Second-hand clothing: a management system on the edge and with too many shades of gray

Just as we've recovered from the commercial onslaught of Black Friday, and with the Christmas shopping season already underway in stores, ARA publishes an investigative report today that holds a mirror up to us as consumers, in this case, of clothing and footwear. Most of us update our outfits at a breakneck pace season after season, while nearly a third of the clothes Europeans have in their wardrobes (30%) haven't been worn for over a year. And what happens to the countless items we discard when they no longer fit?

The tons and tons of clothing that (hopefully) end up being collected separately in all European countries are sorted and managed by companies and organizations in logistics centers that are already sending out alerts that they are at their limit. They can't absorb all the volume they receive, and what's coming now that European directives mandate the separate collection of clothing and textiles to promote, in principle, reuse and recycling.

These objectives, while laudable, are unlikely to be achieved without addressing the significant problem of saturation that already exists on the European continent. Now that China has also become an exporter of used clothing, the question that arises is: where can the merchandise be sent now? The investigation reveals the improbable and nonsensical routes that the garments often take. From Europe, they travel to countries like the United Arab Emirates or Pakistan, where, in areas where no one can be entirely certain what regulations are being followed, they are often repackaged for re-export to countries in the Global South and, in some cases, even end up back in the EU.

The prevailing system not only makes no logical sense, but it is also environmentally unsustainable, and the carbon footprint ends up multiplying not only due to shipping distances but also because of the certainty that much of this textile will be driven around endlessly, ultimately ending up, in many cases, in a landfill.

The strategy of exporting shipments of used clothing and, in doing so, distancing the problem, which many countries seem to be pursuing, cannot last much longer if more and more destinations close their doors not only to reusable material, but also to lower-quality material that could be recycled into fibers. In fact, the current situation has already led the Catalan government to take action to assist local used textile managers (some social organizations in the third sector) so that they can continue to finance increasingly high costs: if no one wants to buy the garments they collect, how is the collection and sorting activity financed?

It is essential that the industry and manufacturers become much more involved in the task of managing all the textiles they flood the market with. The new regulations being developed to ensure they address these costs are a good starting point for also guaranteeing greater transparency. And in parallel, as consumers, we can reflect on our consumption habits, curb impulse buying, and review and appreciate our wardrobe staples.