ACCRA, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Because the solar set on a courtyard of transport containers in Ghana’s capital Accra, younger women and men in Pink Floyd, Grateful Lifeless and tie-dye tees bartered over military surplus jackets and Adidas sneakers whereas a stay deejay spun Afrobeat classics.
The Classic Gala, as 23-year previous founders Prince Quist and James Edem Doe Dartey dubbed it, introduced collectively a motion of younger classic lovers pushing again towards the worldwide quick style business by encouraging their friends to buy secondhand.
“In case you put on garments that had been made again within the day…you are serving to the surroundings by not utilizing the uncooked supplies and different issues wanted to make new ones,” Quist stated, seated in entrance of the sales space for his and Dartey’s on-line store, TT Classic Retailer.
“The concept is simply to encourage all people to thrift classic, as a result of secondhand items aren’t second class stuff,” Dartey added. “Procuring classic makes recycling even higher.”
Ghana receives round 15 million gadgets of used clothes every week from Western international locations and China, offloaded in bulk, typically at negligible costs and questionable high quality. Round 40% of this finally leads to large city landfills, in line with the U.S. primarily based Or Basis.
[1/7] Consumers purchase second-hand footwear on the Kantamanto market in Accra, Ghana, November 30, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko
A lot of it passes by means of Accra’s Kantamanto, one of many largest garment markets on the continent, the place bales of used garments are bought primarily based on the anticipated high quality of the clothes wrapped up inside.
Hours earlier than dawn a number of occasions per week, classic lovers like Quist and Dartey comb by means of Kantamanto’s rivers of imported garments, trying to find gems they will resell on Instagram pages with 1000’s of followers in Ghana and overseas.
They consider shopping for secondhand not solely helps to scale back style’s environmental influence, but additionally permits them and their prospects to specific distinctive kinds aside from present tendencies.
Their message is straightforward: purchase secondhand, make a distinction.
“Take away the entire notion that you simply solely put on classic when you find yourself poor, otherwise you solely put on thrifted stuff when you do not have cash,” stated inventive Myra Davis exterior the Classic Gala occasion.
“It has been right here for years,” she stated. “Why go and produce extra when there’s greater than sufficient obtainable to you?”
Reporting by Francis Kokoroko and Cooper Inveen
Modifying by Peter Graff
Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.
