Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale

by Adam Minter

Who buys used plastic antlers (who buys the new ones)? A tattered sofa? A pilled T-shirt? The flood is rising. Just twenty years ago China was a major importer of secondhand clothes; now it’s a major exporter, with a huge supply that’s driving down the price of used clothes—and the economics of the used-clothing business—globally. It’s not just China that’s shifting to new, either. Growing affluence across the developing world means that more and more consumers are opting for new stuff. Sustainably minded consumers in wealthy countries with the best of intentions simply aren’t numerous enough to make up for the global erosion in secondhand demand. That imbalance manifests itself in growing piles of unwanted stuff. According to a 2018 study by the World Bank, humans are on track to generate waste at a pace more than double that of population growth through the year 2050.2 Most of that growth will occur in developing regions of Asia and Africa striving to achieve American-style consumption-based economies.