it's foreseeable that the African solution to our overconsumption may come to an end. What then?

Just recycle them normally?

second hand clothing exports have done done a great job of farking up native textile industries in sub-Saharan Africa.

the few companies that survived from the used clothes onslaught were taken out by Chinese competition.

repeat this for many other industries: automotive, electronics, furniture, etc.

dumbobruni: second hand clothing exports have done done a great job of farking up native textile industries in sub-Saharan Africa.

the few companies that survived from the used clothes onslaught were taken out by Chinese competition.

repeat this for many other industries: automotive, electronics, furniture, etc.

The way you say that makes it sound almost like we did too good a job at producing and everyone else suffered. My thoughts then turn to costs. How, if we're the richest country and have to pay the most, did lower-currency countries pay for our stuff? Logically this is disconnected.

ajgeek: dumbobruni: second hand clothing exports have done done a great job of farking up native textile industries in sub-Saharan Africa.

the few companies that survived from the used clothes onslaught were taken out by Chinese competition.

repeat this for many other industries: automotive, electronics, furniture, etc.

The way you say that makes it sound almost like we did too good a job at producing and everyone else suffered. My thoughts then turn to costs. How, if we're the richest country and have to pay the most, did lower-currency countries pay for our stuff? Logically this is disconnected.

what part of second hand do you not understand?

these are clothing items that are given away FOR FREE, then sold in developing nations.

Reminded me of this gem after the Superbowl:

Plenty of them end up with the hipsters in Chicago

There are collection boxes all over south Florida that say only "DONATION BOX". They are clearly not related to any known charity. I suspect the clothing that gets dropped in them is only making money for the person responsible for the box, and nothing ever actually gets to a charity.

Being a stereotypical male, I tend to wear clothing beyond its useful life and into shredded-rag form. I only retire it if my junk/ass is visible through the holes & rips.
I'm a bad consumer - and Africa suffers because of it.

Devolving_Spud: There are collection boxes all over south Florida that say only "DONATION BOX". They are clearly not related to any known charity. I suspect the clothing that gets dropped in them is only making money for the person responsible for the box, and nothing ever actually gets to a charity.

In my area, huge red trash containers saying "CLOTHING DONATION BOX" popped up all over the area in an extremely short period of time. People began dropping off their bags of clothes pretty regularly until the local newspaper did an investigative story half a year later that showed the containers were all owned by a local company that re-sold the more stylish donations. When people wrote in saying someone should prosecute, the editors pointed out that there was no basis for any type of prosecution for selling donated items. The containers are still there but only people new to the area seem to use them with any frequency now.

dumbobruni: these are clothing items that are given away FOR FREE, then sold in developing nations.

You didn't just reference clothing. If we're giving away cars and selling them to people in countries around the world, we have other problems going on. So again, how do these people afford the stuff?

ajgeek: dumbobruni: these are clothing items that are given away FOR FREE, then sold in developing nations.

You didn't just reference clothing. If we're giving away cars and selling them to people in countries around the world, we have other problems going on. So again, how do these people afford the stuff?

cars might be donated, ever see those cars4kids ads?

and electronics....when you drop those off at "recycling centers" or when your used appliances are taken away when new ones are delivered, they are not necessarily broken down into pieces. often, they are repackaged and shipped overseas.

same with furniture donations (just not as often)

for the demand side, for cars especially: African consumers do have money. The whole continent is poor overall, but the middle class is growing.

as it is, Africa has a bigger middle class than India. in places like Nigeria and South Africa, more than 20% of the population is middle class (a share that has doubled in 15 years) and the populations of these countries are expected to double by 2040.

Link

Vaguely related, but it bothers me how so many stores will "kindly" use the money you donate to those boxes they have out so they can get a tax break.

If you're in a giving mood, donate directly and bypass these pricks who use your donation as if it were their own.

I already assumed everything I threw away went to Africa.

dumbobruni: as it is, Africa has a bigger middle class than India.

Hey - Don't ruin my belief that there are millions of African Buffalo Bills fans who think they won four Super Bowls!

csb: I was sitting in the local UU church one Sunday a few years ago, and realized that the person sitting in front of me was wearing a wool jacket that I'd given to Goodwill at least 15 years earlier.

It had a very distinctive stain on the back. I was riding with a friend of mine when he rolled the car. I happened to be drinking a chocolate milkshake at the time.....

Here in Nova Scotia, there's a huge industry built around selling used clothing. Most of it comes from Boston and the surrounding areas.

It's awesome for buying baby clothes - most of it tends to be almost new, and at a fraction of the retil price.

Devolving_Spud: There are collection boxes all over south Florida that say only "DONATION BOX". They are clearly not related to any known charity. I suspect the clothing that gets dropped in them is only making money for the person responsible for the box, and nothing ever actually gets to a charity.

Hmmmmmm....the box doesn't say what is supposed to go in the box, now does it? Guess they should have specified "no dumping here"....

Gortex: Here in Nova Scotia, there's a huge industry built around selling used clothing. Most of it comes from Boston and the surrounding areas.

It's awesome for buying baby clothes - most of it tends to be almost new, and at a fraction of the retil price.

Baby clothes are great to buy used. Kids grow out of things long before they wear them out.

CS,S: When I was teaching English in Africa the town I was in had what I called visual athletic schizophrenia. Everywhere you looked people where wearing t shirts supporting sports teams but it was always a jumble of different ones from different cities. I had no idea how weird that would seem until I was seeing it everyday.

K.B.O. Winston: Baby clothes are great to buy used.

So this, especially for infants, I don't know why anyone buys new.

Do you want to go to Target (let alone more fashionable places) and pay $15 for an outfit that will fit for 2-3 weeks max (maybe $2 per wear or so) or pay 75 cents at the thrift store for the same piece of clothing (5 cents per wear)?

The waste is apparent, but I'd love to know how they arrived at the conclusion that the average American woman owns seven pairs of jeans. I own three pair of jeans: two purchased from thrift stores, one pair purchased from the mall. My three sisters each own three pair of jeans. Two of them will no longer set foot in a thrift store and only buy new clothes. My mother and my one surviving Aunt, still healthy enough to buy and wear clothes, each own two pair of jeans. I don't think my mother has owned more than two pair of jeans her entire life. And she wears jeans almost every day. She always said "one to wear, one to wash". She thinks my sisters and I are lazy because we try to get out of having to do laundry every single day by owning three pair of jeans. Of course, with kids we still have to do laundry every single day.

dumbobruni:

You make several good points. I could have swore Africa as a continent was still under $1T USD, though obviously there's a LONG way to go. It's good to see that the economy there is starting to ramp up. The more you know, right?
As an aside, I'm wondering how long it will be before China starts eating up all the iron for itself, starving Africa out.

/thank you for talking to me seriously.
//seriously

Lunaville: The waste is apparent, but I'd love to know how they arrived at the conclusion that the average American woman owns seven pairs of jeans. I own three pair of jeans: two purchased from thrift stores, one pair purchased from the mall. My three sisters each own three pair of jeans. Two of them will no longer set foot in a thrift store and only buy new clothes. My mother and my one surviving Aunt, still healthy enough to buy and wear clothes, each own two pair of jeans. I don't think my mother has owned more than two pair of jeans her entire life. And she wears jeans almost every day. She always said "one to wear, one to wash". She thinks my sisters and I are lazy because we try to get out of having to do laundry every single day by owning three pair of jeans. Of course, with kids we still have to do laundry every single day.

Ha. You wash jeans prior to the unbearable smell forcing you to.

Contrary to popular opinion, the out-of-date, 10-year-old clothes you put in the Goodwill bin don't all end up in Alabama

Well the shoes obviously don't.

I stopped buying new clothes about 8 years ago because I can't afford upscale design shops and everything else is the SOS with different labels. Now I go on treasure hunts through all the resale shops for high-quality, unique clothes.

It's fun, I can afford anything I want, I have an interesting wardrobe, it's recycling and the bad karma from buying sweat-shop clothes has already rubbed off on the first buyer. Plus, I buy new coats every winter, give the old ones to charity drives and I also get to spend my savings on extra-lovely undergarments.

WTF kind of people are we that we buy so many clothes we can't give them all away?

oldfarthenry: Being a stereotypical male, I tend to wear clothing beyond its useful life and into shredded-rag form. I only retire it if my junk/ass is visible through the holes & rips.
I'm a bad consumer - and Africa suffers because of it.

I still have shirts in my closet that I wore in high school. I would probably still wear them too but for some reason they seem to have shrunk a bit, probably cheap fabric. I usually keep wearing a pair of shoes until they literally fall apart.

damnit so who do I give these to?

Hand Banana: oldfarthenry: Being a stereotypical male, I tend to wear clothing beyond its useful life and into shredded-rag form. I only retire it if my junk/ass is visible through the holes & rips.
I'm a bad consumer - and Africa suffers because of it.

I still have shirts in my closet that I wore in high school. I would probably still wear them too but for some reason they seem to have shrunk a bit, probably cheap fabric. I usually keep wearing a pair of shoes until they literally fall apart.

The last shirt I had from high school fell apart last year. My mother had made it. I graduated from high school in 1985.

tl;dr

/Get to the farking point already.

invictus2: [cache1.bigcartel.com image 640x959]
[solecollector.com image 615x349]

Hey, you found my jacket!

AliceBToklasLives: Do you want to go to Target (let alone more fashionable places) and pay $15 for an outfit that will fit for 2-3 weeks max (maybe $2 per wear or so) or pay 75 cents at the thrift store for the same piece of clothing (5 cents per wear)?

Buy at Target: wear it 7.5 times. Buy at thrift store: wear it 15 times. Got it. :)