Amidst the garbage dumps of Accra, Ghana and along the city’s beaches, a disturbing reality is unfolding: fast fashion, largely produced in countries with cheap labor and sold in stores around the world, is reaching its final stage.
Ghana is one of the largest importers of second-hand clothing in Africa, and well-known brands such as Adidas, Reebok and Aussiebum lie abandoned in the sand of Jamestown Beach.
Jonathan Abbey, a professional fisherman, testifies to the impact of fast fashion on his business: his fishing nets now collect mainly textile waste. “Although second-hand clothing is cheap, it is a problem for us. If no one buys it, where is it thrown? It is not properly disposed of, it is not even burned, but is thrown into the Korle Lagoon which then flows into the sea,” he laments.
Fast fashion refers to cheap, mass-produced clothing with a short lifespan, and has exploded in popularity in recent years. According to a McKinsey study, between 2000 and 2014, the number of garments produced annually doubled, and the number of garments purchased per capita increased by 60%.
The Or Foundation is an organization working in Ghana to “identify and implement alternatives to the dominant fashion model” and is conducting research on the second-hand clothing market. According to Neesha-Ann Longdon of the Or Foundation, about 40% of the 50 million garments that enter the market each week end up as waste.
The second-hand clothing market in Ghana is a source of livelihood and creativity for many, but has saturated the Kantamanto clothing market in Accra with “larger volumes of lower-quality goods.”
The Or Foundation’s Owo Festival, now in its third year, was created to showcase recycled fashion pieces by local designers to raise awareness about fast fashion and encourage people to reuse their clothes.
Setting up on the street near Kantamanto Market, the designers display their recycled creations for sale and showcase them in an impromptu fashion show.
Most of them source their materials from Kantamanto. Richard Asante Palmer is one such designer who works with fashion waste.
He transforms shirt fabrics into bags, and also sources heavier fabrics to make more robust clothing. “Rather than let it clog our drains, end up on our beaches and in our landfills, I decided to use it to create something like a pair of pants, a jacket or something, to reuse and benefit again,” he explains.
Images of discarded clothing on the beaches of Jamestown beach Ghana.