In the eastern city of Mutare, markets brim with secondhand jeans and T-shirts from Western brands such as Marks & Spencer, H&M, and Levi’s—sold for as little as three shirts for one US dollar. The trade, sustained by smuggling through neighbouring Mozambique, has become a lifeline for thousands of informal vendors like Shamiso Marambanyika, but a death sentence for Zimbabwe’s once-proud textile industry.
Local fashion retailer Truworths Zimbabwe, established in 1957, has shuttered two-thirds of its stores before being delisted from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange this year. Its chief executive admitted the company could not compete with duty-free secondhand imports, sold untaxed and in hard currency, while formal retailers are burdened by inflation and tax obligations.
According to designer Anesu Mugabe, locally made jeans costing $20 cannot compete with imported pairs priced under $3. “Manufacturers are either downsizing or shifting to corporate clients to survive,” he said.
The trade also brings an environmental cost. A 2023 report, Trashion: The Stealth Export of Waste Plastic Clothes to Kenya, found that much of Africa’s used clothing market amounts to waste dumping, as unsold synthetic garments end up in rivers and landfills. Zimbabwe’s authorities estimate textile waste at 7% of annual solid waste, though experts warn the true figure is rising.
Attempts to ban or tax secondhand imports have repeatedly failed, with enforcement undermined by poverty and smuggling. For vendors like Marambanyika, the trade remains both survival and struggle: “If I pay duties, I’ll lose everything,” she says.
The dilemma highlights a deeper structural challenge—balancing livelihoods with industrial revival in a nation where affordability trumps sustainability.
