With the prevalence of fast fashion, clothing donations have become a routine consequence of each season’s newest trends.
Reports have found that the UK and US donate the highest volumes of clothing in the world. In the UK alone, 1,130,00 tonnes of clothing were consumed in 2016, and only kept for an average of 2.2 years – unsurprisingly, this habitual, flippant consumption and subsequent donation of clothing means that charity shops are left with more stock than they can handle.
Whilst we may like to think that our clothing donations truly are donated, the reality of our excessive consumption is that up to 90 percent of donated items are exported to foreign markets, simply because of the unmanageable amount. Kenya is amongst the many countries that most frequently receive these exports, and a closer look at the Kenyan apparel and textile industry reveals just how much these donations are harming their local economy.
Beginning in the late 1970s, imports of clothing donations were brought in to Kenya duty-free as charitable aid during times of war, and later on, was given freely to the poor. By the mid-1980s, however, there was a great demand for cheap, second-hand clothing. This led to distribution policies changing, with Kenya eventually being charged for these imports.
Though the demand for these clothes still exists, and second-hand clothing trade has provided employment for some, the repercussions have been detrimental for so many more. Not only have local clothing artisans and textile manufacturers been negatively impacted, but the livelihoods of people linked to the clothing industry such as cotton farmers, ginners, mill workers and domestic traders have been grossly affected too. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs, and unemployment is still rising.
Ultimately, the dumping of unwanted clothing, conveniently framed as “clothing donations” hinder local development and economic independence. Well-intended as they might be, donations help maintain a system whereby the recipients become entirely dependant on the West. For that very reason, clothing donations are widely referred to by Kenyan tradespeople as a form of neo-colonialism.
The biggest step we can take toward ensuring that we don’t continue to systemically damage local economies is to stop buying new clothes unnecessarily, and only invest in garments that will have longevity within our wardrobes. This way, half-heartedly and impulsively bought clothes are not constantly having to be discarded. But what can we do with our hoards of unwanted clothes we have already decided we no longer want?
Here are three easy alternatives:
1. Sell Second-Hand
Donations may be a quick solution to shift clothes out of your house, but taking the time to sell second-hand through marketplaces like Depop will ensure that your clothes do not end up dumped in continents away from its place of purchase.
2. Host Clothing Swaps
An alternative to selling is to swap. Like selling second-hand, clothing swaps guarantee that your garments have a new, but still relatively local home. Swapping also guarantees that you’ll be getting a new item that you want too.
3. Re-Purpose Clothing
Perhaps your pieces aren’t selling, or are too worn out to be swapped. This is an opportunity to practice making something new without having to buy new fabric. Many sustainable apparel companies actively look for deadstock material to create new pieces for their collections, so donating to them (rather than charities who already have too much to handle) is also an effective way of making sure your clothing gets re-purposed.
Donations have often been a means of easing our conscience regarding our consumerist habits. We may have once even convinced ourselves that our excessive consumption is indirectly helping people in need. But it is evident that charity donations are not as virtuous an act as we may have hoped it to be.
Our quick-buy, quick-discard tendencies have brought about a complex chain of issues. Reconsidering alternatives to charity donations will by no means immediately solve those problems – but bringing more mindful practices like those listed above will undoubtedly bring about gradual change, and ensure that we are helping, rather than harming.
