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

What Uganda’s ‘War’ on Used Clothing Imports Means for Fashion

In late August, Uganda’s President pledged to ban used clothing imports. It’s the latest sign that the complicated and controversial secondhand clothing trade is getting increasingly political.
A model wears a black shirt dress with patchworked sleeves, upcycled from secondhand clothes by Ugandan brand Buzigahill.
Ugandan brand Buzigahill repurposes used clothing imports into fashion sold back to the Global North. (Martin Kharumwa)

In 2018, Bobby Kolade moved back from Berlin to Uganda’s capital of Kampala with the ambition of creating a home-grown fashion brand using Ugandan cotton.

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Further Reading

Should Fashion Pay for Its ‘Waste Colonialism’?

Every year, millions of tons of old clothes are shipped around the world as part of the global secondhand clothing trade. Nonprofit The Or Foundation and Vestiaire Collective are lobbying for regulation that benefits the countries where they end up.

About the author
Sarah Kent
Sarah Kent

Sarah Kent is Chief Sustainability Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. She is based in London and drives BoF's coverage of critical environmental and labour issues.

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