00:00:01.473 --> 00:00:04.910
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:15.160
- Every day we give thousands of bags of
our old clothes away to charity shops,

00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:18.530
and I'm on a journey to find
out what happens to it all.

00:00:18.530 --> 00:00:21.660
It's like being at the January
sales, it's incredible.

00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:23.540
Oh no, I've got to move!

00:00:23.540 --> 00:00:25.120
It's non-stop, there's another truck.

00:00:26.660 --> 00:00:31.050
Most of us think it's put on racks in
charity shops and sold, but loads of it

00:00:31.050 --> 00:00:34.495
actually ends up thousands
of miles away here in Africa.

00:00:34.495 --> 00:00:36.065
It's good stuff?

00:00:36.065 --> 00:00:37.390
- This is the best quality.

00:00:37.390 --> 00:00:38.740
- Ralph Lauren!

00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:39.610
Wow.

00:00:39.610 --> 00:00:42.890
Even though we give away our
secondhand clothes for free,

00:00:42.890 --> 00:00:46.534
some of the world's poorest
people pay good money for them.

00:00:46.534 --> 00:00:48.520
And they can't get them quick enough.

00:00:50.654 --> 00:00:53.500
But with cheap Western
clothes flooding the market,

00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:56.660
the local clothing industry
has been decimated.

00:00:56.660 --> 00:01:00.080
- From the olden days, this
place a near dumping ground.

00:01:00.080 --> 00:01:02.150
When are we going to stop it?

00:01:02.150 --> 00:01:03.770
- It is killing our culture.

00:01:07.081 --> 00:01:12.278
- You might have forgotten about them,
but your old castoffs have a secret life.

00:01:12.278 --> 00:01:15.182
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:01:20.990 --> 00:01:25.700
In Britain, we spend 60 billion
pounds on new clothes every year.

00:01:27.420 --> 00:01:31.860
Disposable fashion made by cheap
foreign labor costs less than ever,

00:01:31.860 --> 00:01:33.912
and we're buying more and more of it.

00:01:37.080 --> 00:01:41.130
I know I've got too many clothes, but
as the fashions change each month,

00:01:41.130 --> 00:01:45.700
so does my wardrobe -- and I make space for
the new stuff by giving my old things away

00:01:45.700 --> 00:01:46.243
to charity.

00:01:48.010 --> 00:01:52.480
I always thought that those clothes were
sold in the charity shops, but I was wrong.

00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.170
In fact, charity shops can only sell
a fraction of what's been donated.

00:01:59.980 --> 00:02:04.520
Most of our unwanted clothes actually
get sold to recycling businesses,

00:02:04.520 --> 00:02:06.030
like this one in the Midlands.

00:02:09.949 --> 00:02:10.831
- Hello, how are you?

00:02:10.831 --> 00:02:11.580
- Yeah, very good.

00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:12.413
- I'm Paul Robinson.

00:02:12.413 --> 00:02:13.010
- I'm Ade.

00:02:13.010 --> 00:02:13.500
- How are you doing?

00:02:13.500 --> 00:02:13.920
All right?

00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:14.461
- Good, good.

00:02:14.461 --> 00:02:15.534
So what is going on here?

00:02:15.534 --> 00:02:19.200
- What we're doing, well, this has just come
back from a charity shop -- Salvation Army,

00:02:19.200 --> 00:02:20.396
RSPCA.

00:02:20.396 --> 00:02:22.270
This is all what they
can't sell in the shop.

00:02:22.270 --> 00:02:23.230
We buy off them.

00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:27.980
- Businesses like Paul's pay
around 500 pounds per ton

00:02:27.980 --> 00:02:30.360
to buy their donated clothes.

00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:34.330
That money goes to the
charities we want to support.

00:02:34.330 --> 00:02:36.880
And this is all the stuff that we give away?

00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:38.620
- Yes.

00:02:38.620 --> 00:02:39.615
Unbelievable isn't it?

00:02:39.615 --> 00:02:40.490
- It is unbelievable.

00:02:40.490 --> 00:02:42.650
- And that's every day, five days a week.

00:02:42.650 --> 00:02:44.570
These are all handbags.

00:02:44.570 --> 00:02:47.510
- My girlfriend's got a
pair of shoes like this.

00:02:47.510 --> 00:02:48.847
Look at that.

00:02:48.847 --> 00:02:50.180
There's nothing wrong with them.

00:02:50.180 --> 00:02:51.480
- No.

00:02:51.480 --> 00:02:53.086
Probably out of fashion, I don't know.

00:02:53.086 --> 00:02:54.960
They obviously couldn't
sell it in the shops.

00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:55.959
That's why we've got it.

00:02:55.959 --> 00:02:57.430
That's from the Salvation Army.

00:02:57.430 --> 00:02:59.450
- I never, ever thought about it.

00:02:59.450 --> 00:03:02.960
It didn't cross my mind, "what did they
do with the stuff that they don't sell?"

00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:04.440
I just thought they just sold everything.

00:03:04.440 --> 00:03:04.940
- No.

00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:09.230
- Wholesalers like this
are just the first stage

00:03:09.230 --> 00:03:13.520
in a journey that can take our
clothes thousands of miles.

00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:18.700
So when I'm driving down the motorway
and I see one of these big trucks,

00:03:18.700 --> 00:03:22.980
the last thing I think in my mind
is that it would be full of clothes.

00:03:22.980 --> 00:03:25.470
All these clothes are
going abroad, and there's

00:03:25.470 --> 00:03:29.140
one country that imports more of
our old castoffs than any other.

00:03:32.771 --> 00:03:36.222
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:56.690
Every year, 30,000 tons of
used clothing from Britain

00:03:56.690 --> 00:04:00.778
arrives here, in Accra,
the capital of Ghana.

00:04:00.778 --> 00:04:04.054
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:04:07.340 --> 00:04:11.450
Everywhere, as far as the eye
can see, is bales of clothes.

00:04:13.610 --> 00:04:15.180
Oh my word.

00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:21.360
That shirt that you gave away last week,
or those trousers, or those unwanted shoes,

00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:22.804
have ended up here.

00:04:22.804 --> 00:04:27.450
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:04:27.450 --> 00:04:32.470
The wholesale market here is dominated
by Ghana's biggest importers.

00:04:32.470 --> 00:04:37.880
They do deals with British traders like Paul
to ship thousands of bales into the country

00:04:37.880 --> 00:04:38.890
every three days.

00:04:44.510 --> 00:04:48.950
And in Ghana, you have a special
name for the secondhand clothes.

00:04:48.950 --> 00:04:50.830
I keep hearing people saying...

00:04:50.830 --> 00:04:51.800
- "Obroni wawu."

00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:52.850
Obroni wawu.

00:04:52.850 --> 00:04:55.470
- What does "obroni
wawu"... what does it mean?

00:04:55.470 --> 00:04:57.900
- "White man dead clothes", no?

00:04:57.900 --> 00:04:59.610
Obroni wawu.

00:04:59.610 --> 00:05:03.445
- Eric Forson is one of Ghana's
new breed of wholesalers, feeding

00:05:03.445 --> 00:05:07.400
a huge demand for dead white man's clothes.

00:05:07.400 --> 00:05:10.840
So why do people in Ghana
love obroni wawu so much?

00:05:10.840 --> 00:05:16.920
I mean, all of this madness that's
going on here is because of obroni wawu.

00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:18.060
What's this all about?

00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:21.100
- It depend on what a person wants to buy.

00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:26.350
The obroni wawu goes faster because
it's a little bit cheaper for the masses

00:05:26.350 --> 00:05:27.315
to afford.

00:05:27.315 --> 00:05:31.410
Like having 50 ghana packets you go to
your markets and buy a lot of shirts,

00:05:31.410 --> 00:05:34.850
but when you go to the shop
you buy only one or two shirts.

00:05:34.850 --> 00:05:38.340
Whereas I prefer to go to the
market and buy the used ones.

00:05:38.340 --> 00:05:40.527
- So all of this stuff
you get is from the UK?

00:05:40.527 --> 00:05:41.860
- From the United Kingdom, yeah.

00:05:41.860 --> 00:05:45.210
We used to get some from Manchester.

00:05:45.210 --> 00:05:47.350
Sometimes we go to Leeds.

00:05:47.350 --> 00:05:49.270
Sometimes we go to Coventry.

00:05:49.270 --> 00:05:52.589
This is UK from Birmingham.

00:05:52.589 --> 00:05:53.130
- Birmingham?

00:05:53.130 --> 00:05:54.310
- Birmingham.

00:05:54.310 --> 00:05:57.630
- So why do you choose to get your
stuff from the UK, in particular?

00:05:57.630 --> 00:06:02.250
- In terms of second-hand clothing, the UK
stuffs are best and many people import it

00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:04.449
more than the other stuffs.

00:06:04.449 --> 00:06:05.490
- So what about yourself?

00:06:05.490 --> 00:06:07.300
Are you wearing obroni wawu?

00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:07.950
- Yeah.

00:06:07.950 --> 00:06:08.740
- All of this?

00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:10.030
- I do, yeah.

00:06:10.030 --> 00:06:12.010
- What's the make of your shirt?

00:06:12.010 --> 00:06:14.300
- It's Marks and Spencer.

00:06:14.300 --> 00:06:15.690
- Marks and Spencer shirt.

00:06:15.690 --> 00:06:16.860
And your trousers?

00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:18.060
- Calvin Klein.

00:06:18.060 --> 00:06:21.430
- That is an interesting
combination, because in the UK

00:06:21.430 --> 00:06:23.960
I couldn't imagine seeing
someone wearing Calvin Klein

00:06:23.960 --> 00:06:27.090
trousers with Marks and Spencer shirt.

00:06:27.090 --> 00:06:28.136
No disrespect.

00:06:28.136 --> 00:06:29.677
- But it happens like that sometimes!

00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:36.435
- The clothes that we give away
may be of no value to us anymore.

00:06:36.435 --> 00:06:38.875
But here, they've created
a whole new economy.

00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:53.032
On a good day, your best day of buying
these bales, how much money did you earn?

00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:03.460
100,000 Ghana cedis?

00:07:03.460 --> 00:07:05.232
Which is about 25,000 pounds?

00:07:06.956 --> 00:07:07.791
In one day?

00:07:07.791 --> 00:07:08.290
- Yeah.

00:07:15.273 --> 00:07:18.766
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:07:26.270 --> 00:07:30.450
- I can't believe the figures that
are involved in secondhand clothes.

00:07:30.450 --> 00:07:33.800
And he's probably one
of thousands of traders

00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:36.567
all over this country that's
making money out of the clothes

00:07:36.567 --> 00:07:37.650
that we don't want to use.

00:07:37.650 --> 00:07:40.834
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:07:48.100 --> 00:07:51.330
Asiedu is the next link in the chain.

00:07:51.330 --> 00:07:54.700
He comes to the market to buy
clothes on the day new bales arrive.

00:08:00.420 --> 00:08:05.720
Asiedu selects the best clothes
to sell in his designer boutique.

00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:08.220
What is the best item of
clothing you've found?

00:08:13.220 --> 00:08:15.891
And Paul Boateng is a high, high level.

00:08:15.891 --> 00:08:16.390
- Yeah.

00:08:16.390 --> 00:08:17.640
- And you found that among...?

00:08:17.640 --> 00:08:18.240
- Yes.

00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:20.000
So many, many shirts.

00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:21.580
This a Ben Sherman.

00:08:21.580 --> 00:08:25.580
- It's funny to be so far away
from the UK and to see Ben Sherman.

00:08:33.571 --> 00:08:34.320
You prefer the UK?

00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:34.770
- Yeah.

00:08:34.770 --> 00:08:36.090
- Why do you prefer UK clothes?

00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:46.790
OK, so you like the slim fitted.

00:08:46.790 --> 00:08:50.670
So, if you eat too much
pounded yam, then you wear USA?

00:08:50.670 --> 00:08:51.490
- Yes.

00:08:51.490 --> 00:08:52.820
But we don't like it!

00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:53.660
- OK, I understand.

00:08:57.570 --> 00:09:01.120
For reasons of hygiene, selling
used underwear is banned in Ghana.

00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:05.090
But the rules don't seem
to have had much effect.

00:09:05.090 --> 00:09:06.082
These are boxer shorts.

00:09:06.082 --> 00:09:06.915
Are they secondhand?

00:09:22.692 --> 00:09:27.170
All the clothes are divided into
first, second, and third class items.

00:09:27.170 --> 00:09:30.370
The customers for Asiedu's
top-end designer gear

00:09:30.370 --> 00:09:34.850
are mostly Accra's hip, young
urbanites who've got money to spend.

00:09:34.850 --> 00:09:39.336
Because almost everybody in Ghana wears
obroni wawu, even better-off people.

00:09:47.060 --> 00:09:48.220
And this?

00:09:48.220 --> 00:09:48.940
- First class.

00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:49.990
- This is first class?

00:09:49.990 --> 00:09:51.590
- Yeah, T.M. Lewin.

00:09:51.590 --> 00:09:53.995
We use the name for the first class.

00:09:53.995 --> 00:09:58.210
- So the label and the
name makes it first class.

00:09:58.210 --> 00:10:02.820
Poorer Ghanaians buy the second and third
class clothes, which are older or damaged.

00:10:04.780 --> 00:10:06.410
Can you show me a second class t-shirt?

00:10:10.220 --> 00:10:13.366
So, this is second class because of the arm?

00:10:13.366 --> 00:10:13.865
- Yes.

00:10:13.865 --> 00:10:16.215
- This is really, really interesting.

00:10:16.215 --> 00:10:17.205
Now this is George.

00:10:17.205 --> 00:10:19.050
I think that's a make by ASDA.

00:10:19.050 --> 00:10:22.610
And it was in Mind for five pounds.

00:10:22.610 --> 00:10:24.390
And is there third class then?

00:10:24.390 --> 00:10:26.160
- We have third class.

00:10:26.160 --> 00:10:27.690
- This is third class.

00:10:27.690 --> 00:10:29.575
- I don't know, pricing are low.

00:10:29.575 --> 00:10:30.330
- This is low.

00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:36.780
What about myself?

00:10:36.780 --> 00:10:38.920
Is this first class?

00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:39.550
Be careful.

00:10:39.550 --> 00:10:41.790
- No idea.

00:10:41.790 --> 00:10:42.390
- No idea!

00:10:44.464 --> 00:10:45.810
The cheek of it!

00:10:45.810 --> 00:10:48.334
I'm going, man.

00:10:48.334 --> 00:10:50.130
Man's just laughing at my clothes.

00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:01.050
The secondhand clothes trade in Ghana
is worth 50 million pounds a year,

00:11:01.050 --> 00:11:06.520
and Accra is only the first stop
on the journey of our old castoffs.

00:11:06.520 --> 00:11:10.733
To find out what happens
next, I needed to head north.

00:11:10.733 --> 00:11:14.184
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:11:27.010 --> 00:11:30.320
A lot of the clothes that I saw
being bought and sold in Accra market

00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:32.980
get moved on to other
places around the country.

00:11:32.980 --> 00:11:36.420
And one of the main cities
that they end up in is Kumasi.

00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:48.752
I was heading into Ghana's Ashanti region,
one of the most famous ancient kingdoms

00:11:48.752 --> 00:11:49.252
of Africa.

00:11:53.626 --> 00:11:58.540
It's power was built on trading gold,
which is still mined in the area today,

00:11:58.540 --> 00:12:03.002
and is why this part of Africa
is known as the Gold Coast.

00:12:03.002 --> 00:12:06.390
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:12:14.150 --> 00:12:18.730
The commercial heart of this area is Kumasi,
home to West Africa's biggest market.

00:12:20.490 --> 00:12:24.460
This is where I caught up with the bales of
clothes that had been driven up from Accra.

00:12:31.640 --> 00:12:33.440
Trucks everywhere.

00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:36.900
And there's even more
around the corner here.

00:12:36.900 --> 00:12:39.648
It's a never-ending supply of trucks.

00:12:43.620 --> 00:12:47.690
If you didn't know it, you'd think a
precious supply of gold had arrived --

00:12:47.690 --> 00:12:49.370
not our secondhand clothes.

00:12:51.062 --> 00:12:55.280
There are hundreds of wholesalers
in Kumasi who buy bales of clothes

00:12:55.280 --> 00:12:58.246
directly from the big
importers in the capital.

00:12:58.246 --> 00:13:00.420
So you buy the stuff from Accra.

00:13:00.420 --> 00:13:01.360
Do you go to Accra?

00:13:02.930 --> 00:13:05.010
And, how much stuff do you buy?

00:13:07.162 --> 00:13:07.662
Bales?

00:13:09.296 --> 00:13:12.960
The wholesalers here sell the
clothes on to smaller traders,

00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:15.280
who buy a few bales each to take to market.

00:13:24.785 --> 00:13:28.120
Each bale can cost up to
40 pounds and these women

00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:30.440
are supposed to buy them sight unseen.

00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:33.190
So they're taking a big
risk every time they buy.

00:13:35.130 --> 00:13:38.310
They'll only make a profit if the
clothes they end up with are clean

00:13:38.310 --> 00:13:41.594
and in good condition, so
tensions often spill over.

00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:14.390
There's an argument over the bales.

00:14:14.390 --> 00:14:17.845
This lady has ordered one
type of bale, but she feels

00:14:17.845 --> 00:14:20.740
she's received the wrong type of bale.

00:14:20.740 --> 00:14:23.930
I expected that to happen,
because just look at this place.

00:14:23.930 --> 00:14:24.920
Look at it!

00:14:41.190 --> 00:14:45.090
This to me is business in the rawest sense.

00:14:50.984 --> 00:14:51.775
What's the problem?

00:14:57.720 --> 00:14:59.845
So, what's the matter with this stuff?

00:15:05.280 --> 00:15:08.460
Investing your money in these bales
is a gamble for a lot of these people,

00:15:08.460 --> 00:15:10.670
because they don't know what's in there.

00:15:10.670 --> 00:15:16.610
You could get a top quality pair of pants,
you could get high fashionable jeans,

00:15:16.610 --> 00:15:18.290
or you could get a load of rubbish.

00:15:18.290 --> 00:15:19.810
So it's a massive risk.

00:15:19.810 --> 00:15:23.820
To me, I suppose that that's the
reason why the emotions run so high.

00:15:38.990 --> 00:15:42.170
The scale of the trade is
truly staggering, and I

00:15:42.170 --> 00:15:45.760
wanted to understand the
impact it's having on Ghana.

00:15:45.760 --> 00:15:50.980
So the next morning, I took a deep breath
and headed into Kumasi market, probably

00:15:50.980 --> 00:15:53.570
the world's biggest hub
for secondhand clothes.

00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:58.670
The great thing about this
place is it's so vibrant.

00:15:58.670 --> 00:16:01.810
Even at this time in the morning,
there's always something going on.

00:16:05.130 --> 00:16:10.800
More than half of all the clothes bought in
Ghana are castoffs from Europe and America.

00:16:10.800 --> 00:16:15.870
And across Africa, secondhand garments
have literally flooded the market.

00:16:15.870 --> 00:16:18.335
There's secondhand shoes everywhere.

00:16:18.335 --> 00:16:21.530
And I guarantee, if at
any point in your life

00:16:21.530 --> 00:16:24.970
you've given away secondhand clothes
to a charity shop or anywhere,

00:16:24.970 --> 00:16:27.245
it's probably come through this market.

00:16:31.295 --> 00:16:34.301
These sellers are trading straight
off the side of the pavement,

00:16:34.301 --> 00:16:38.344
running what are known locally
as "bend-down boutiques."

00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:41.100
Do you sell these shoes?

00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:42.330
- Yeah.

00:16:42.330 --> 00:16:43.870
- Where did you get the shoes from?

00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:45.980
This is all from Britain?

00:16:45.980 --> 00:16:46.510
- Yeah.

00:16:46.510 --> 00:16:48.645
- How do you find the pairs?

00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:51.975
I see one trainer.

00:16:51.975 --> 00:16:53.290
This is the right foot.

00:16:53.290 --> 00:16:54.320
Where's the other one?

00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:06.976
- Oh, so this is your security system.

00:17:06.976 --> 00:17:10.140
So if you lay them all out and
you don't lay them in pairs,

00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:13.250
no one can steal, unless
they have odd shoes.

00:17:13.250 --> 00:17:15.464
So if you see someone
walking with odd shoes,

00:17:15.464 --> 00:17:17.130
that means they've stolen your trainers.

00:17:28.410 --> 00:17:33.800
Visiting an African market is an experience
in itself because when you look around you

00:17:33.800 --> 00:17:34.725
see what's...

00:17:34.725 --> 00:17:36.050
there's a vibrancy.

00:17:36.050 --> 00:17:40.995
And you can buy absolutely anything here.

00:17:40.995 --> 00:17:44.940
Most of it, if not all of it, is secondhand.

00:17:44.940 --> 00:17:50.730
They haven't got the same hangups
that we have over secondhand stuff.

00:17:50.730 --> 00:17:55.080
Everywhere you look, something
is being sold or bought.

00:17:55.080 --> 00:17:56.924
And that's life here in Africa.

00:18:00.780 --> 00:18:03.870
Oh my days.

00:18:03.870 --> 00:18:05.510
Look at that!

00:18:05.510 --> 00:18:09.520
As far as the eyes can see, it's
just market stalls and traders.

00:18:11.610 --> 00:18:12.795
I'm going in!

00:18:12.795 --> 00:18:14.964
I'm going in.

00:18:14.964 --> 00:18:18.730
Twenty years ago, this was a normal
market, and secondhand clothes

00:18:18.730 --> 00:18:21.655
were sold alongside at the more
traditional West African textiles.

00:18:24.820 --> 00:18:27.780
Ghana's well-known for it's
brightly colored clothes,

00:18:27.780 --> 00:18:30.870
but the explosion in disposable
fashion in the rich world

00:18:30.870 --> 00:18:32.790
has caused a revolution here.

00:18:47.890 --> 00:18:51.600
There are now thousands of
stalls selling our old castoffs,

00:18:51.600 --> 00:18:54.930
swamping the traditional African garments.

00:18:54.930 --> 00:18:56.150
It's so tight in here.

00:19:03.750 --> 00:19:07.360
Recycled clothes have taken
over from local dress,

00:19:07.360 --> 00:19:11.290
even on some of life's
most traditional occasions.

00:19:11.290 --> 00:19:12.312
Hello.

00:19:12.312 --> 00:19:13.270
What have you got here?

00:19:13.270 --> 00:19:14.512
What are these?

00:19:14.512 --> 00:19:16.410
- This one is wedding dress.

00:19:16.410 --> 00:19:17.240
- Wedding dress.

00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:18.050
- Wedding dress.

00:19:18.050 --> 00:19:20.650
- So these are secondhand wedding dresses?

00:19:20.650 --> 00:19:21.580
- Yes.

00:19:21.580 --> 00:19:22.480
- Can we have a look?

00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:25.710
- Secondhand wedding dress.

00:19:25.710 --> 00:19:27.111
- That's beautiful.

00:19:27.111 --> 00:19:30.235
And do people in Ghana, do they love
buying the secondhand wedding dresses?

00:19:30.235 --> 00:19:30.990
- Yes.

00:19:30.990 --> 00:19:33.840
- So at a Ghanaian wedding,
they would wear these dresses?

00:19:33.840 --> 00:19:34.350
- Yes.

00:19:34.350 --> 00:19:36.540
- How much would one of these cost?

00:19:36.540 --> 00:19:41.050
- This cost 50 Ghana cedis.

00:19:41.050 --> 00:19:45.080
- So that's like 10 to 15
pounds for one of these dresses.

00:19:58.950 --> 00:20:01.760
This is like the boutique end of the market.

00:20:01.760 --> 00:20:03.470
It's like the equivalent of Bond Street.

00:20:03.470 --> 00:20:08.550
You can see some of the shops slightly
more marbled and more expensive stuff.

00:20:08.550 --> 00:20:09.800
Look at this.

00:20:09.800 --> 00:20:10.760
Hello.

00:20:10.760 --> 00:20:12.422
How you doing?

00:20:12.422 --> 00:20:13.380
What have you got here?

00:20:13.380 --> 00:20:15.710
You've got some big coats here.

00:20:15.710 --> 00:20:17.710
Where are the coats from, which country?

00:20:17.710 --> 00:20:18.630
- England.

00:20:18.630 --> 00:20:19.690
- England?

00:20:19.690 --> 00:20:21.670
So who on earth would buy these coats?

00:20:21.670 --> 00:20:23.540
They're so hot and warm in Ghana.

00:20:23.540 --> 00:20:25.480
- They take to travel.

00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:27.160
- They take to travel?

00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:29.319
So, these coats are obroni wawu.

00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:30.110
They're secondhand.

00:20:30.110 --> 00:20:35.340
They come from Europe, to Ghana,
and then back to Europe again.

00:20:35.340 --> 00:20:36.091
Full circle.

00:20:36.091 --> 00:20:36.590
- Yeah.

00:20:39.810 --> 00:20:41.740
- You even sell goggles?

00:20:41.740 --> 00:20:43.595
- Yeah, for big machine.

00:20:43.595 --> 00:20:44.790
- What, for motorbikes?

00:20:44.790 --> 00:20:46.224
- Yeah, like this.

00:20:51.970 --> 00:20:56.165
- Our old castoffs are not just sold here
-- they've inspired a whole industry.

00:20:58.350 --> 00:20:59.780
So, what's going on here?

00:20:59.780 --> 00:21:00.450
Excuse me, sir.

00:21:00.450 --> 00:21:02.283
Could you tell me what you're doing, please?

00:21:02.690 --> 00:21:03.190
- Ironing.

00:21:08.930 --> 00:21:12.280
- This is where our tired old
clothes come to get a makeover.

00:21:19.777 --> 00:21:21.110
- You've got to love this place.

00:21:21.110 --> 00:21:25.520
There's a guy just over there
who's turning trousers into skirts.

00:21:25.520 --> 00:21:28.850
You've got this guy here
who's adding dye to jeans,

00:21:28.850 --> 00:21:32.110
making old secondhand jeans look brand new.

00:21:32.110 --> 00:21:34.950
You've got this lady who is
making shirts more fitted

00:21:34.950 --> 00:21:36.640
because they come from North America.

00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:38.800
And you've got this guy, who's ironing.

00:21:38.800 --> 00:21:43.812
You've got a whole mini factory all
based around secondhand clothing.

00:21:47.130 --> 00:21:49.370
Every year the market grows bigger.

00:21:49.370 --> 00:21:53.210
And now it even sprawls
across an old railway yard.

00:21:53.210 --> 00:21:53.710
- Thank you.

00:22:02.120 --> 00:22:03.578
One cedi!

00:22:03.578 --> 00:22:04.441
- One cedi!

00:22:04.441 --> 00:22:04.940
- OK.

00:22:08.590 --> 00:22:09.290
One point five!

00:22:13.850 --> 00:22:18.840
In this part of the market, I found people
selling cheaper clothes for just 25 pence.

00:22:18.840 --> 00:22:19.760
How are you?

00:22:19.760 --> 00:22:20.720
OK, let me do it right.

00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:21.344
How do I do it?

00:22:21.344 --> 00:22:22.224
Like that?

00:22:22.224 --> 00:22:23.178
And then like that.

00:22:23.178 --> 00:22:24.132
Yes.

00:22:24.132 --> 00:22:27.000
That's the African way.

00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:30.980
Even when clothes are this cheap,
there's still a pecking order.

00:22:30.980 --> 00:22:35.820
When we came here, we heard people
selling stuff for one cedi, two cedis.

00:22:35.820 --> 00:22:38.950
But your stuff is selling for four cedis.

00:22:38.950 --> 00:22:41.410
What's the difference between
your stuff and their stuff?

00:22:56.220 --> 00:22:59.020
Many of Florence's customers
have traveled miles

00:22:59.020 --> 00:23:03.008
to buy clothes they can then take
back to their villages to sell on.

00:23:24.700 --> 00:23:25.684
Oh, wow!

00:23:47.196 --> 00:23:50.000
Florence, is it always like
this when you open a bale?

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:51.655
Is it this chaotic all the time?

00:23:57.060 --> 00:24:00.280
The women here can remember a
time when West African markets

00:24:00.280 --> 00:24:02.180
weren't dominated by used clothes.

00:24:24.550 --> 00:24:26.440
Why don't you buy Ghanaian clothes?

00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:29.455
Why are you only buying
secondhand European clothes?

00:24:33.420 --> 00:24:37.770
So if you had money, would you
buy traditional Ghanaian clothes?

00:24:37.770 --> 00:24:40.496
Or would you buy secondhand
European clothes?

00:25:07.295 --> 00:25:10.425
I was born in nearby Nigeria,
and I remember my family

00:25:10.425 --> 00:25:14.060
wearing brightly colored
West African fabrics.

00:25:14.060 --> 00:25:16.776
Now everybody's wearing
Western castoffs, and I

00:25:16.776 --> 00:25:19.900
couldn't help wondering what had happened
to all those traditional clothes.

00:25:31.290 --> 00:25:35.495
So I headed into the countryside in
search of a more African kind of clothing.

00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:42.755
I'm going to need skills
to get across here...

00:25:46.990 --> 00:25:48.100
...which I obviously have.

00:25:57.040 --> 00:25:59.720
This is Kente cloth.

00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:02.930
Traditionally, it's only
worn on special occasions

00:26:02.930 --> 00:26:05.088
by state officials and royal families.

00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:12.482
- Wearing a piece of cloth makes
you more gorgeous, like a king.

00:26:14.330 --> 00:26:19.040
- Osei-Bonsu is a local historian
who studied the traditions of Kente.

00:26:19.040 --> 00:26:23.740
- To be able to do this,
one has to undergo training.

00:26:23.740 --> 00:26:29.350
A year or more to learn how to
weave the very simple Kente.

00:26:29.350 --> 00:26:31.880
- And how long would it take
to make something like this?

00:26:31.880 --> 00:26:33.610
Because it looks so intricate.

00:26:33.610 --> 00:26:36.790
- Well, this will take you
about four months to weave.

00:26:36.790 --> 00:26:37.800
- Four months!

00:26:37.800 --> 00:26:38.720
- Yes, four months.

00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:39.910
- Why so long?

00:26:39.910 --> 00:26:41.410
I know it's intricate, but why?

00:26:41.410 --> 00:26:43.880
- Very intricate.

00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:50.680
- Each piece of cloth has its own name and
symbolizes a particular event or proverb.

00:26:50.680 --> 00:26:53.520
- There were times that we
could not read and write.

00:26:53.520 --> 00:26:58.990
And so we were keeping our history
in the clothes that we wear.

00:26:58.990 --> 00:27:06.020
So, the cloth speaks volumes -- history,
philosophy and literature, everything.

00:27:06.020 --> 00:27:11.220
- In Ghana now, I see more people wearing
obroni wawu, or secondhand clothes,

00:27:11.220 --> 00:27:12.820
you know, then ever.

00:27:12.820 --> 00:27:15.820
So are traditional prints still as popular?

00:27:15.820 --> 00:27:18.580
Not just Kente, but the
traditional clothing.

00:27:18.580 --> 00:27:20.740
- Economics come to play.

00:27:20.740 --> 00:27:26.430
Secondhand clothing brought in from
Europe and America, it's cheaper.

00:27:26.430 --> 00:27:27.320
Far cheaper.

00:27:27.320 --> 00:27:32.150
- And what kind of impact do you think
that's having to the culture in Ghana?

00:27:32.150 --> 00:27:36.360
Because everybody seems to be
dressed more like the West,

00:27:36.360 --> 00:27:38.570
like Westerners rather than Africans.

00:27:38.570 --> 00:27:44.370
- Well, we were trained,
even when I was young,

00:27:44.370 --> 00:27:50.840
to believe that everything
Western is civilization.

00:27:50.840 --> 00:27:55.640
Our belief and respect for our
own things has faded to a degree

00:27:55.640 --> 00:28:01.860
that, if we are not very careful,
sometime, somewhere, someday,

00:28:01.860 --> 00:28:05.530
we will not see some of
our own things anymore.

00:28:05.530 --> 00:28:10.480
- I'm quite frustrated because Africa
has a rich history, and a lot of people

00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:12.250
travel to Africa to see that.

00:28:12.250 --> 00:28:18.200
And being someone who was born in
Nigeria, I'm proud of that past.

00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:26.080
- These days, everybody is getting
an English name or a Western name,

00:28:26.080 --> 00:28:27.790
in addition to his own name.

00:28:27.790 --> 00:28:34.470
And they prefer being called the Western
names to being called the local names.

00:28:34.470 --> 00:28:35.890
That alone should tell you.

00:28:35.890 --> 00:28:37.850
The food that we eat has changed.

00:28:37.850 --> 00:28:40.860
We're eating more Western
food than our own food.

00:28:40.860 --> 00:28:43.120
It is killing our culture.

00:28:43.120 --> 00:28:48.545
If there is no obroni wawu, a lot of people
would turn to the local type of dress.

00:28:53.620 --> 00:28:57.520
- But there is more at stake here
than just traditions and culture.

00:28:57.520 --> 00:29:00.650
Ghana used to have its own
thriving textile industry,

00:29:00.650 --> 00:29:03.890
making the famous printed color fabrics.

00:29:03.890 --> 00:29:07.530
Factories employed more than 25,000 people.

00:29:07.530 --> 00:29:12.512
But today, most of the textile companies
have closed, and the jobs have gone.

00:29:12.512 --> 00:29:16.950
I headed east towards Lake Volta to
meet some of the people still working

00:29:16.950 --> 00:29:17.872
in the industry.

00:29:21.099 --> 00:29:25.630
I'm off to one of Ghana's last remaining
factories that produces traditional cloth.

00:29:28.534 --> 00:29:32.120
Akosombo Textiles is the
last business in the country

00:29:32.120 --> 00:29:37.304
that still takes in raw cotton at one end to
produce its finished fabrics out the other.

00:29:44.669 --> 00:29:49.370
Steve Dutton's from Manchester, and
he's worked in textiles all his life.

00:29:49.370 --> 00:29:54.930
He relocated to Africa twenty years ago to
help manage a flourishing company that once

00:29:54.930 --> 00:29:58.260
employed 2,000 workers in this factory.

00:29:58.260 --> 00:30:05.750
- In 2009, we were producing getting
on for 2 million meters a month.

00:30:05.750 --> 00:30:07.320
- Is that your peak production?

00:30:07.320 --> 00:30:09.030
- Yeah, that was about our peak.

00:30:09.030 --> 00:30:11.200
And today, that's...

00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:15.000
over that period it's
gone down by about 75%.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:16.250
- Wow, 75%.

00:30:16.250 --> 00:30:18.170
- Yeah, that's right.

00:30:18.170 --> 00:30:20.300
It's quite an urgent situation.

00:30:20.300 --> 00:30:25.230
We feel as though we are right on the
brink of not being able to carry on.

00:30:25.230 --> 00:30:28.750
- And what sort of impact would
you say secondhand clothing

00:30:28.750 --> 00:30:30.210
has had on your industry?

00:30:30.210 --> 00:30:31.250
- It's about usage.

00:30:31.250 --> 00:30:38.800
So, for traditional cultural events,
people still use African print quite a lot.

00:30:38.800 --> 00:30:43.620
But also, I've no doubt that people
will use Western-style clothing,

00:30:43.620 --> 00:30:44.996
if I can put it that way.

00:30:44.996 --> 00:30:46.870
And if they're going to
do that, then they're

00:30:46.870 --> 00:30:51.150
going to go to the secondhand clothing
market because it's a whole lot cheaper.

00:30:53.030 --> 00:30:55.850
- But as well as the challenge
from the secondhand clothes,

00:30:55.850 --> 00:30:58.540
this factory faces another threat.

00:30:58.540 --> 00:31:01.680
Their unique Ghanaian
designs have also been copied

00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:04.420
and undercut by cheap
fakes from the Far East.

00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:10.260
- What is really the biggest threat
to our business and to the jobs

00:31:10.260 --> 00:31:12.330
is the fakes and copies.

00:31:12.330 --> 00:31:16.480
For example, this one has
got a ticket of ATL, No.

00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:19.030
1 Akosombo Textiles Limited.

00:31:19.030 --> 00:31:21.185
We have never produced a ticket like this.

00:31:21.185 --> 00:31:22.180
- So that's a fake.

00:31:22.180 --> 00:31:23.630
That's a Chinese fake.

00:31:23.630 --> 00:31:24.520
- Absolutely.

00:31:24.520 --> 00:31:27.340
- And they're cheeky
enough to even put on that.

00:31:27.340 --> 00:31:27.840
- Yes.

00:31:27.840 --> 00:31:30.150
They're using the brand, the logo.

00:31:30.150 --> 00:31:32.890
We know it's a fake because
of the overall quality.

00:31:32.890 --> 00:31:35.120
- So how does all of this make you feel?

00:31:35.120 --> 00:31:43.990
- It's difficult for me to overemphasize
just how close we are to closing down.

00:31:43.990 --> 00:31:49.330
I'm very, very worried that this
copying -- if it's not challenged,

00:31:49.330 --> 00:31:54.070
if it's not stopped, if it's not
minimized -- is going to destroy us.

00:32:00.270 --> 00:32:04.090
- With poor infrastructure and
high costs, African businesses

00:32:04.090 --> 00:32:07.145
struggle to compete with China's
mighty clothing industry.

00:32:10.780 --> 00:32:16.365
- We survive at the moment, basically, on
our special designs for particular events.

00:32:16.365 --> 00:32:19.520
But, is that enough to keep us going?

00:32:19.520 --> 00:32:21.660
Honestly, I doubt it.

00:32:21.660 --> 00:32:23.850
It really is touch and go now.

00:32:23.850 --> 00:32:28.550
And we are talking to the government
here to try and get some assistance,

00:32:28.550 --> 00:32:32.000
so if help is there, we've got a chance.

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:35.180
If it isn't there, I think
our days are numbered.

00:32:39.870 --> 00:32:44.310
- It's really sad that the Ghanaian
textile industry is struggling so badly.

00:32:44.310 --> 00:32:48.430
And the irony is, the only thing that's
keeping this factory alive is death.

00:32:51.080 --> 00:32:55.750
The company's last lifeline is making
traditional fabrics specially designed

00:32:55.750 --> 00:33:01.080
for funerals, which are often
huge social events in Ghana.

00:33:01.080 --> 00:33:03.680
Funerals are such a big
part of the culture here,

00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:09.500
and everywhere you go you see posters and
banners of family members inviting people

00:33:09.500 --> 00:33:13.710
to come to funerals or to commemorate the
lives of the person who's passed away.

00:33:17.980 --> 00:33:23.530
It's still common here to buy a new outfit
for a funeral made from traditional fabrics

00:33:23.530 --> 00:33:25.530
that were once normal in everyday life.

00:33:27.670 --> 00:33:32.330
Sometimes, special designs are
commissioned by the family of the deceased.

00:33:32.330 --> 00:33:33.970
This looks amazing.

00:33:33.970 --> 00:33:35.890
It's beautiful.

00:33:35.890 --> 00:33:37.570
- Here's some African.

00:33:37.570 --> 00:33:38.500
- OK.

00:33:38.500 --> 00:33:39.540
This is the style.

00:33:39.540 --> 00:33:43.540
- Yeah, so maybe you can give it a look.

00:33:43.540 --> 00:33:44.300
- That looks cool.

00:33:47.020 --> 00:33:48.360
Are these all for funerals?

00:33:48.360 --> 00:33:50.080
- Yeah, you can wear it for a funeral.

00:33:50.080 --> 00:33:52.190
- I mean, obviously, the
color has to be black.

00:33:52.190 --> 00:33:53.840
- Black, yeah.

00:33:53.840 --> 00:33:56.610
- It looks a bit glamorous, though.

00:33:56.610 --> 00:33:57.795
That's the one.

00:33:57.795 --> 00:33:59.216
Not in pink though.

00:34:03.110 --> 00:34:05.670
I needed an outfit because
we've been allowed to film

00:34:05.670 --> 00:34:08.100
at the funeral for a local celebrity.

00:34:08.100 --> 00:34:12.050
Now clothes at Ghanaian funerals
are dominated by two colors:

00:34:12.050 --> 00:34:15.994
black to symbolize death, and
red to convey the anger of loss.

00:34:26.518 --> 00:34:29.480
You wouldn't know that
you're coming to a funeral.

00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:30.516
It's so glamorous.

00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:37.060
Ronnie Coaches was a well-known
musician who died tragically young,

00:34:37.060 --> 00:34:39.659
and mourners from all walks of
life had come to his funeral.

00:34:47.980 --> 00:34:50.090
It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

00:34:50.090 --> 00:34:53.090
Dancing and performing,
photographers everywhere.

00:34:53.090 --> 00:34:54.760
The atmosphere is incredible.

00:34:54.760 --> 00:34:59.120
I've never seen so many smiles and
so much happiness at a funeral.

00:34:59.120 --> 00:35:02.578
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:35:06.530 --> 00:35:10.005
But as Ronnie's coffin was taken
for burial, the mood changed.

00:35:15.160 --> 00:35:19.656
It's a real rollercoaster of emotions
when you come to a Ghanaian funeral

00:35:19.656 --> 00:35:23.550
because one minute everybody is up,
the next minute it's really somber.

00:35:23.550 --> 00:35:29.210
And now they're taking the body off to the
graveyard and it's just heavy emotions.

00:35:29.210 --> 00:35:32.710
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:35:35.710 --> 00:35:41.170
I feel this is like a real taste of
Ghanaian culture -- the colors, the people,

00:35:41.170 --> 00:35:42.490
and the celebration.

00:35:42.490 --> 00:35:45.976
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:35:53.450 --> 00:35:56.500
After six hours of music,
partying, and prayers,

00:35:56.500 --> 00:35:59.490
the 500 mourners who had
come to pay their respects

00:35:59.490 --> 00:36:01.929
arrived at Ronnie's final resting place.

00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:10.765
Throughout the day, I'd been struck by
the fact that even here at a funeral,

00:36:10.765 --> 00:36:14.210
there were just as many
Western clothes as traditional.

00:36:14.210 --> 00:36:17.612
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:36:23.444 --> 00:36:28.100
- The last and final respect
we are giving to our son.

00:36:34.390 --> 00:36:39.570
- At the funeral, you are showing off not
only the status of the one who is dead,

00:36:39.570 --> 00:36:42.130
but the status of those who are alive.

00:36:42.130 --> 00:36:45.220
So you don't want to
wear the kind of clothing

00:36:45.220 --> 00:36:50.000
where everybody will brand it that
you been to folk's line to pick.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:53.790
- Professor Irene Odotei
writes about popular culture.

00:36:53.790 --> 00:36:57.320
She believes that Ghana's
traditions are being undermined.

00:36:57.320 --> 00:37:01.740
- People are beginning to be
more dressed up at funerals.

00:37:01.740 --> 00:37:07.780
In the olden days it was like
more somber, kind of toned down.

00:37:07.780 --> 00:37:08.300
Toned down.

00:37:08.300 --> 00:37:13.310
But these days, the people,
they'll wear very long high heels.

00:37:13.310 --> 00:37:16.820
And, really you see that this...

00:37:16.820 --> 00:37:19.860
you can even think they're
going to a dinner party.

00:37:19.860 --> 00:37:25.240
The idea of dressing in Western dress
to funerals, where did that come from?

00:37:25.240 --> 00:37:27.220
- It's globalization.

00:37:27.220 --> 00:37:29.450
People are watching a lot of television.

00:37:29.450 --> 00:37:37.470
They themselves are not being really
brought up to traditional values.

00:37:37.470 --> 00:37:41.240
We are losing ground because
urbanization too has come in.

00:37:41.240 --> 00:37:44.020
A lot of them have come from the
villages of wherever they are,

00:37:44.020 --> 00:37:46.670
where they have these influences
-- traditional influence.

00:37:46.670 --> 00:37:48.890
And they've come to settle in the cities.

00:37:48.890 --> 00:37:51.830
And in the cities, you lose track.

00:37:51.830 --> 00:37:53.940
- These things with the
secondhand clothes, what

00:37:53.940 --> 00:37:57.110
is it doing to the traditions in Ghana?

00:37:57.110 --> 00:38:01.530
From the olden days, this place has
been a dumping ground for stuff.

00:38:01.530 --> 00:38:04.380
And it continues to be a dumping ground.

00:38:04.380 --> 00:38:06.168
When are we going to stop it?

00:38:08.260 --> 00:38:13.220
- The Ghanaian textile industry relies
on big occasions like this to make money

00:38:13.220 --> 00:38:14.540
and to sell clothes.

00:38:14.540 --> 00:38:19.070
And I think if people aren't going to
wear traditional dress at big occasions

00:38:19.070 --> 00:38:21.422
like this, when are they going to wear it?

00:38:26.242 --> 00:38:29.616
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:38:33.480 --> 00:38:36.710
It was time to get back on the
trail of our secondhand clothes

00:38:36.710 --> 00:38:39.850
and head into the remote northeast of Ghana.

00:38:39.850 --> 00:38:43.715
I wanted to meet some of the people in
the poorest regions of the country who

00:38:43.715 --> 00:38:45.320
are wearing our old castoffs.

00:38:51.382 --> 00:38:56.404
In the market at Kumasi, I had met women
from this area buying bales of clothes

00:38:56.404 --> 00:38:57.695
to take back to their villages.

00:38:59.420 --> 00:39:03.600
The women who travel to Kumasi market
often go in buses like that one.

00:39:03.600 --> 00:39:07.790
And they're cramped in there like sardines,
when it can be up to a three-day round trip

00:39:07.790 --> 00:39:08.752
for them.

00:39:14.050 --> 00:39:19.240
By the time the clothes get here, they've
been on an almost unbelievable journey.

00:39:19.240 --> 00:39:23.490
Many were originally manufactured by
poor workers in countries like Bangladesh

00:39:23.490 --> 00:39:26.420
and shipped thousands of miles to Britain.

00:39:26.420 --> 00:39:30.300
After a few months in our wardrobes,
they set off via the charity shops

00:39:30.300 --> 00:39:32.336
on a new journey to Africa.

00:39:32.336 --> 00:39:37.090
From the port in Accra, they're driven
hundreds of miles via Kumasi market

00:39:37.090 --> 00:39:39.750
to this ferry port on
the shores of Lake Volta.

00:39:42.840 --> 00:39:45.800
On the ferry over to
Kete Krachi, I met Osei.

00:39:45.800 --> 00:39:50.530
He is one of the biggest local traders of
what they call dead white man's clothes.

00:39:50.530 --> 00:39:51.120
Morning.

00:39:51.120 --> 00:39:51.906
- Morning.

00:39:51.906 --> 00:39:52.758
- How are you?

00:39:52.758 --> 00:39:53.610
- I'm fine.

00:39:53.610 --> 00:39:55.580
- So, this bale, is this yours?

00:39:56.950 --> 00:39:58.330
And where did it come from?

00:40:05.040 --> 00:40:08.650
So you prefer obroni wawu
to the traditional clothing?

00:40:10.040 --> 00:40:10.540
Why?

00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:17.975
So it makes you unique.

00:40:17.975 --> 00:40:19.040
You stand out.

00:40:45.530 --> 00:40:47.940
Is there an alternative to obroni wawu?

00:40:47.940 --> 00:40:53.280
Is there anything else that the locals
in Krachi, or the Ghanaians could wear?

00:40:59.439 --> 00:41:02.876
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:41:08.780 --> 00:41:11.640
Before the obroni wawu stores
arrived here 10 years ago,

00:41:11.640 --> 00:41:14.310
people had to make their
clothes last for years.

00:41:14.310 --> 00:41:17.593
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:41:21.350 --> 00:41:24.190
The clothes that you
find here in Kete Krachi,

00:41:24.190 --> 00:41:28.500
they've been rejected by
everyone all over Ghana.

00:41:28.500 --> 00:41:32.559
They're not going to be ones picked
in the capital city, Kumasi and Accra,

00:41:32.559 --> 00:41:34.600
those people are not going
to have these clothes.

00:41:34.600 --> 00:41:36.430
And they're a bit more damaged.

00:41:36.430 --> 00:41:38.510
They're not high-end fashion.

00:41:38.510 --> 00:41:41.070
It's like the clothes you'd
find in a jumble sale.

00:41:41.070 --> 00:41:44.560
And I can't imagine how many pairs
of hands they've been through.

00:41:44.560 --> 00:41:48.462
And we might not want them, but
I reckon they're gold dust here.

00:41:48.462 --> 00:41:51.934
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:42:18.270 --> 00:42:22.415
From the ferry port, the clothes travel
along dirt roads to the remotest villages.

00:42:26.250 --> 00:42:29.110
The final stage of their
journey is often on foot.

00:42:32.120 --> 00:42:33.520
Hello.

00:42:33.520 --> 00:42:34.930
Good morning.

00:42:34.930 --> 00:42:38.390
I just want to ask, how do you
manage to balance it on your head?

00:42:38.390 --> 00:42:40.560
It's just, I mean it's incredible.

00:42:40.560 --> 00:42:41.970
Isn't your neck getting tired?

00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:45.810
Can we see how heavy that is?

00:42:45.810 --> 00:42:48.231
Can I check the weight on your head?

00:42:48.231 --> 00:42:51.470
Oh no!

00:42:51.470 --> 00:42:53.910
Whoa!

00:42:53.910 --> 00:42:55.000
Yeah!

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:56.730
I don't know how she does this.

00:42:56.730 --> 00:42:57.860
I really don't.

00:42:57.860 --> 00:42:59.180
Dina, you can have it back.

00:42:59.180 --> 00:42:59.860
Here you go!

00:43:05.900 --> 00:43:09.400
It's funny how secondhand clothes
-- and especially football,

00:43:09.400 --> 00:43:12.840
secondhand football stuff --
permeates the whole of this country.

00:43:12.840 --> 00:43:14.364
Chelsea fan?

00:43:14.364 --> 00:43:15.130
- Yeah.

00:43:15.130 --> 00:43:17.240
- And you've got Liverpool shorts on.

00:43:17.240 --> 00:43:20.420
Judging by the size of them, I
think they were worn by Jan Molby.

00:43:20.420 --> 00:43:25.360
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:28.920
Dina is a single mum
bringing up five children.

00:43:28.920 --> 00:43:32.440
She walks up to 10 miles from
village to village selling clothes.

00:43:37.286 --> 00:43:41.190
And as we've been walking along,
all these people, they know you,

00:43:41.190 --> 00:43:42.420
they stop and talk to you.

00:43:42.420 --> 00:43:43.586
Are they all your customers?

00:43:47.296 --> 00:43:49.045
So why are you selling secondhand clothes?

00:43:57.660 --> 00:44:00.437
So if you weren't selling
secondhand clothes,

00:44:00.437 --> 00:44:02.520
there would be no other
way for you to earn money?

00:44:11.878 --> 00:44:15.294
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:44:27.500 --> 00:44:31.130
Many of the villagers here in
Gyen Gyen are subsistence farmers,

00:44:31.130 --> 00:44:35.010
living on the equivalent
of less than a pound a day.

00:44:35.010 --> 00:44:39.845
Can you tell me why you love these
clothes, why you love obroni wawu so much?

00:44:53.830 --> 00:45:02.055
When you look through these clothes,
you see Superdry, Next, Dorothy Perkins.

00:45:02.055 --> 00:45:06.150
I could be on any high street
in the UK, but I'm not.

00:45:06.150 --> 00:45:09.900
We're in a small village
in northeastern Ghana.

00:45:13.460 --> 00:45:17.265
As well as selling the clothes, Dina
also acts as a personal shopper.

00:45:34.190 --> 00:45:35.290
Does it look good on him?

00:45:36.810 --> 00:45:38.126
You going to sell it to him?

00:45:44.810 --> 00:45:48.090
Even though these clothes
cost less than 25 pence,

00:45:48.090 --> 00:45:51.930
the villagers here sometimes
have to go into debt to buy them.

00:45:51.930 --> 00:45:57.260
Dina, would you sell this on credit so
she can take it now and then she buys it

00:45:57.260 --> 00:45:57.830
next...

00:45:57.830 --> 00:45:59.120
pays for it next week?

00:46:15.450 --> 00:46:20.325
Clothes like this we give away to
charity shops in the UK for free.

00:46:20.325 --> 00:46:22.250
Are you surprised by that?

00:46:30.390 --> 00:46:31.390
Are you going to buy it?

00:46:33.440 --> 00:46:34.565
Oh, you got a deal.

00:46:34.565 --> 00:46:35.390
Look at that!

00:46:35.390 --> 00:46:37.250
Do this, do this, do this, yeah!

00:46:40.510 --> 00:46:43.840
When I give away my clothes
to charity shops in the UK,

00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:47.530
this is the last place
I'd expect them to end up,

00:46:47.530 --> 00:46:50.440
in a rural village in Northeastern Ghana.

00:46:50.440 --> 00:46:53.800
And what's even more surprising is
these people have next to nothing,

00:46:53.800 --> 00:46:57.500
yet they're probably supporting
a lot of UK charities.

00:46:57.500 --> 00:47:00.840
And what's even weirder than
that, is those charities

00:47:00.840 --> 00:47:04.050
are probably giving money to
Africa to support these people.

00:47:04.050 --> 00:47:06.240
So it's just a bizarre merry-go-round.

00:47:10.040 --> 00:47:12.870
It was incredible to see
where our old clothes end up.

00:47:12.870 --> 00:47:16.310
And in some ways, they've come full circle.

00:47:16.310 --> 00:47:19.680
They're cheap garments made by
some of the world's poorest people

00:47:19.680 --> 00:47:23.184
that end up being worn by some
of the world's poorest people.

00:47:27.910 --> 00:47:32.180
Affordable clothing has benefited these
villages and provided some of them

00:47:32.180 --> 00:47:33.740
with a living.

00:47:33.740 --> 00:47:38.770
Across Ghana and Africa, our secondhand
clothes drive a vast industry of people,

00:47:38.770 --> 00:47:42.830
transporting, packing, and selling them.

00:47:42.830 --> 00:47:47.410
But I do find it a bit sad how Western
clothing has spread across the world.

00:47:47.410 --> 00:47:50.350
Go, go, go, go!

00:47:50.350 --> 00:47:51.090
Oh nice pass!

00:47:53.750 --> 00:47:58.700
It worries me how it's affecting the culture
because the last thing I would want to see

00:47:58.700 --> 00:48:02.903
is for everyone in the world
to be dressed the same.

00:48:02.903 --> 00:48:03.845
You gonna play?

00:48:06.680 --> 00:48:08.295
All right, I'm going to turn round.

00:48:08.295 --> 00:48:10.015
All behind me.

00:48:10.015 --> 00:48:11.640
That way, that way, that way, that way.

00:48:16.900 --> 00:48:19.601
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:48:21.510 --> 00:48:25.020
The final stage of my journey took
me back to the capital, Accra.

00:48:25.020 --> 00:48:28.338
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:48:32.610 --> 00:48:35.470
Despite the poverty I'd
seen in the countryside,

00:48:35.470 --> 00:48:37.970
Ghana's actually an African success story.

00:48:37.970 --> 00:48:41.820
It's one of the fastest
growing economies in the world.

00:48:41.820 --> 00:48:44.660
There is a clothing industry
here as well, and I headed

00:48:44.660 --> 00:48:48.010
to one of its most successful companies.

00:48:48.010 --> 00:48:53.840
Sleek Garments employs around 300
workers making a wide range of clothes.

00:48:53.840 --> 00:48:57.770
CEO Nora Bannerman has worked
in the industry for 30 years,

00:48:57.770 --> 00:49:01.650
and she's experienced
its problems firsthand.

00:49:01.650 --> 00:49:05.660
- There's some unfair competition
from imported garments.

00:49:05.660 --> 00:49:08.760
And the worst of it is the used clothing.

00:49:08.760 --> 00:49:11.665
- I was going to say, what kind of
impact has the secondhand clothing

00:49:11.665 --> 00:49:14.160
market had on your business?

00:49:14.160 --> 00:49:18.970
- You know, for those in the industry
who focus mainly on the local markets,

00:49:18.970 --> 00:49:20.560
it's been very challenging.

00:49:20.560 --> 00:49:25.540
And most of them have
shut down their factories.

00:49:25.540 --> 00:49:31.020
- New shirts made in Ghana cost up to
40 times more than our secondhand ones.

00:49:31.020 --> 00:49:34.910
So instead of competing, Nora
concentrates on making work-wear

00:49:34.910 --> 00:49:36.815
for local businesses in Ghana.

00:49:36.815 --> 00:49:39.200
- This is for a mining company.

00:49:39.200 --> 00:49:41.300
This is a phone company.

00:49:41.300 --> 00:49:42.610
These are security uniforms.

00:49:42.610 --> 00:49:44.060
- So you make uniforms...

00:49:44.060 --> 00:49:44.620
- And so on.

00:49:44.620 --> 00:49:49.740
We decided to focus on that and then
strategize to get back into the market

00:49:49.740 --> 00:49:50.240
again.

00:49:51.840 --> 00:49:55.275
- Because of the tough competition,
most of the clothes made here

00:49:55.275 --> 00:49:57.650
are actually exported.

00:49:57.650 --> 00:50:00.350
- Locally here in Ghana,
the markets are pretty

00:50:00.350 --> 00:50:05.900
small for garments that are of one
design, of one color, of one fabric.

00:50:05.900 --> 00:50:10.510
Our focus is on mass producing
clothing, mainly for export to the US.

00:50:10.510 --> 00:50:12.280
And they buy in the thousands.

00:50:12.280 --> 00:50:14.280
It's just a huge market.

00:50:14.280 --> 00:50:17.710
- In an ideal world, what
would you like to see

00:50:17.710 --> 00:50:19.940
happen to the textile industry in Ghana?

00:50:19.940 --> 00:50:22.690
- We need to be in business
to create jobs for our people,

00:50:22.690 --> 00:50:27.260
and create the wealth that they need
to enable them to afford new garments,

00:50:27.260 --> 00:50:28.900
freshly made garments.

00:50:28.900 --> 00:50:32.140
And so we need to look at this
in totality and bring a change.

00:50:32.140 --> 00:50:35.620
And change is always difficult,
but change is always for good.

00:50:35.620 --> 00:50:37.380
Imagine what we can do for our economy.

00:50:37.380 --> 00:50:41.500
And once the economy is
growing, things will change.

00:50:41.500 --> 00:50:44.370
- Nora thinks that only
high wages and less poverty

00:50:44.370 --> 00:50:48.730
will end the domination
of secondhand clothes.

00:50:48.730 --> 00:50:49.840
- See these young women?

00:50:49.840 --> 00:50:53.540
They work hard, and they should
be able to afford new clothing.

00:50:53.540 --> 00:50:57.700
Why should they wear clothing that
somebody else doesn't want anymore?

00:50:57.700 --> 00:51:02.440
- Do you think you'll ever see the
day where there'll be no longer obroni

00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:05.860
wawu or secondhand clothes in Ghana?

00:51:05.860 --> 00:51:07.510
- That day will come.

00:51:07.510 --> 00:51:08.690
That day will surely come.

00:51:08.690 --> 00:51:10.690
It may be slow, but it's coming.

00:51:10.690 --> 00:51:12.735
And it will definitely come for sure.

00:51:12.735 --> 00:51:13.350
- Brilliant.

00:51:13.350 --> 00:51:18.610
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:51:18.610 --> 00:51:20.610
The government here is
also trying to persuade

00:51:20.610 --> 00:51:22.580
people to wear locally made clothes.

00:51:26.830 --> 00:51:31.480
Ten years ago, they
introduced a local dress day.

00:51:31.480 --> 00:51:34.235
The idea is that at the end
of each week, office workers

00:51:34.235 --> 00:51:37.800
ditch their suits for more
traditional colorful shirts

00:51:37.800 --> 00:51:39.710
and "thank Ghana it's Friday."

00:51:39.710 --> 00:51:42.881
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:51:44.240 --> 00:51:46.340
It's a desire to be Ghanaian.

00:51:46.340 --> 00:51:47.830
We are still...

00:51:47.830 --> 00:51:51.495
it's still working day, so
it's not as we're dressing down

00:51:51.495 --> 00:51:53.580
but we are dressing traditional.

00:51:53.580 --> 00:51:56.520
And also making the place a
fun place to work, isn't it?

00:51:56.520 --> 00:51:58.270
- Yeah.

00:51:58.270 --> 00:52:02.080
The workers in Ellen Hagan's recruitment
company have embraced this scheme.

00:52:02.080 --> 00:52:04.210
Well, at least most of them have.

00:52:04.210 --> 00:52:09.920
I noticed not all of your workers are
wearing traditional dress, because I can

00:52:09.920 --> 00:52:13.570
see some people in that office over there.

00:52:13.570 --> 00:52:14.740
- But actually, she is.

00:52:14.740 --> 00:52:19.815
She has combined the Western
style with the African print.

00:52:19.815 --> 00:52:21.690
So, she's just trying to be trendy.

00:52:21.690 --> 00:52:24.490
You know, these are younger people.

00:52:24.490 --> 00:52:27.840
- Is traditional clothing become
something just for the middle classes,

00:52:27.840 --> 00:52:30.019
something for people with money?

00:52:30.019 --> 00:52:30.810
- I don't think so.

00:52:30.810 --> 00:52:34.300
In everything on the market,
there are different ranges.

00:52:34.300 --> 00:52:37.620
Or they prefer to wear
non-traditional clothes, in which case

00:52:37.620 --> 00:52:41.680
it is easier to get the suits and
the skirts from the obroni wawu

00:52:41.680 --> 00:52:46.090
rather than get a tailor to
make a skirt suit for you.

00:52:46.090 --> 00:52:47.960
- Could we have a show of hands?

00:52:47.960 --> 00:52:54.420
If you were going out on a Saturday night
to a party and you wanted to impress people,

00:52:54.420 --> 00:52:58.189
how many of you here would wear
traditional clothing on a Saturday night?

00:52:58.189 --> 00:52:58.730
- To impress?

00:52:58.730 --> 00:52:59.330
Definitely traditional...

00:52:59.330 --> 00:53:00.190
- To impress.

00:53:00.190 --> 00:53:01.090
If it is to impress.

00:53:01.090 --> 00:53:03.540
- If it is to impress,
then traditional clothing.

00:53:03.540 --> 00:53:08.400
- That's the majority except for this
man who's laughing in the corner.

00:53:11.270 --> 00:53:12.380
Why?

00:53:12.380 --> 00:53:13.380
Just tell us.

00:53:13.380 --> 00:53:16.860
Why would you rather wear Western clothing?

00:53:16.860 --> 00:53:20.610
- Well the younger generation,
we like to the more trendy.

00:53:20.610 --> 00:53:25.420
So, you see most of the
Western clothes all day.

00:53:25.420 --> 00:53:30.410
Foreign clothes are more trendy
to the younger generation.

00:53:30.410 --> 00:53:35.365
So more of the time you'll see
them wearing the Western clothes.

00:53:35.365 --> 00:53:39.385
- I mean, I wonder if you think the
influence of Western clothing...

00:53:39.385 --> 00:53:41.310
do you think it's to do with globalization?

00:53:41.310 --> 00:53:45.690
- You can go on YouTube, the MTV
channels, and you're seeing designs.

00:53:45.690 --> 00:53:46.660
You want to mix it.

00:53:46.660 --> 00:53:47.620
You want to match it.

00:53:47.620 --> 00:53:52.530
You don't want to look like you are too
Ghanaian when you're going to an event.

00:53:52.530 --> 00:53:53.640
- Why not?

00:53:53.640 --> 00:53:55.920
- Because you want to
know that, you want to...

00:53:55.920 --> 00:53:58.090
as the youth, mostly it's
because you want to...

00:53:58.090 --> 00:53:59.950
you know what's out there.

00:53:59.950 --> 00:54:02.720
It's cool to merge the two now.

00:54:02.720 --> 00:54:07.130
A couple of years back, it
was cool to be only European.

00:54:07.130 --> 00:54:10.257
Now it's cooler to be African.

00:54:10.257 --> 00:54:12.592
(CAR HORN)

00:54:15.400 --> 00:54:17.790
- I think Ghana's relationship
with clothes is changing.

00:54:17.790 --> 00:54:22.480
The younger generation, especially the ones
with money like the people we met today,

00:54:22.480 --> 00:54:27.010
they're creating their own trends and mixing
traditional styles with Western styles.

00:54:27.010 --> 00:54:30.180
And for them, it's all
about what looks cool.

00:54:35.416 --> 00:54:40.200
If African clothing companies can't compete
with our secondhand clothes on price,

00:54:40.200 --> 00:54:41.848
maybe they can on style.

00:54:49.030 --> 00:54:52.200
I went to a catwalk show, where
I met Ghanaian designers who

00:54:52.200 --> 00:54:55.130
are trying to appeal to the
country's growing middle class

00:54:55.130 --> 00:54:58.565
by fusing traditional African
prints with high fashion.

00:54:58.565 --> 00:55:02.030
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:55:08.980 --> 00:55:12.090
Some of them, like Kofi
Ansah and Joyce Ababio,

00:55:12.090 --> 00:55:15.600
have worked or trained in Europe and the US.

00:55:15.600 --> 00:55:18.250
Tell me about the state of
the fashion industry in Ghana.

00:55:18.250 --> 00:55:22.530
- We are trying to get the
whole process cheaper for us

00:55:22.530 --> 00:55:25.370
so that we can go out there and compete.

00:55:25.370 --> 00:55:29.570
- I would rather see us being able
to use our own fabrics to create,

00:55:29.570 --> 00:55:35.020
you know, interpret it in any way that
we want to, as opposed to obroni wawu.

00:55:35.020 --> 00:55:40.670
- My dream is to make $10 shirts
as opposed to $100 shirts.

00:55:40.670 --> 00:55:45.370
- I'm training the people and I'm looking
for them to become fashion designers.

00:55:45.370 --> 00:55:47.990
Then, you see, I have to look
at it from another point.

00:55:47.990 --> 00:55:51.520
I want to see them actually be
able to develop the industry

00:55:51.520 --> 00:55:56.820
and take our clothing or our fabrics to do
something, instead of secondhand clothing.

00:55:56.820 --> 00:56:01.480
Because if there's secondhand clothing
out there, what am I doing with my people

00:56:01.480 --> 00:56:02.730
that I'm training?

00:56:02.730 --> 00:56:07.750
I want to see them be able to
become fashion designers as well.

00:56:07.750 --> 00:56:12.180
- As the economy grows, the new middle class
should provide a market for these local

00:56:12.180 --> 00:56:14.640
African-inspired designs.

00:56:14.640 --> 00:56:17.100
And I'm sensing a lot of optimism.

00:56:17.100 --> 00:56:20.560
Ghana is changing, and the
hope is that in the future,

00:56:20.560 --> 00:56:25.697
more and more Ghanaians will be wearing
cool clothes designed by Ghanaian designers.

00:56:32.515 --> 00:56:34.950
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:56:34.950 --> 00:56:40.690
The global trade in secondhand clothes
has grown into a billion pound business.

00:56:40.690 --> 00:56:45.280
And it's been fed by our own addiction
to cheap, disposable fashion made

00:56:45.280 --> 00:56:46.010
in the Far East.

00:56:49.250 --> 00:56:53.420
Before leaving Ghana, I return to
Accra's wholesale clothes market,

00:56:53.420 --> 00:56:58.228
where a million pounds worth of
obroni wawu arrives every week.

00:56:58.228 --> 00:57:01.714
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:57:10.680 --> 00:57:15.280
Over the years, I've given away lots
of my old clothes to charity shops.

00:57:15.280 --> 00:57:21.890
I never in my wildest dreams thought
it would create something like this.

00:57:21.890 --> 00:57:25.528
It feeds so many people, this industry.

00:57:25.528 --> 00:57:28.916
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:57:34.730 --> 00:57:38.560
At the same time, it has decimated
the country's clothing industry,

00:57:38.560 --> 00:57:43.850
and is wiping out some of the traditions
that make Africa such a vibrant continent.

00:57:43.850 --> 00:57:48.320
It does make me think, do we
really need that many clothes?

00:57:48.320 --> 00:57:52.135
But then on the flip side, I think it's
making a lot of people happy over here,

00:57:52.135 --> 00:57:54.070
and it's giving them lot of people work.

00:57:54.070 --> 00:57:56.260
So, you know, there's
definitely pros and cons.

00:57:56.260 --> 00:57:59.531
But I know I definitely don't
need as many clothes as I have.

00:57:59.531 --> 00:58:00.030
I don't.

00:58:00.030 --> 00:58:00.715
I don't.

00:58:00.715 --> 00:58:03.150
I don't need twenty pairs of jeans.

00:58:03.150 --> 00:58:06.500
(MUSIC PLAYING)