How Data Transparency Can Transform Textile Reuse

Before completing your 2025 study about secondhand clothing imports from the U.S. to Guatemala, you did an extensive study in Tanzania about the secondhand clothing trade and the reuse rates, waste management, environmental impacts.

Could you give us a few highlights from the study of this market to help us understand how local impacts differ from country to country?

Yeah, that's a really good question.

So because remember we said Guatemala imports what we call unsorted clothes, but whereas now in East Africa, so the study was based in both Tanzania and Uganda, they require fine sorted clothes, meaning clothing that has been sorted through multiple steps and inspection processes before they're allowed to be imported.

And what's been interesting is that the informal market operates actually really similarly.

So in Tanzania and Uganda, just like in Guatemala, when they receive the sorted bail, they still open it and they still sort it again in the local context because of different pricing, right? Because some, some items just will sell more and some item was just sell a little bit less.

And so what we found was that there was some similarity in practices, and you can also see the similarity with the U S just like in U S retail shop, there is a full price item and there's a sales, you know, racket, right?

I think it's

called racket.

Yeah.

So then that goes, you know that when you're toward the end of the season sale, it's like it goes 20, 40, 60, 80, 90% discount sale.

And then there's the final clearance sales, right? This is the same concept in Uganda and Tanzania.

That's what we found.

And because of this, the retailers are able to extract, they keep selling their items.

And then they have a final sale, just like in the US, in Guatemala, they call the liquidation and locally they call Fagia.

So they sell it by the pound or the kg.

Like in the US, they sell it by the pounds to an outlet.

Maybe an outlet buys it and they keep selling it or like a discount shop, they will keep selling it.

Just like that in East Africa.

So because of the supply chain, we saw that actually about 96 to 95% 2.5% of the goods are sold for reuse.

2.9% to 3.2% are sold for wipers and rags.

And only 1.1% to 1.3%, they just couldn't find an economic value for it, meaning they couldn't find a buyer for it.

And what we're seeing and we suspect that 1% is often because clothing are sold by humans.

And so we make mistakes, right? So because these buyers are so it's such a competitive industry, you know, it's so competitive, and they're very outspoken, they're always negotiating in the market is that they don't want items inside that don't have a value.

So they work with their exporters, for a long time to negotiate quality, to make sure it matches with their buyers.

And this is built through a long-term relationship.

And this is also similarly saw in Guatemala.

Even though they're buying credential clothing, meaning unsorted, but they know who their suppliers are and this is a long-term relationship.

And so if their sorting facility is seeing a quality change because they're also collecting data, on their shipment to say, okay, this consignment has this quality.

Then if the quality changes, they immediately convert it, convey it to their supplier, which is Garson and Shaw and say, hey, by the way, there's been a change.

What is going on? That relationship is so tight-knit and they're always in communication.

So we ask them, how often do you communicate with your Supplier, they say every week.

We talk to them every week just to, if there's a need, even more frequently.

It's a long-term relationship that's built because that also comes with credits, finance option directly from your supplier.

They'll give you better terms and stuff.

And so that was really interesting for us to see the impact from one country to another.

Both countries, as I mentioned earlier, has a high concentration of women working.

So that was interesting.

you know, really positive to see, I think I'm suspecting this low barrier to entry.

And what's been really great to see was that, you know, when, when women in the informal markets, they may not have a lot of money to start with a capital.

So they may only have like $10, $20.

So what they would do is they would buy pieces.

They would go, they become the selector.

So the go to someone who opens a bail and, They go there to pick out the pieces they want and they go sell it.

What we saw in the Uganda and Tanzania studies is that the probability of them become a bail buyer is almost as I think within five years was like 80% of them like move to the, they move upward in the supply chain.