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Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

Inside America’s Fast Fashion Graveyard

In a bordertown in Texas, towering heaps of discarded clothing from across the country fill sprawling warehouses — the last stop in a global supply chain overflowing with fast fashion castoffs. One woman is trying to save what she can, one thrift tour at a time.
Clothing warehouse in Laredo, Texas.
Laredo, Texas is home to approximately 46 used clothing warehouses, each spanning 10,000 square feet and houses piles of vintage and secondhand apparel that can reach up to 10 feet high. (Isabel Slone)
By
  • Isabel Slone

LAREDO, Texas –– Every day, thousands of trucks and railcars shuttle back and forth into and out of the Port of Laredo. Mostly, they’re bringing goods in from Mexico or overseas, from chemicals to packaged foods to auto parts, destined for factories, grocery stores and warehouses across the US. But there’s one product that’s more often than not headed in the other direction: vintage clothing.

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Further Reading

Chasing the Holy Grail of Circularity

Fashion has yet to crack industrial-scale recycling technologies that can keep clothes out of landfill. But there are solutions on the horizon, says Edwin Keh.

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