In many parts of the Global North, donating clothes has become a moral gesture. Overflowing closets are cleared, clothes are folded into plastic bags, and deposited into bins labeled with words like "reuse," "recycle," or "give back." (1) The assumption is comforting: someone, somewhere, will benefit. Yet the journey of these garments often remains invisible.

Every week, mountains of second-hand clothing from Europe, North America, and Asia arrive in Ghana, specifically in Kantamanto Market in Accra. While these clothes are often framed as donations, they are typically part of a massive for-profit trade in used clothing. Ghana imports an estimated 15 million items of second-hand clothing each week (1). Much of it is unsellable and discarded in landfills, on beaches, or in open fires (1, 12).

This article questions what happens when clothing donations that are meant to help actually harm. By following the journey of second-hand clothes from the Global North to Kantamanto Market in Ghana, this article shows that what is often framed as charity is, in reality, a form of waste colonialism. It is examined how structural inequalities in the global fashion system shift the burden of overproduction onto communities with the least power to resist it. We have to move toward accountability in both production and disposal.

Global fashion's final stop

Kantamanto Market is one of the world’s largest second-hand clothing markets. The market plays a vital role in Ghana’s informal economy, employing over 30,000 people that are working as traders, trailers, dyers, and transporters (1). Traders purchase tightly packed bales of so-called ‘dead white man’s clothes’, without knowing their exact contents. On average, 40% of the clothing in these bales is unusable due to poor quality, damage, or being simply unsuited to local demand (2). The traders bear the financial risk. If a bale is full of unwearable clothes, they suffer income losses. Meanwhile, the waste builds up. Clothing that can’t be sold is discarded in informal dumpsites, burnt, or washed into the ocean. In Jamestown, a historic neighborhood in Accra, textile waste from Kantamanto is a visible presence on beaches (2, 3).

Recently, in January 2025, a fire broke out in Kantamanto Market, destroying over 60% of the market area and displacing thousands of traders (4, 6, 8). The fire, reportedly caused by an electrical fault, exposed the structural vulnerabilities of the market: overcrowded stalls, limited fire safety infrastructure, and a lack of emergency planning. More than 8,000 traders were affected, many of whom lost their entire stock (6, 8, 11). Organizations such as The OR Foundation have mobilized emergency relief efforts. However, the fire highlighted how vulnerable these livelihoods are in a system already strained by global overproduction and waste dumping.

Fast fashion's footprint: the root of the problem

The rise of fast fashion has transformed clothing into a near-disposable commodity. Global brands produce cheap garments at unprecedented speed, fueling overconsumption in the Global North (10). The result is an endless overflow of unwanted clothes, offloaded onto countries like Ghana under the guise of charity or sustainability.

But the export of waste is no accident. It is built into the structure of the global fashion industry. Brands avoid responsibility for post-consumer waste, and wealthy nations lack infrastructure to process textile recycling domestically. Instead, the burden is outsourced.

The impact on people and the planet is huge. Waste clothing clogs urban drainage systems, contributes to flooding, and leaches chemicals into the soil and water (3). Burning synthetic textiles releases toxics. Meanwhile, the laborers of Kantamanto work under bad conditions.The working conditions in Kantamanto Market are poor due to the physical and uncertain nature of the work: traders purchase bales of clothing without knowing their contents and bear the financial risk if the items are unsellable. The market is overcrowded, fire-prone, and lacks protection from extreme weather conditions. Additionally, the massive amounts of textile waste leads to health risks, environmental pollution, and added pressure on workers who have to deal with the waste (1, 7). However, traders and tailors, many of whom are women, show immense resilience and creativity. They mend and upcycle clothes to create value. But they are fighting an uphill battle against a system that delivers more waste than opportunity. As stated by the OR foundation (1): “This is not a secondhand economy. It is a waste management system."

Rethinking the narrative from charity to accountability

The narrative of clothing donation as an act of generosity includes a harsher truth: what people in the Global North donate is often what they no longer want, need, or value. The responsibility is shifted—from the producer to the consumer, and from the consumer to the Global South. Yet those bearing the consequences have the least power to change the system. The problem is gaining more international attention, with the European Commission proposing legislation that would hold fashion brands responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, including their disposal (5, 9). This includes mandatory textile waste collection, transparency in supply chains, and penalties for non-compliance. Organizations like the OR Foundation advocate for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), equitable trade practices, and investment in circular economies that are locally driven (1). They argue that true sustainability must go beyond recycling and include social justice, fair compensation for informal workers, and support for local repair, resale, and remanufacturing economies. Without these measures, the burden of fashion waste will continue to fall disproportionately on communities like those in Kantamanto.

What ends up in Kantamanto Market is not just clothing. It is the byproduct of a global system built on inequality, overproduction, and convenience. Addressing this issue calls for a fundamental shift in how we produce, consume, and dispose of fashion. As consumers, we must ask ourselves deeper questions. We need to think about why we buy clothes in the first place, and also; who is left dealing with the consequences of our consumption? Because behind every donation bin is a global chain of impact we can no longer ignore. Shall we?

This article is part of The Outside World, ftrprf’s very own research center.

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13. Image source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tackling-ghanas-textile-waste-challenge-r%C3%A9mi-goget/