On Sunday morning Eastern Mirror readers must have come across the disturbing news about Chinese authorities having seized more than 500 tons of “illegally smuggled clothing” mainly obtained from landfills and morgues. According to the news report, the seized consignment of used garments was being shipped from Hong Kong to China. The report went on to say: “The majority of the clothing comes from overseas morgues, garbage dumps and scrap yards. After getting washed and repaired, the clothing would have been sold to consumers for several dollars per item”.
On February 2, 2015, Eastern Mirror published an exclusive news report highlighting the flourishing market of used garments in Dimapur. “The used garments are by and large imported from Korea, China, USA and Japan, and being sold in bulk at wholesale markets in New Delhi from where consignments are fixed for Nagaland’s commercial hub,” the report read. This, of course, is not to imply that the used garments sold here in Dimapur – or the state of Nagaland, for that matter – are from these morbid collections.
But that also doesn’t mean that we should not be worried by the news we read on Sunday. In Dimapur’s New Market alone, there are more than 150 shops that deal in used wares that range from clothes to accessories to bags and blankets. In the festive months of November and December, the used garment traders are said to earn Rs 5000 in a single day. In the context of our local economy, that is a staggering figure. The business is not confined only to Dimapur, it is spread across the state. This in turn has provided lots of people, especially Naga women, with a means to boost family income.
But as it is obvious from the news report, there are health risks involved. It is said that India is the biggest importer of used garments and textiles in the world. They are imported under two categories — wearable and mutilated. To ship in wearable used clothes, the government issues licence with the condition of cent percent re-export. This segment accounts for 30 percent of the imports. But the government’s seal of approval is not required for import of mutilated clothes, which accounts for about 60 percent of used garment imports. Yarn extracted from mutilated rags and woollens is used to make blankets, sold at cheap prices in the open market.
So without proper health mechanism in place, the hazards are quite apparent. There is also the question of the local textile market. Used garments provide low-cost clothing for people, hence it flourishes everywhere. At the same time, on the flip side, fears persist that the trade may be undermining our struggling local textile and garment market.
Yes, stopping the trade of used garments is not the solution to strengthen our struggling textile market but the old jeans and the tees are a part of the problem, unwittingly. Some African countries have tried (unsuccessfully) to ban the trade the second-hand clothes. The market is just too big, just as the demand is too high. People will continue to buy second-hand clothes. It’s just economics. In such a scenario, the only sensible thing to say is: buy new clothes if you can, and if you can’t, treat them properly before use.
