Ghanaians are calling on fashion brands to intensify their efforts following the fire that swept through the world’s largest used clothing market

Yira Agbovah has barely slept since a fire tore through the world’s largest used clothing market just over a week ago.

The fire that broke out on January 2 at the Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana’s capital, reduced large areas of the market to ashes, destroying millions of pieces of used clothing and endangering the livelihoods of more than 30,000 people.

Agbofah runs The Revival, an organization that creates art and fashion using materials that market vendors can’t sell. The fire destroyed his company’s storage facility, but his studio was not affected.

He says many of his friends and family were not so lucky.

“I couldn’t sleep properly because of the emergency and I had to see my people, my family and my friends break down in tears because their livelihoods have been destroyed and you have to start from scratch,” he said. As it happens Host Neil Coxall.

Agbovah is raising money to help rebuild the market, which he says plays a pivotal role in Accra’s economy and helps keep millions of tons of clothing in circulation that would otherwise end up in oceans and landfills.

He and others are also calling on fast-fashion brands such as Shein, H&M and Zara — none of which responded to CBC’s request for comment — to contribute financially to clean up and rebuild the market.

He added: “We are trying to clean up the mess they caused.” “It’s the least they can do to take responsibility.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

From Canadian donation boxes to Ghanaian oceans

Kantamanto Market vendors redistribute about 15 million items of used clothing each month through resale, reuse, repair and remanufacture, according to the OR Foundation, a Ghanaian-American charity that works to find sustainable solutions to fast fashion waste.

The charity estimates that the fire reduced more than 8,000 stalls to dust and directly affected 10,000 workers.

Most of the items sold there come from Canada, the United States and England, arriving almost daily in huge shipping containers at shipyards in Accra, Agbofa said.

People in rich countries donate used clothes to charities and thrift stores, which take what they need and dispose of the rest. What remains is exported to low-income countries.

But what sellers in those countries can’t sell gets thrown away, and ends up in landfills or in the ocean, where it clogs beaches and destroys marine environments.

“Whatever measures you take in the United States and Canada, it has a ripple effect on us here. If you consume a lot, we have to deal with a lot because in the end we will end up,” Agbova said.

“I’m sure a lot of people think, when I donate to charity, that I’m helping or doing something, but it puts a burden on us.”

The Or Foundation says it is contributing US$1 million to relief and reconstruction in the wake of the fire. But it calls on clothing companies to contribute.

“For too long, the fashion industry has used places like Kantamanto as a destination for its surplus, but not enough attention has been paid to Kantamanto’s work to address the outputs of the linear economy,” said fashion designer Nutivafa Mensah, peer education lead at the charity. He said in an email statement.

“This is truly a circular model that has been lost to the ashes, and as the Katamantu market seeks to rebuild itself with all its tenacity and resilience, we appeal for support for the fashion industry in its recovery.”

Also included was the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association (GUCDA), which represents importers of used items in the country He called on charities, companies and the country’s government To help.

CBC has reached out to Ghana’s Ministry of Trade and Industry for comment.

Rebuilding is already underway

Tens of thousands of Ghanaians depend on the market to earn a living. Agbovah says. That’s why they’re already in the process of rebuilding.

“People are working day and night to get the market back on its feet, which is amazing to see,” he said.

“It restores hope and also shows the resilience of the Kantamanto community, as no level of destruction or fire will take away the unity and love we have for the market.”

Agbofa says he fell in love with Kantamanto the first moment he laid eyes on her as a child.

“This is where I found the things I see in the media, the things I see in magazines that we didn’t have access to in a completely new way,” he said.

He also saw an economic opportunity. Not only does he make clothes from textile waste, he also works as a fashion designer, mixing and matching what he calls “rare gems” that he sources from Kantamanto stalls.

Despite his love for the market, he says he can’t keep up with the abundance of goods arriving on Ghana’s shores, and making a profit is harder than ever.

“If you’re donating to charity, you should think: This product I’m donating, is it something someone could use? Why would you donate torn clothes, badly stained items, items in poor condition, to charity?” He said.

“Do we deserve torn clothes? Do we deserve things in really bad conditions? Ghana is not a place for waste.”