Ghanaians urge fashion brands to step up after fire consumes world's largest clothing market

Yayra Agbofah has barely slept since a fire broke out in the world's largest second-hand clothing market just over a week ago.

The January 2 fire at the Kantamanto Market in Ghana's capital Accra reduced large parts of the market to ashes, destroying millions of used clothing items and endangering the livelihoods of over 30,000.

Agbofah runs The Revival, an organization that creates art and fashion using materials that market vendors cannot sell. His company's storage facility was destroyed in the fire, but his studio was unaffected.

Many of his friends and family, he says, were not so lucky.

“I couldn't sleep properly because of the crisis and I had to see my people, my family and friends break down in tears because their livelihood is destroyed and you have to start from scratch ,” he said. As it happens hosted by Nil Kӧksal.

Agbofah is raising money to help rebuild the market, which he says plays a vital role in Accra's economy and helps store millions of tonnes of clothing. the distribution that oceans and landfills would otherwise provide.

He and others are also calling on fast fashion brands like Shein, H&M and Zara — none of which responded to CBC's request for comment — to contribute financially to cleaning up and rebuilding the market.

“We will try to clean up their mess,” he said. “It's the least they can do to take responsibility.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

From Canadian donation bins, to Ghanaian seas

Kantamanto Market vendors recycle about 15 million pieces of used clothing each month through resale, reuse, repair and remanufacturing, according to the Or Foundation, an American-Ghanaian charity that work to find sustainable solutions to fast fashion waste.

The charity believes the fire reduced more than 8,000 stalls to dust and directly affected 10,000 workers.

The products sold there usually come from Canada, the US and England, Agbofah said, arriving almost every day in large shipping containers at the Accra dockyards.

People in wealthy countries donate used clothes to charities and thrift stores, which take what they need and throw away the rest. The rest is exported to lower income countries.

But what retailers in these countries can't sell is thrown away, ending up in landfills or the ocean, where it clogs beaches and destroys marine environments. .

“Whatever actions you take in the US and Canada will have a big impact on us here. If you eat so much, we have to deal with so much because it ends with us,” Agbofah said.

“I'm sure a lot of people think, donating to charity, that I'm helping or that I'm doing something, but it puts a burden on us.”

The Or Foundation says it is contributing US$1 million to relief and reconstruction after the fire. But he wants clothing companies to contribute.

“For too long, the fashion industry has used places like Kantamanto as a destination for the rest, but the work of Kantamanto has not been given enough attention to process the output of the serial economy,” said fashion designer Nutifafa Mensah, the charity's peer education director, said in an emailed statement.

“This is a real circular model that has been lost to ashes, and since the Kantamanto Market is trying to rebuild itself in all stability and resilience, we appeal for the support of the industry fashion in renaissance.”

The Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association (GUCDA), which represents used goods importers in the country, has also call on charities, companies and the country's government to help

CBC has contacted Ghana's Ministry of Trade and Industry for comment.

Reconstruction is already underway

Tens of thousands of Ghanaians depend on the market to make a living, Agbofah says. That's why they are already rebuilding.

“People are working day and night to get the market back on its feet, and it's an amazing thing to see,” he said.

“It restores hope and also shows the resilience of the Kantamanto community, that no level of destruction or fire would take away our unity and love for the market.”

Agbofah says he fell in love with Kantamanto the first moment he laid eyes on him as a child.

“That's where I find things that I see in the media, things that I see in magazines that we didn't have access to new,” he said.

He also saw an economic opportunity. Not only does he create clothes out of scrap clothes, he also works as a stylist, mixing and matching what he calls “rare gems” he gets from Kantamanto stalls .

Despite his popularity in the market, he says he cannot keep up with the volume of products arriving on Ghana's shores, and it is harder than ever to make a profit. turn

“If you are donating to your charity, you should think: This product that I am donating, is it something that someone could use? Why would you donate clothes that are torn, heavily colored items, items in poor condition, to charity?” he said.

“Do we deserve torn clothes? Do we deserve things in bad condition? Ghana is not a dumping ground.”