Bestseller, the Danish fashion group owned by Anders Holch Povlsen, has joined H&M Group, Adidas and Zara owner Inditex in a new coalition aimed at improving how used clothing exported from Europe is handled once it reaches countries such as Ghana. The Apparel Recovery Coalition was launched by The Or Foundation at Kantamanto Market in Ghana.
Kantamanto is one of the largest second-hand clothing markets in the world. The Or Foundation estimates that it recirculates 25 million garments every month. Ghana is the coalition’s starting point, and according to Vogue Business the group will focus on reuse, upcycling, recycling and responsible waste management in countries that receive large volumes of exported second-hand apparel. ESGDive reports that Adidas, H&M, Inditex and Bestseller will make voluntary financial contributions to the projects.
The work is split into three parts. The first will explore how funding and practical support can strengthen collection, sorting, reuse and recycling in recipient countries. The second will test approaches to governance, design and implementation that bring the views of affected communities into decisions about priorities. The third will produce practical lessons for brands, producer responsibility organisations, policymakers and others working on post-consumer textiles. The coalition also says it will examine whether producer responsibility contributions could better reflect where clothing actually ends up.
Liz Ricketts, co-founder and executive director of The Or Foundation, told Vogue the project is an experiment in making extended producer responsibility work across borders. “ARC is testing how to make globally accountable EPR a reality,” she said. She also pushed back against simple descriptions of the market. “Kantamanto isn’t a dumpsite, and it isn’t a perfectly functioning circular economy,” Ricketts said. Hilde van Duijn, chief executive of the Netherlands-based Circle Economy, which will act as the coalition’s secretariat, is its spokesperson. She cites studies showing that most post-consumer textiles collected and sorted in the EU are exported, and that many of those garments become waste in receiving countries even when reused or upcycled.
For Bestseller, which is privately owned, the coalition places the company alongside three of the world’s largest listed fashion groups in a shared effort that targets the end of the clothing life cycle. The stated aims include directing funding, inclusive governance and shared learning. How much each brand contributes, and what results the first projects in Ghana deliver, will decide whether the model is taken to other countries that receive Europe’s used clothes.
