The British public is still surprised to discover that many of the clothes they donate to charities end up abroad, according to Alan Wheeler, director of the Textile Recycling Association (TRA).
Mr Wheelers comments come ahead of a BBC documentary called The Secret Life of Your Clothes, due to air on BBC Two today (July 14) at 9pm, which will explore what happens to the thousands of tonnes of unwanted clothes that are donated to charity every year.
Presented by Paralympian Ade Adepitan, it follows the trail of used clothing from donation, through sorting and on to export to Ghana, the biggest importer of the material from the UK. It claims that with cheaply made western clothes flooding the market, the local textile industry has been decimated, with a seismic effect on Ghanaian culture also taking hold with western style outfits fast replacing the iconic West African prints usually found in the area.
However Mr Wheeler noted that the TRA the UK trade association representing used clothing and textile collectors, sorters and reprocessors alongside coverage in the media is raising awareness of the fact that many of the donated items are exported and sold on for reuse in other countries, such as Ghana.
Speaking to letsecycle.com Mr Wheeler said: A number of people dont really give a thought about what happens to the clothing that they donate to charity shops etc, and despite the widespread coverage in the media and on the internet, they are still surprised when they hear that much of the clothing ends up abroad. However, since I started working at the TRA over 10 years ago, we have made a concerted effort to make people aware of what actually happens to their clothing.
When questioned how important the income from the sale of goods to wholesalers is to charities he added that around 100 million was raised through charity shops alone in 2012 and 2013 as a result of the sale of material to textile collectors, who would then sort and export the clothing.
Discussing the industrys importance to the UK economy Mr Wheeler says: It also worth noting that the UK textile recycling industry is important to the economy locally, nationally and internationally. We estimate that around 5,000 people are employed directly by the industry and it helps to support the 100,000 people employed or who are volunteering in the charity retail sector. In addition to this, some of the bigger textile collectors are major employers locally.
Native industry
One point raised by the documentary is the impact the import of used clothing has had on the native textile production industry in Ghana.
However, Mr Wheeler is keen to point out that the export of used clothing to these countries plays a vital part in the countries economy. He notes that there are many reasons the textile industry is struggling in these countries, including the global nature of this industry meaning the African market is finding it hard to compete.
Elaborating on this he said: The used clothing industry is successful and vital to the economy of many Sub Saharan African countries. It is apparent that the native textile production industries are struggling in these countries as well. However the reasons behind this are far more complex than just the inability of textile manufacturers to compete. Indeed it can be asserted that exports of used clothing became popular in the 1980s and filled a huge gap in the market, because local textile producers were not able to meet the clothing demands of the local population back then, due to structural failures.
It is also important to note that even without the presence of used clothing in Africa, it would be very doubtful whether textile producers would flourish unless orders come from international clothing retailers. The biggest competition for used clothing retailers in Africa is not from native clothing retailers but from cheap imports of new clothing from Asia.
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