Meet Janet | I Resell Your Clothes

Week we are sharing messages from some of Kantamanto’s retailers who resell (recirculate) clothing exported by the Global North. Please meet Janet who has many nicknames & the personality to match. Reselling isn’t a matter of just opening a bale & putting clothing on a hanger. Reselling involves cleaning, mending & alterations — whatever it takes to keep garments in circulation + whatever keeps her family out of debt. These acts of care require financial investment so receiving a higher percentage of dirty garments makes it harder for Janet to achieve either of the above goals. When Janet asks that “you” be more mindful of the clothing that you “send”, she’s speaking to a range of actors including consumers, brands, designers, secondhand clothing collectors + exporters. All of these actors are part of the secondhand supply chain & all of them/you have decision making power at some point along the way before the clothing “ends up” in Kantamanto. —- You may think of secondhand as charity, or as “recycling” or even as waste management, but the secondhand economy IS A SUPPLY CHAIN. It is a business that represents the primary source of clothing for billions of people. The fact that it is not talked about as a supply chain perpetuates an abstract, dehumanizing narrative that blinds us to questions about the LABOR involved — from the people who sort & bale donated clothing in the Global North to the retailers & kayayei who resell + transport secondhand clothing in Kantamanto.