For some 20 years, the fashion industry has undergone a radical transformation. Brands compete with speed to respond to ephemeral trends, fuelled by social networks and online sales platforms. This dynamic gave rise to the fast fashion — a model based on the accelerated production of low-cost clothing intended to be worn a few times before being thrown out. Africa, which is only marginally involved in this textile overproduction, is still suffering the consequences.

A world textile machine unbridled

At the origin of this drift is a textile production system designed to go ever faster, ever farther. Large ready-to-wear brands no longer create seasonal collections, but now launch thousands of new models every month. This infernal rate is made possible by hyper-reactive supply chains, often located in Asia, where labour costs are low and maximum flexibility.

What industry cannot sell or destroy, it exports. The destruction of stockpiles is increasingly ill-conceived and even prohibited in some European countries. The alternative that has been imposed is that of re-employment, or at least of its appearance. Under cover of donations, recycling or resale at reduced prices, clothing leaves European warehouses to be shipped elsewhere.

The African Continent, Landing Land of Surpluses

On the African coast, containers of used clothing come unabated. In major cities such as Accra, Nairobi or Dakar, these shipments quickly take the path of informal markets, where they fuel a perennial and precarious economy. Ballots are purchased blindly by traders, often indebted to acquire them, in the hope of profiting from them. Each opening is a lottery: sometimes a nugget, often a trap.

What could have represented an economic opportunity for the continent gradually became a burden. The absence of sorting, processing or recovery lines condemns these clothes to a fate of pollution. African cities become both the windows of textile globalization and its dumps.

The invisible trap of polyester

If second-hand clothing that flows into Africa is so problematic, it is also because of its composition. Since the fast fashion imposed its law, natural fibres have gradually been ousted in favour of polyester, a synthetic material derived from petroleum.

In Africa, where water treatment infrastructure is often rudimentary or absent, the impact is all the more severe. In coastal cities like Accra or Dakar, textiles abandoned in the streets are driven by rains to natural canals. There they are. slowly disintegrate, releasing these plastic fibres that contaminate soil, aquatic fauna and ultimately the food chain.

Fripery or textile colonialism?

What is happening today in African ports is not only a second-hand harmless trade. Many bundles are sold to Africa under textile labels « Reusable », while they actually contain a a significant proportion of clothing too damaged to be worn. It is a grey area of international legislation: it is enough not to declare a textile as « waste » to cross borders, even if it will never be carried.

African traders who buy these bundles often have no way of knowing what they really contain. There is no transparency standard on textile quality or precise labelling. Once you're open, it's too late. Unsold clothes are left on the spot, on the street, on the beaches, or directly burned in the open air.

The economic setback: between dependency and deindustrialisation

For many African workers, frying is an essential source of income. In the markets of Kantamanto, Gikomba or Colobane, tens of thousands of people live through the sale, transportation, repair or sorting of used clothing.

But behind this apparent vitality lies a deep dependence. This model, unstable and unregulated, also stifle local industrial development opportunities. Second-hand clothing, often stylish and very cheap, flooded markets, while local production struggles to sell its stocks.

• Handcrafted sewing, spinning and dyeing workshops are faced with an impossible competition to follow.
• Consumers, concerned about their budget, naturally choose imported clothing.
• Craft know-how is marginalized, young people are no longer trained in these occupations.
• Attempts to revive a domestic textile industry face structurally unbalanced competition.

The frying industry, as it operates today, has strengthened economic dependence while weakening the foundations of African textile sovereignty.

Resistances, hopes and alternatives

Faced with this flood of used clothes, some resistances are organized. Africa alone cannot absorb the excesses of a globalised system without support, regulation or transparency.