Uganda bans the import of used clothing, but is it really a good solution?

The West produces and consumes an enormous amount of clothing, the most used of which ends up being shipped abroad, such as to the Atacama Desert in Chile or the city of Accra in Ghana. Some are stagnant, others are saturating the local used market. So much so that, for example, petitions ask us to stop exporting our textile waste to Africa. In late August, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni took a firmer step by banning the import of used Western clothing, believing it impeded the development of the local industry. This is, for example, a measure already in force in Rwanda since 2016.

Why does Uganda ban the import of second-hand clothing?

However, some voices speak out against this decision, such as Bobby Kolade, Ugandan designer and founder of the Buzigahill brand, accustomed to transforming second-hand clothes to resell them in the West. In an article published by Caretakerpresents President Yoweri Museveni’s measure as a ” a violent slap in the face for communities across Uganda whose livelihoods depend on second-hand trading. For decades, importers, market sellers, recyclers, fashion designers, artists and waste managers have been finding creative ways to make a living from fast fashion waste “.

According to the Uganda Second Hand Clothing and Footwear Dealers Association, more than 4 million Ugandans work directly and indirectly in the second-hand clothing and textiles supply chain. And therefore they depend to a greater or lesser extent on it. This is why a too sudden application of President Yoweri Museveni’s measure could jeopardize their activities, especially since no compensation has been announced (yet?)

“An unjust and colonial world”

This is what leads Ugandan designer Bobby Kolade to speak openly about “ economic suicide » and instead calls for a gradual elimination of the import of used textiles, in his article reported by Caretaker :

“If only we could ban the import of torn and stained clothing. It is only in an unjust and colonial world that Ugandan importers are blindly forced to buy batches of white shirts with yellowish armpits.

A ban can only work if affected communities are consulted and alternatives and deadlines are designed collectively. Communities know what they need: let’s listen to them and co-create with them. »

According to designer Bobby Kolade, Uganda has developed capacity and wealth in rethinking, reusing, recycling all these imported materials, according to an ideal of circular fashion, and would benefit from their gradual disposal:

“There are local alternatives that may not create 2,000 jobs at once, but are replicable in environmentally friendly settings in rural areas. Support Ugandan silk producers; reintroduce hand weaving among rural women’s groups; restructure and enhance the cotton industry so that it can return to its former glory; invest in the production of hemp and bamboo fibres. Raw material production should always be at the heart of any textile industry, and with the abundance of resources in Uganda, we have the potential to excel in sustainable fiber production. »

“The Ugandan textile industry does not have the capacity to do without second-hand clothes”

Thanks to the development of his own upcycling brand, Bobby Kolade has a good insight into the industry, which leads him to the following conclusion:

“After years of research, we admitted: the Ugandan textile industry cannot do without second-hand clothes. Instead, we are now redesigning second-hand clothes and redistributing them in the Global North. »

In this sense, it requests support for the campaign of the Gold Foundation, based in Ghana, Stop Waste Colonialism (let’s stop colonialism through waste) which aims at a transition based on justice, to move from a linear economy to a circular economy, making people responsible Northern countries for their fast fashion waste thanks to the extended producer responsibility fund. What in France we also designate with the expression ” polluters pay “.

Finally, Uganda does what it wants, perhaps it is also and above all up to the Northern countries to produce fewer clothes, keep them longer, repair them and otherwise manage their own textile waste without taking the rest of the world as its garbage.