{"id":11855,"date":"2024-06-03T09:13:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T09:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=11855"},"modified":"2024-06-03T10:13:12","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T10:13:12","slug":"second-hand-clothing-industry-continues-to-thrive-despite-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=11855","title":{"rendered":"Second-hand clothing industry continues to thrive despite challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 39 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

Data from the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers\u2019 Association (GUCD) suggests that the import of second-hand clothes commonly referred to as \u201cObroni wawu\u201d reached over $300 million over two years in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n

The UK remains the highest exporter of used clothes to Ghana, bringing in about $150 million worth of clothes in 2021 and 2022, followed by China, which brought in about $82 million within the same period.<\/p>\n

The rest are from Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, the US, Germany, South Korea, Italy, and Belgium, in that order.<\/p>\n

Kantamanto, the hub of the trade, receives about 50 40-foot containers of bales weekly. It hosts about 5,000 stalls of second-hand clothes retailers in Accra alone.<\/p>\n

George Addo, who has been in the business of retailing for decades, in an interview with Citi Business News said, \u201cI have been doing this for 30 years now. I must say it is what has sustained my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation we find ourselves in is not ideal as prices keep rising. However, we can only keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christiana Mensah, a wholesaler, sharing her daily routine with Citi Business News said \u201cI arrive here as early as 4:30 am. I deal in women\u2019s cotton trousers. I am here every day unless I must attend to an emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the goods we receive do not meet our expectations, resulting in a loss for us. Additionally, the purchasing power of most of our customers has decreased. A GHS100 which could afford 10 pieces of clothing can now only buy 5,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Just as many sectors of the local economy are being impacted by the depreciating cedi, the second-hand clothing business is not spared.<\/p>\n

The General Secretary of the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association, Kwaning Asante Boateng, in an interview with Citi Business News said importers face several challenges daily.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe duty alone is GHC150,000. What is making this business very difficult for us is the rate at which the cedi keeps depreciating. We want the government to arrest the dollar for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt costs between \u00a335,000 and \u00a340,000 to bring a container full of bales from the UK, including freight. Honestly, we do not make profits as we wish. All we strive for mostly is to break even. In order to make any profits, we need to keep importing, but it costs a lot to do so. We are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contrary to assertions that second-hand clothes imported into Africa are waste, creating pollution and negative environmental impacts, Kwame Addo opines that importers are committed to sustainable practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goods are not of poor quality. Additionally, there is still a market for items that aren\u2019t good enough to be sold. Industries purchase these items to use as rags.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret Quartey, a mother explained that the hikes in thrift prices have reduced her purchasing power.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, the prices of clothes were quite affordable, but they\u2019ve gone up recently. I\u2019m just sorting through the thrift stores to find ones I can afford for my children.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Second-hand clothing industry continues to thrive despite challenges<\/a> appeared first on Citinewsroom – Comprehensive News in Ghana<\/a>.<\/p>

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Data from the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers\u2019 Association (GUCD) suggests that the import of second-hand clothes commonly referred to as \u201cObroni wawu\u201d reached over $300 million over two years in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11855"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11890,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11855\/revisions\/11890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}