Ghanaians are calling on fashion brands to take action after a fire destroyed the world's largest second-hand clothing market

Yayra Agbofah has barely slept since a fire ripped through the world's largest second-hand clothing market just over a week ago.

A fire on January 2 at the Kantamanto market in Ghana's capital, Accra, reduced huge swathes of the market to ashes, destroying millions of used clothes and threatening the livelihoods of more than 30,000 people.

Agbofah runs The Revival, an organization that creates art and fashion using materials that cannot be sold to market vendors. His company's warehouse burned down, but his studio was not damaged.

He says many of his friends and family weren't so lucky.

“I couldn't sleep well due to the state of emergency and had to watch my people, family and friends break down in tears because their livelihoods were destroyed and they had to start from scratch,” he said. How does this happen? host Nil Köksal.

Agbofah is raising money to rebuild the market, which he says plays a key role in Accra's economy and helps keep millions of tons of clothing in circulation that would otherwise end up in oceans and landfills.

He and others are also calling on fast fashion brands such as Shein, H&M and Zara – none of which responded to CBC's request for comment – to financially support the cleanup and rebuilding of the market.

“We're trying to clean up the mess,” he said. “It was the least they could do to take responsibility.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

From Canadian donation bins to the oceans of Ghana

According to the Or Foundation, a US-Ghanaian charity that works to find sustainable solutions to fast fashion waste, Kantamanto Market vendors recycle approximately 15 million pieces of used clothing each month through resale, reuse, repair and remanufacturing.

The charity estimates that the fire reduced more than 8,000 stalls to dust and directly affected 10,000 workers.

Agbofah said goods sold there mainly come from Canada, the United States and England, arriving almost daily in huge containers at the shipyard in Accra.

People in rich countries donate used clothing to charities and second-hand stores, which take what they need and throw away the rest. What remains is exported to lower-income countries.

However, what retailers in these countries cannot sell is thrown away and ends up in landfills or in the ocean, where it clogs beaches and destroys the marine environment.

“Whatever action you take in the U.S. and Canada will have a huge impact on us. If you consume so much, we have to deal with it because it ends with us,” Agbofah said.

“I'm sure a lot of people think that by donating to charity I'm helping or doing something, but it puts a burden on us.”

The Or Foundation says it is donating $1 million for fire relief and recovery efforts. However, it calls on clothing companies to contribute.

“For too long, the fashion industry has used places like Kantamanto as a destination for excess excess, but not enough attention has been paid to Kantamanto's work in processing the outputs of the linear economy,” fashion designer Nutifafa Mensah, peer education manager at the charity, said in an email -email statement.

“It is truly a round model reduced to ashes, and as Kantamanto Market strives to rebuild with all its strength and resilience, we ask the fashion industry to support its recovery.”

The Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association (GUCDA), which represents importers of used clothing in the country, also operates called on charities, businesses and the country's government help.

CBC has reached out to Ghana's Ministry of Trade and Industry for comment.

Reconstruction is already underway

Tens of thousands of Ghanaians, in order to make a living from the market, says Agbofah. That's why they are already in the process of rebuilding.

“People are working day and night to get the market back on its feet, and that's amazing,” he said.

“This restores hope and also shows the resilience of the Kantamanto community that no level of destruction or fire will destroy the unity and love we have for the market.”

Agbofah says he fell in love with Kantamanto from the first moment he saw him as a child.

“There I found things that I see in the media, things that I see in magazines that we didn't have access to that were completely new,” he said.

He also saw an economic opportunity. Not only does he create clothes from textile waste, but he also works as a stylist, mixing and matching what he calls “rare gems” that he sources from Kantamanto stalls.

Despite his affinity for the market, he says it is unable to keep up with the glut of goods reaching Ghana's shores and making a profit is harder than ever.

“If you donate to a charity, you should think: Could this product I'm donating be useful to someone? Why would you donate torn clothes, heavily stained items, items in poor condition to charity?” he said.

“Do we deserve torn clothes? Do we deserve things that are in really bad condition? Ghana is not a garbage dump.”