> >I'll be even violent opponents of oppressive governments like US pop
>>culture sometimes.
>>
> >Doug
>
>See the photographs by documentarian, Susan Meiselas, in her book on the
>Sandinista Revolution. Full of FSLN combatents in '78 and '79 with t-shirts
>and baseball caps of U.S. rock stars and Hollywood movies.
>Michael Pugliese
The poor in poor nations pay dearly for used clothes cast out by the
well-off in imperial nations -- not a phenomenon that American
leftists should celebrate, in my opinion:
***** Los Angeles Times
July 28, 1997, Monday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Page 1; Metro Desk
HEADLINE: COLUMN ONE;
TURNING DONATED RAGS INTO RICHES;
CLOTHING GIVEN TO CHARITY OFTEN ENDS UP BEING SOLD TO DEALERS WHO
HAVE MADE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS EXPORTING USED GARMENTS TO THIRD WORLD
COUNTRIES.
BYLINE: JANET WILSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Meet Vahan Chamlian, the world's largest dealer in secondhand clothes.
If you have ever donated your used duds to charity for a tax
deduction, there's a chance you helped pay for his million-dollar
Fresno home, his wife's Rolls-Royce or the corporate jet he uses for
client calls worldwide.
"The American public is very generous," the 71-year-old Chamlian said
with a chuckle, an imported cigar clamped in his teeth and a diamond
pinky ring sparkling on his left hand.
According to Dun & Bradstreet, which collects financial data on
companies nationwide, Chamlian's five firms grossed $78.6 million
last year from the recycling and sale of used clothing.
His suppliers? The Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries and a
multitude of other charities. The Salvation Army and Goodwill
reportedly take in 75% of the used clothing donated nationwide.
Chamlian buys 8 million pounds a month, nearly two-thirds of it from
them. The goods shipped to his three California factories come from
all over the country.
From America's castoffs, Chamlian and his competitors--roughly 100
used-clothing dealers based in port cities from Brooklyn to Houston
to Los Angeles--have created a multimillion-dollar export industry.
The clothing is baled up and shipped overseas, where it fetches
prices far higher than those charged in American thrift stores.
"Our members call it turning garbage into gold," said Bernie Brill,
president of Secondary Materials and Recyclable Textiles, or SMART, a
trade association based in Maryland.
Although some donors think they are giving their used clothing to the
local poor or homeless, very little is ever given to anyone.
Instead, the charities that collect tattered jeans, outgrown dresses
and worn-out athletic shoes sell the best of the lot at thrift shops,
auction some of what remains to swap meet vendors, and market the
rest--for as little as 13 cents a pound--to business people like
Chamlian, whose biggest buyers are in Third World countries.
Last year, the United States exported 218,334 metric tons (481
million pounds) of used clothing--with a declared value of $ 249
million--to 139 countries. Ships loaded with 40,000-pound containers
of clothing leave Long Beach, Oakland and Los Angeles several times a
week. The most frequent destinations are the poorest countries in the
world.
After six weeks at sea, the container ships with Chamlian's goods
often make port in West Africa. From the coast, 500-pound bales of
clothing are moved inland by truck or train.
On one such route, the last stop is Niger, the world's most
impoverished nation, according to the United Nations. It has an
average per capita income of $275 a year.
There, in dusty street markets, a shirt donated to an American
charity and sold to a used-clothing dealer for perhaps 10 cents
commands a price of $5 to $15, the equivalent of one to three weeks'
wages. El Haji Hamadou Ali, a distributor in Niamey, the nation's
capital, says that a pair of trousers goes for about $10--half a
month's pay.... *****
Yoshie
