4 ms·

> poor countries are turning their backs on the secondhand trade Perhaps those countries are not that poor anymore then?

robotresearcher 9y ago
As the article says, mass production of new items is now so efficient that they are cheaper than recycled items, which have large handling costs.
- jackhack 9y ago
  That's fascinating that it could be profitable, considering that many clothes may make two ocean crossings as they are transformed from raw materials (cotton), weaving into cloth, sewing into garments, and finally, retail sales at the local shopping mall. Surely it would be cheaper to keep it all local, right? Well, I saw a television program about a North Carolina company that is taking local-grown cotton, dying it with Indigo (also grown in NC), weaving it here, cutting and sewing it into a finished pair of blue jeans. Price? More than $200 per pair. That $20 pair of cheap jeans at walmart (there are several brands to choose from) looks a lot more attractive to my budget.
  - kaybe 9y ago
    If that $200 pair would have perfect fit and last about 5 years of daily wear, I'd be more than happy to buy. Sadly it's more random than that and buying a 30% chance instead of a 20% chance at 10 times the price is just not worth it. added: What works for me is to get the $200 pairs from the local flea market for basically free.
  - bluGill 9y ago
    That company is going for the premium market. If someone figures out how to automate more it would be cheaper once mass production takes off. But when you have cheap labor and shipping there isn't a lot of profit margin - we would need a much larger world population, or much less poor people who find working for $.50 an hour their best option for life.
zonotope 9y ago
Often they want to build their local textile industry. They're still poor, but they realize that undercutting their local production capacity with free handouts has been one of the things keeping them poor.
- arximboldi 9y ago
  I've heard that argument from various people but I don't understand it. If you don't need to produce clothes you have more energy and workforce available to produce other things, like infrastructure, and run schools, hospitals and build other industries. What is the value in having a textile industry for the sake of having it? I'd imagine that the best industry is the one that you don't even need...
  - karthikb 9y ago
    Unlike many other industries, textiles are all of: (1) relatively low capital to get started due to the relative simplicity of the equipment and the age of the industry and equipment designs (2) mostly low skilled, meaning that the government doesn’t have to invest a ton in training or wait a long time for enough folks to get the needed skills (3) safer than most industries (4) more or less guaranteed domestic market (everyone needs clothes)
    - bluGill 9y ago
      True, but you really want to be making textiles for rich countries, not for your local market.
    - philwelch 9y ago
      Not to mention the potential export market. Textiles are a great example of comparative advantage at work--even if a richer country can manufacture better textiles than a poorer country, importing textiles from the poor countries frees up resources for the rich country to manufacture other goods. There are good reasons Bangladesh is a major player in the textile industry.
  - matte_black 9y ago

robotresearcher 9y ago

As the article says, mass production of new items is now so efficient that they are cheaper than recycled items, which have large handling costs.

jackhack 9y ago
That's fascinating that it could be profitable, considering that many clothes may make two ocean crossings as they are transformed from raw materials (cotton), weaving into cloth, sewing into garments, and finally, retail sales at the local shopping mall. Surely it would be cheaper to keep it all local, right? Well, I saw a television program about a North Carolina company that is taking local-grown cotton, dying it with Indigo (also grown in NC), weaving it here, cutting and sewing it into a finished pair of blue jeans. Price? More than $200 per pair. That $20 pair of cheap jeans at walmart (there are several brands to choose from) looks a lot more attractive to my budget.
- kaybe 9y ago
  If that $200 pair would have perfect fit and last about 5 years of daily wear, I'd be more than happy to buy. Sadly it's more random than that and buying a 30% chance instead of a 20% chance at 10 times the price is just not worth it. added: What works for me is to get the $200 pairs from the local flea market for basically free.
- bluGill 9y ago
  That company is going for the premium market. If someone figures out how to automate more it would be cheaper once mass production takes off. But when you have cheap labor and shipping there isn't a lot of profit margin - we would need a much larger world population, or much less poor people who find working for $.50 an hour their best option for life.

zonotope 9y ago

Often they want to build their local textile industry. They're still poor, but they realize that undercutting their local production capacity with free handouts has been one of the things keeping them poor.

arximboldi 9y ago
I've heard that argument from various people but I don't understand it. If you don't need to produce clothes you have more energy and workforce available to produce other things, like infrastructure, and run schools, hospitals and build other industries. What is the value in having a textile industry for the sake of having it? I'd imagine that the best industry is the one that you don't even need...
- karthikb 9y ago
  Unlike many other industries, textiles are all of: (1) relatively low capital to get started due to the relative simplicity of the equipment and the age of the industry and equipment designs (2) mostly low skilled, meaning that the government doesn’t have to invest a ton in training or wait a long time for enough folks to get the needed skills (3) safer than most industries (4) more or less guaranteed domestic market (everyone needs clothes)
  - bluGill 9y ago
    True, but you really want to be making textiles for rich countries, not for your local market.
  - philwelch 9y ago
    Not to mention the potential export market. Textiles are a great example of comparative advantage at work--even if a richer country can manufacture better textiles than a poorer country, importing textiles from the poor countries frees up resources for the rich country to manufacture other goods. There are good reasons Bangladesh is a major player in the textile industry.
- matte_black 9y ago