The secondhand clothing industry is a sustainable industry, slowly solidifying its foothold in the fashion industry. The secondhand clothing industry helps combat the consumerist mentality of the people. And it promotes the ideas of reducing, reusing and recycling.
So if you too are one of those who want to make sustainable fashion choices, you should go for Zagumi used clothing. However, every budding industry has to deal with a few challenges and make good use of the opportunities to create a niche for itself. The same is true for the secondhand clothing industry as well.
So if you want to learn more about the challenges and opportunities faced by the user clothing industry, continue to read this article.
The Used Clothing Industry: What Lies Ahead
The biggest rays of hope for the used clothing industry is its affordability and widespread awareness about their environment friendly nature. However, beyond the low costs, there are many other factors which can make the used clothing market a thriving business in the next few years. Some of the opportunities are listed below.
The Extreme Affordability
One of the prime considerations for a buyer when he goes out to shop, is the price of the good or service. When it comes to used clothing, affordability is the most significant plus point. At times used cloth costs a third or a fourth of what the firsthand product was priced at.
Again if the clothes are being sold in the wholesale market for use by downstream industries, the cost is based on the per unit weight of the clothes.
The World Wide Acceptability
It will not be wrong to say that a thriving industry based on reused products is an idea whose time has come. So there is worldwide acceptance of used clothes.
One such trend which promotes the use of old clothes is that of sustainable fashion. Today many celebrities across the globe have launched sustainable fashion brands. These brands endorse the idea that style and fashion should do minimum harm to the environment.
So the public has taken to the idea that fashion is cool only when it does not exploit natural resources and generate mountains of waste. Hence today, the craze for leather jackets and animal prints has been replaced by a healthy demand for plant-based dyes and recycled clothes.
The Mandate Of Global Agencies
Many international organizations are promoting the idea of recycling. Of these, the most prominent one is the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
These goals have a target for the year 2030. And the signatories to the goal will strive to achieve the targets set out in the thirteen goals and a hundred and sixty-nine sub-goals. So many countries have laid down policies and guidelines to increase their compliance with the UN SDGs.
For instance, goal twelve of the UN SDG calls for ” sustainable consumption and production patterns”. This goal calls for the reduction of resource wastage and improving resource use efficiency.
Since secondhand clothes combat the trend of fast fashion, it improves resource use effectively. So the clothes are used until they are worn out and are not discarded simply because they are out of fashion.
These points listed above are some of the biggest prospects of the used clothing industry. But there are many challenges as well and the most important being the notion that used clothes are undesirable or defective.
Here are some of the hurdles in the path of the used clothing industry
The Perception That Reused Clothes Are Defective
Most people to this date believe that secondhand clothes are defective. And that they were thrown away because they were not good enough. Another wrong notion about secondhand clothes is that only needy people should wear secondhand clothes. But these notions are baseless.
Many people do not wear all the clothes that they own simply because they buy much more than they need. So secondhand clothes are not defective in any way.
Also, it is true that many NGOs and charitable organizations organize events where they collect old clothes for needy people. But such events and the clothes collected in them form a tiny percentage of the entire used clothes industry.
So secondhand clothes are in no way associated with poverty or being needy. In fact, many fashion-conscious people buy used clothes when they want to recreate a look or use a clothing item of the bygone era.
Monopoly Of A Few Developed Countries
Many reports point out that countries like the US and UK hold a significant share of the global trade in the secondhand clothes export industry. It is estimated that the trade value for the used clothing industry in the US is around nine hundred million US dollars. The trade value for the UK used clothing industry export industry is around four hundred million US dollars.
Many people contend that developed countries are dumping their secondhand apparel in the markets of developing countries. So if the true potential of the used clothes industry is to be realized, the markets and exporting capabilities in developing countries need to be developed properly.
Waste From The Used Clothes Industry
Most people associate recycled clothes with less packaging waste, yet the real-life situation may be quite the opposite.
Of late, there have been some news reports that tonnes of packaging waste has accumulated in Kenya. And this waste is primarily plastics that are used in the packaging of secondhand materials. So quite contrary to the popular notion that used items require the menace of plastics and packaging waste, they may end up generating as much waste as first hand products.
Conclusion
It can be said that, like an emerging industry, the used clothing industry has to overcome many hurdles before it can flourish. But once the initial hiccups have been dealt with in an effective manner, a flourishing used clothes industry can significantly contribute to the economy of the developing nations of the world.
The secondhand clothes industry can generate income and open opportunities for exports which will fuel progress and development.
