Kenya overtakes Nigeria as Africa’s largest importer of second-hand clothes
Traders selling second-hand clothes at Gikomba Market in Nairobi on February 18, 2024. In 2023, Kenya led Africa in the importation of used apparel and textiles.
Kenya is now the biggest importer of second-hand clothes in Africa, giving the country the dubious distinction of being an easy dumping ground for used apparel while it struggles to revive its collapsed textile industry.
The latest trade data compiled by the United States-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shows that Kenya imported used clothes and textiles valued at Sh38.5 billion ($298 million) in 2023, overtaking Nigeria, which has a population four-and-a-half times bigger, to become the continent’s leading buyer of mitumba, the Kiswahili reference to second-hand apparel.
