"Dead Man's Clothing" ....

PHoto and the article C/O Lintin Besser Foreign Correspondent for ABCnet Au...

 

This is an article about what happens to clothing donated to countries, in this case, Ghana.  Much of it is brand new. Other articles are used.

35 or so years ago, when the twins were teens, - so it was a long time ago -  I was recycling cardboard and other things to keep it all out of the landfill.  

One of my regular stops was at a small charity for a local hospital in North Park. 

In back of the store, in the side alley, there were two HUGE dumpsters, the kind that are pulled up onto the bed of a semi. They were over flowing with brand new and beautiful clothing.  

I'm sure all of it was destined for a country like Ghana, where some of it was needed and served well.  Now these countries are drowning in such largess.  This was before "Fast Fashion" was a "Thing".  I can only guess that it's much, much worse now. 

So we have sweat shops paying pennies an hour to girls and women - mostly (who are enduring outrageous working conditions with poor pay) in the developing world. These shops make billions of $$dollars$$ for wealthy "designers" in the developed countries, and a shed load of that "product", the overproduction as it were,  goes into OTHER third world countries. It's estimated 40% ends up on their trash hills.  No wonder our world is grinding to a halt ...   

Follow the links within the article to other articles written about the problem it has created.  

All of this is avoidable, and I guess the remedy consists of not buying fast fashion.  Don't buy it, unless you are desperate.  Tell yourself that it has a terrible cost that neither humans nor the planet can now pay.