The present and future sustainability of clothing and textiles in the ...

in real terms, so sales by volume increased by 37%.
Thus, over four years, the number of garments bought
per person in the UK increased by over one third A10 .
Price indices for consumer goods and services
160
Price indicies [1995 price = 100]
140
120
100
manufactured to add value and sold as fashionable
items. However, most are baled and shipped for resale
in Eastern Europe, the Middle-East or Africa. Secondhand
garments bales are sold via a commodity market
to traders and then to stall merchants for resale at
local markets.
80
60
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
A small fraction of the collected textiles is shredded
and converted into wipes or carded and mixed with
other fibres to be re-spun into yarn. An example of
such a yarn is that developed by Annie Sherburne with
50% recycled 50% virgin wool.
Food
Alcoholic drinks
Clothing
Housing
Transport
Communications
Source: ONS [1995 prices = 100]
The second-hand clothes trade in developing countries
creates some employment A11 and is an important
Second-hand clothing is
worth $1 billion per year
After the consumer use phase the life of a garment
or textile product is not over. Some clothes and
textiles are taken to recycling clothes banks operated
for example by the Salvation Army (which also has
door to door collection), Traid, Oxfam, or many other
members of the Textile Recycling Association.
The goods are transported to recycling plants to be
sorted. The best quality garments are sent for resale
at charity shops and a small number of items are re-
source of low cost clothing. The trade is only a small
fraction of global trade in clothing (about 0.5% of
the total value) but in many African countries it has
a significant proportion of the market, up to 30% of
the total value of imports and 50% in volume A10 . This
raises a concern that second-hand clothes inhibit the
development of local industry. However, at present
trade in second-hand clothing is falling as a share of
total clothing imports due to the increase of cheap
imports from Asia.
12 WELL DRESSED?