The International Trade in Secondhand Clothing: Managing Information Asymmetry between West African and British Traders

Abimbola, Olumide

doi:10.2752/175183512x13315695424310

Cited by 34 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…A number of studies of the trade across Africa have shown that importing, trading, retailing, washing, repairing and altering SHC provides significant opportunities for employment in local secondary markets (Abimbola, 2012;Baden and Barber, 2005;Field, 2000Field, , 2007Haggblade, 1990;Hansen, 2000;Ogawa, 2006;Rivoli, 2005). In regions where importing is illegal, street trading may be viewed as politically assertive and partially constitutive of 'globalization from below' (Gauthier, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…3 While cheap semi-skilled labour and tariff-free export zones attract international recyclers to establish sorting facilities, so does proximity to restricted markets across porous borders, as is the case in Togo for Nigeria (e.g. Abimbola, 2012), Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India for domestic markets (see below), USA/Mexico (Gauthier, 2010) and Hong Kong for the Philippines (Milgram, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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The limits of ethicality in international markets: Imported second-hand clothing in India

Norris¹

2015

Geoforum

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a b s t r a c tThose of us living in the global north are increasingly urged to divert cast-off clothing from the local waste stream and donate it for reuse and recycling. It is argued that this is the right thing to do, since it is environmentally responsible behaviour, conserves resources, and supports charities via collection systems. Second-hand clothing is thereby culturally framed as waste, as a surplus, and as a morally-charged product that has a powerful redemptive capacity for donors, multiple recyclers and secondary consumers. Two-thirds of collected used clothing is commercially exported for reuse in developing countries, and it is as a freely-traded commodity that it is claimed to grow markets and support livelihoods in the global south, rather than a fairly-traded product. As policy-makers in Northern Europe seek to improve sustainable systems of textile reuse and recycling, ethical issues associated with distant destination markets in the global South are beginning to garner attention. Imported used clothing is ubiquitous in India despite highly restrictive tariff barriers, and the Indian market provides a thought-provoking example since in this case the trade is neither fair nor free. The paper evidences the complexity of the market as vertical hierarchies of dealers negotiate and expand the multiple spaces between legal and illegal commodity flows, and formal and informal economies, to build successful businesses. It reflects upon debates in India around democracy, development and neoliberal economics, and suggests that efforts to introduce ethical interventions in end markets will have to negotiate the nexus of power, politics and corruption.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The limits of ethicality in international markets: Imported second-hand clothing in India

Norris¹

2015

Geoforum

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“…The trade in used clothing is a good example [150]. Recent research by Olumide Abimbola has shown how family-based networks of Igbo Nigerian traders operate in the European used-clothing market [151]. West African importers are sending their sons to work as apprentices in the sorting factories of UK used-clothing exporters to overcome their lack of knowledge about which garments are selected to go into which bales of used clothing sent for export [152].…”

Section: : Wastes To Resources: Global Recycling Economies and Globamentioning

confidence: 99%

From Waste to Resource: The Trade in Wastes and Global Recycling Economies

Gregson

Crang

2015

Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour.

122

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“…It tends to take a few consignments of exports between a European exporter and an African wholesaler before the grades have been completely matched to needs (Abimbola, 2012). Thus long-term relationships are key in this trade.…”

Section: Waste Beyond the Eumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, considerable quantities of second-hand clothing are smuggled into Nigeria (a country with a strict ban) from neighbouring Benin (Abimbola, 2012).…”

Section: 46mentioning

confidence: 99%