need to be a clothing deficit. 

Today, Africa’s countries are calling for resource sovereignty. In 2016, Rwanda introduced a ban on internationally imported second-hand clothing and by 2024, their budget zeroed all import duties on raw materials for textiles and footwear while simultaneously hiking tariffs on imported second-hand clothing. This industrial policy play allows for the accessible production of domestic apparel, though the trade off is the loss of a major low-income employment source in second-hand clothing markets. This causes disparity between residents, as some argue that provisions are insufficient to ensure the affordability of locally produced goods, while  others view it as a necessary price to pay for material reclamation.

Africa isn’t a monolith and its countries' leaders take varied approaches. Ghana for example, centralises public health and safety regulations, as banning second-hand clothing entirely exposes the country to economic vulnerability through an increase in unemployment rates due to the secondhand clothing industry’s plentiful job market. They are alternatively advocating for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies where fast fashion brands are financially responsible for their waste. As well as environmentally innovative projects like The Or Foundation that run beach clean ups and upcycling programs. 

Sanko is an African-led marketplace that allows local apparel to be outsourced globally. We export local garments both within the continent and to Western markets as part of a non-extractive investment model, supported by a digital marketplace that platforms African artisans and encourages global consumers to invest in the concept of reclaiming African craftsmanship and economic sovereignty. The idea is that by limiting the influx of inexpensive used garments, governments can protect local designers and manufacturers from foreign competition, allowing domestic brands to flourish. 

However, government investment in the local textile and garment industry is essential for growth as smaller businesses face high costs of procuring textiles. Therefore, the garments become expensive to purchase and an affluent western target audience is inevitably sought out. Reclaiming production sovereignty in Africa requires a global ideological and economic shift that rejects the western altruistic narrative suggesting that perpetual aid alone can resolve the continent's environmental and economic crises. 

This framing is far from reality. Across the continent, African leaders are challenging restrictive U.S and EU trade frameworks such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which enforce conditional access to global markets and penalise non-compliance. Sovereign independence isn’t achieved through a single policy but through a broader ideological and economic reframing. 

In short, Africa doesn’t need your hand-me-downs.

References & Further Reading:

Terreblanche, Sampie. The Exploitation of Africa and Africans by the Western World Since 1500: A Bird’s Eye View.

Earle Ledger, Florenne. What *really* happens to our clothing donations.

 AFP. From waste to runway. Kenyan designers transform used clothes into art.

Textile Exchange - An industry-leading platform providing data on global textile standards, fiber reports, and supply chain integrity.

Courage, Marcus. How Africa is moving towards production sovereignty.

The Fashion Law Academy Africa. A Review of the Economic Impact of Second-Hand Clothing Bans in Africa