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The world has a problem with clothing donations
The strange issue of charity for the victims of the Los Angeles fires
January 17th, 2025
The fires that broke out at the beginning of January in Los Angeles triggered a generous wave of charity to assist the victims, driven mainly by campaigns on TikTok and donation centers. These centers, often quickly set up in parking lots as makeshift solutions, were overwhelmed with goods of all kinds. Initially, it was expected that mainly essential items such as sheets, blankets, toys, and toilet paper would arrive. However, the reality was quite different: an enormous amount of used clothes was donated. Likely driven by the best intentions, many people responded to the emergency by emptying their wardrobes. However, most of these garments are of low quality, a product of fast fashion, and unusable, with most ending up in landfills. This led many collection centers to take the drastic decision to stop accepting used clothing. The situation became so unmanageable that even creators who initiated the donation campaigns had to refuse the clothes received, instead urging people to send money to buy useful items. The organization Open Closit published a post on Instagram, clearly specifying which items are truly needed. But what happens to everything that is donated?
This situation undeniably reflects rampant consumerism, but it also raises the question of whether there is more behind the donors' intentions. In addition to being one of the best ways to clear out a wardrobe when more space is needed, donating to charity brings optimistic thoughts of the potential new life given to one's clothing. Perhaps this is why so much trust is placed in thrift stores and apps like Vinted or Vestiaire Collective. Only a small portion of what is donated is actually used or sold; the rest becomes part of an invisible mechanism on the other side of the world. In a scenario mirroring the current situation in Los Angeles, buried under 15 tons of donated clothes is Kantamanto, the largest second-hand clothing market in Accra. Donated clothes, in fact, arrive in Africa from northern countries, Europe, and America, and are sold here. The co-founder of the non-profit The Or Foundation, Liz Ricketts— as reported by Business of Fashion—highlighted how dealing with stained t-shirts or unwashed underwear is the norm for those working in the second-hand supply chain at Kantamanto.
Kantamanto has become a global symbol of the second-hand trade, with its great efforts in sales, upcycling, and resale, but also for the striking images of unusable textile waste polluting water and beaches. Faced with such a scenario, one must inevitably address the issue of the enormous volume of clothing produced in the Global North and the lack of adequate facilities to manage its disposal. In addition to this, there is the circulation of very low-quality products driven by the rise of fast fashion and its promotion through social media. At the beginning of the year, the African market also faced a fire that devastated much of its goods and crippled its precarious structures. The creative director of The Or, Daniel Mawuli Quist, emphasized to Vogue Business the importance of quickly rebuilding the market: “The reuse and recycling model of clothing at the Kantamanto market offers a powerful example of sustainable fashion in action, highlighting the potential of local initiatives to drive global change.” One wonders if it is time to rethink habits in a reality where brands, both fast fashion and others, produce at an excessive speed—far more than they can sell. Buying less, choosing more carefully, and promoting a sustainable and circular fashion model. Getting to the root of the problem and placing trust in Gen Z for a paradigm shift – is it a utopia, or could it truly be possible?