Literature Review

FROM the journal ‘The impact of the second-hand clothing trade on developing
countries by Sally Baden and Catherine Barber.
The SHC trade represents a small proportion of the total global trade in clothing,
but for many sub-Saharan African countries it is a dominant feature of the
clothing market (more than 30 per cent of the total value of imports, and much
more than 50 per cent in volume terms). In most of these countries, SHC is
declining as a share of total clothing imports, due to the increase in new imports
from Asia, but nonetheless it remains highly significant. The trade has clear
consumer benefits. This is especially true in countries with low purchasing power,
and for poorer consumers, though in many sub-Saharan African countries it
seems that almost all socio-economic groups are choosing to buy SHC.
The second-hand clothing trade is indisputably beneficial for consumers in
developing countries, who gain access to far cheaper clothes than they would
obtain from domestic production or from imports of new garments
Unsurprisingly, the impact of the SHC trade is less clear-cut on employment in
developing countries than it is on consumption. On one hand, the increase in SHC
imports is often held responsible for the decline of domestic textile and/or
clothing production. On the other, the SHC trade generates employment as
people repair and distribute clothing.
The authors of the journal concluded by stating that In several West African
countries it is not clear that, even in the absence of SHC, local textile/garment
production would recover, as new imports from East Asia are cheaper than locally
produced goods and there are serious supply-side constraints (expensive inputs,
high interest rates, etc.). SHC may have contributed to the demise of the industry
but its absence might not bring the industry back.

Although, the literature presents potential SHC impacts on informal tailoring —

one of the largest informal employment sectors in many West African countries
— appear to be limited or neutral. But given the importance of this sector, trends
need to be closely monitored in each specific context in order to assess whether
SHC trade is contributing over time to significant long-term displacement of
employment.

From the journal “THE INCREASING PHENOMENON OF SECOND HAND CLOTHES”

by Halimin Herjanto, Jean Scheller Sampson and Elisabeth Erickson the history of
SHC was discussed along with consumer behavior towards such products and its
impact.

As per the journal, the history SHC can be tracked back to mid-1300 Europe. At
this time, Europe was experiencing a deep economic depresssion, increasing
populations, political and social rebellions, and severe famine and mass starvation
.The clothes were either invented, exchanged for other goods, given to family
members as patrimony or bought from SHC retailers.

The consumption of SHC is unique unique and complex pattern of consumption

was cited as the customers had to go through various stages of acquisition. This
behavior was mostly influenced by the previous owner his reason to purchase and
dispose the clothes.

SHC disposable behavior occurs when the original owner of the clothes no longer
wants to keep his/ her clothes The extant literature shows that there are several
ways to get rid of unwanted clothes. These include ridding – where the clothes
are beyond repair and there is no way to reuse them.

The SHC customers were also stated to influenced by personal issue, situational
issue and also product characteristics.

The authors of the journal concluded by stating that SHC has become a major
economic component as it provided livelihood to several thousand people and
this idea was accepted by people of all social strata.
Although, the literature findings of this study provide clarity on what is known
about this phenomenon and more importantly they provide clear future research
directions. As the SHC consumption trend continues to grow, a strong body of
research is urgently needed to provide local governments and business
practitioners with guidance in handling this phenomenon. And the behavioural
pattern of consumers towards second hand clothes but it didn’t explain how the
change in geographical location affects this behavior.