Preface
In some parts of Africa, many locals wear clothes printed with Chinese characters, and some clothing stalls also display a lot of old clothes from China.
In our opinion, these second-hand clothes, let alone wearing, are too lazy to try, but in Africa, these clothes not only sell very well, sometimes the clothes are just on the stall, but also attract a lot of Africans to scramble.
The locals like these clothes, and some people smell the business opportunities and buy a lot of used clothes to come to Africa to sell, just selling these clothes, they can actually sell 200,000 yuan a day.
Why are second-hand clothes, which are not popular in China, so popular in the African market?
Second-hand clothing flowing into Africa
"Three years of the new, three years of the old, and another three years of mending the seams", I believe that many children have heard their parents say this.
In the past, every time a salary was paid and the New Year's holidays were celebrated, everyone might add a new dress or pants, and the old clothes were not willing to be thrown away, sewn and repaired, and continued to wear them in daily life.
After the reform and opening up, people's lives have gradually become better, and many families' old clothes will be recycled or discarded, and gradually, more and more old clothes are thrown away.
These clothes are not thrown away after being collected, but are transported and collected by companies specializing in recycling second-hand clothes, and after being selected, sorted and cleaned, these old clothes are again transported to various parts of Africa as commodities for secondary sale.
In Ghana, there is a specialisation facility for second-hand clothing, where thousands of workers are responsible for disposing of used clothes from all over the world, picking out what cannot be worn and throwing them away, packing up those that can be worn and waiting for special staff to take them away and distribute them to various stalls for sale.
These packed old clothes are bought by the stall owner in bundles, and then the stall owner will select the clothes inside again, throw away the clothes that are not suitable for sale, and carry out secondary processing of the qualified clothes.
For example, ironing clothes straight, refurbishing jeans, polishing dull leather shoes, sewing clothes with different styles, etc., so as to sell better.
In the survey, it can be learned that some foreign clothes are of good quality, so even second-hand clothes are very popular, so the proportion of Chinese used clothes in Africa is relatively small, and the United States once accounted for the highest proportion, which can reach 70%.
However, because of the epidemic in the past few years, for the sake of epidemic prevention, there are many fewer second-hand clothes exported abroad, and the mainland has extremely strict control of the epidemic, so in recent years, the proportion of China's second-hand clothes in the market has gradually increased, and it has even become one of the main suppliers of second-hand clothing in the African second-hand clothing market.
After all, in terms of population, China has the advantage of numbers, and people's purchasing power is also very strong, so the amount of used clothes produced is not small.
Business opportunities in used clothes
Ghana's geographical location is in the west of Africa, where the economic level of development is somewhat backward, and the development of basic industry is not perfect, so if the locals want to buy some good new clothes to wear, the money spent is also relatively expensive, so compared with new clothes, second-hand clothes with good quality and guaranteed quality are naturally more popular with the locals.
And Sun Weidong is very keen to grasp the business opportunities here, he originally had his own garment factory, but because he was not good at management and the factory closed down, the ready-to-wear in the warehouse was piled up, but it could not be sold much, seeing that it was about to lose money, Sun Weidong was anxious to find a new way.
He found a person who collected second-hand clothes, and wanted to dispose of tons of clothes cheaply so that he could save a little, but he didn't expect the price of these clothes to be very low.
But Sun Weidong's mind turned very fast, and these clothes were recycled, so wouldn't they still have to be sold in the end?
So he came up with the idea of recycling second-hand clothes and selling them.
He learned that second-hand clothes in Africa are in high demand, so he contacted African traders responsible for buying second-hand clothes, and sold his used clothes to Africa for resource recycling.
Sure enough, high-quality and inexpensive clothes are very popular in the African market, and women's clothing, especially women's underwear, is very popular among African women in the market, and summer clothes are also especially popular due to the generally hot climate in Africa.
In this way, almost all the clothes that come out of the stall every day will be snatched up, Sun Weidong alone can reach 200,000 yuan in sales every day, and soon, other second-hand dealers will appear in this market, everyone wants to get a piece of the pie here, and the second-hand market is getting bigger and bigger.
Used clothes market
In fact, as early as the last century, there was also a situation of wearing second-hand clothes in China, and everyone jokingly called the old clothes from abroad "foreign rags".
At that time, China was also in the initial stage of development, and people had begun to pursue fashion and beauty, so the demand for clothing was also quite large.
However, at that time, the domestic situation could not cope with such a large demand, coupled with the collision of Western culture, foreign clothing began to become popular, so second-hand clothing stores appeared.
However, due to various health and safety considerations, the state later issued relevant regulations strictly prohibiting the entry of these items.
But going around and around, Africa now likes Chinese second-hand clothes, isn't it just like we liked foreign clothes back then?
Of course, Africans also have requirements for second-hand clothes.
In China, young people pay attention to fabrics, styles, workmanship and other conditions when buying clothes, and the same is true for African people.
In addition, in China, many young people are keen to add new clothes to themselves, pursuing fashionable styles and popular sales, and many people have a pile of old clothes at home, which is also one of the main sources of recycled clothes.
In the eyes of African women, although the new clothes are good, but the price of second-hand clothes is much more affordable than new clothes, most of them are civilian families, the money in their hands can not support the frequent purchase of new clothes, plus the price of second-hand clothes may not even be half of the new clothes, eighty or ninety percent of the new price ranges, you can buy several pieces in one breath for the family to wear, why not?
In Africa, in addition to summer clothes selling well, second-hand women's underwear is also very popular among African women.
In China, the conditions for girls to choose underwear can be said to be harsh, after all, it is their own intimate clothing, to choose well, for African women are the same, whether it is chemical fiber or underwear with lace decoration, after the selection of style and quality are not inferior to new clothes, will naturally be scrambled.
epilogue
Although buying second-hand clothes will make some people with cleanliness uncomfortable, but in some parts of Africa, these selected and cleaned second-hand clothes can help an African and even their family, avoid the waste of resources, and help those in need, the second-hand clothes market also has a broad prospect.