A fire devastated one of the world’s largest secondhand clothes markets in Accra, Ghana.
The blaze started Thursday and destroyed as much as two-thirds of Kantamanto Market, which employs about 30,000 clothing traders and receives some 15 million garments weekly from wealthy countries like the US, the UK, and China.
Thousands of people lost their stalls. Ghana National Fire Service said the fire was fully extinguished, and no injuries or fatalities were reported. They are still investigating the cause of the fire.
Now, clean-up efforts are underway, and advocacy groups are calling on the global fashion industry to help provide relief.
“This is a critical moment for the global fashion ecosystem to show solidarity, not just by recognizing the value of secondhand markets, but by providing tangible help to rebuild and sustain them,” Daniel Mawuli Quist, creative director of The Or Foundation, said in a statement.
The fire calls attention to the global fashion industry’s lack of alternatives for waste handling.
Workers in Kantamanto Market resell and remanufacture millions of garments. But the rise of fast fashion has overwhelmed Accra with textile waste piling up in gutters, landfills, and beaches. An estimated 40% of garments go unsold, The Or Foundation found. The nonprofit in Ghana conducts research and offers grants and job training to workers in Kantamanto Market.
The Or Foundation pledged $1 million to relief efforts and set up a fund to raise money for rebuilding the market and providing financial assistance to vendors.
Kantamanto Market before the fireUp to two-thirds of the market was destroyedThe fire was extinguished on ThursdayThe aisles of Kantamanto Market before the fireThousands of people have lost their stallsMetal scrap dealers are going through the rubble now that cleanup efforts are underway
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