The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade. New Preface and Epilogue with Updates on Economic Issues and Main Characters, 2nd Edition

15Mitumba: Friend or Foe to Africa ?

In both the richest and poorest countries of the world, critics of the used clothing trade are not hard to find. More than 30 countries effectively ban the import of used clothing, either through outright prohibitions (e.g., Botswana, Malawi) or impenetrable bureaucratic walls (e.g., Ethiopia, Morocco).¹ Even when imports are allowed, the barriers are often daunting, even by African standards. Tariffs can be prohibitive, and some countries require convoluted health certifications as well. The use by many African countries of preshipment inspection (PSI) companies—essentially privately run Customs authorities—has led to charges of overvaluation, corruption, and simple ineptitude.

The barriers to the mitumba trade have in large measure been erected by the groans of the local textile industry, which echo those of Americans threatened by Chinese T-shirts in 2008 or British threatened by Indian cottons in 1720. The industry's groaning obituaries and ominous employment trends are of course more poignant in Africa than in North Carolina, but the essential message of doom and gloom is the same. In Kenya, more than 87 textile factories closed between 1990 and 1998, and similar tales of industrial demise emanate from Zambia, Uganda, and Tanzania.² About 30,000 jobs in Zambia's textile industry have been lost in recent years, approximately the same number that have been lost during the same period in North Carolina.³ In at least one case, a large fire ...