• 21 Jun, 2025
• Classic Ghana
• No comment

Trash to Trend: Designer, legacy of tailors, give thrift second life

One stitch at a time, the rhythmic humming of sewing machines fills Zakiya Mahama’s workshop as old jeans are transformed into trendy patchwork, totes, and vibrant shopping bags.

Extra-large shirts become elegant suit covers. Faded jackets are dismantled and reborn as stylish accessories.

“I use what’s available, denim, jackets, secondhand shirts and sometimes I batik over the fabric to make it even more unique.” Zakiya says. “Then we combine that with clean formal cuts to create vibrant pieces that marry heritage with sustainability and proudly upcycled design.”

With nimble fingers and a sharp eye for detail, Zakiya turns tattered garments into bespoke, fashion-forward pieces. Her brand, founded in Ghana, has grown into a powerful voice in both local and European sustainable fashion movements, championing the idea that fashion doesn’t have to cost the earth.

“I’ve always loved fashion,” she says, pausing to tuck a bright kente lining into a restructured blazer. “But when I learnt how much clothing waste ends up in our landfills and chokes our waterways, I knew I couldn’t keep creating the same way.”

Though her designs are contemporary and chic, they draw deeply from a longstanding tradition. For generations, Ghanaian tailors have patched, resized, re-hemmed, and reimagined imported clothing long before sustainability became a buzzword.

Their skills have kept thousands of garments in circulation, saving families money while reducing waste.

Kwabena Amankwah is one such tailors. His small booth in Accra’s sprawling Kantamanto Market(Ghana’s biggest secondhand clothing market) has stood on Lane Five for over two decades, weathering yearly fires.

“My work is mostly alterations on men’s clothes reducing size or length, patching holes. I cut away a lot of fabric, which is cleared by the waste company, but I don’t know where it ends up,” he says.

According to The Or Foundation, the volume of secondhand clothes imported annually into Ghana could fill 23 Accra Sports Stadiums, and nearly half of that is considered waste due to its extremely low quality.

The Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association (GUCDA), however, places the figure at just five per cent, a stark contrast that underscores the complexity and opacity of the trade.

Mr. Solomon Noi-Adzeman Nuetey, Director of Waste Management at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, says textile waste has increased significantly over the last two decades due to declining product quality.

“Much of what arrives today is simply not wearable. What can’t be sold or reused is dumped or burnt, and this contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide and black carbon,” adds Selina Amoah, Director of the Environmental Quality Unit at the EPA.

“It’s a hidden but potent source of pollution that must be addressed urgently.”

Yet amid the waste and frustration, a thriving informal ecosystem is breathing life into the discarded garments dump.

An untapped economic opportunity

Despite the environmental challenge, the repurposing, upcycling, and recycling of secondhand clothing present major opportunities for green jobs and sustainable fashion entrepreneurship. Yet these activities remain largely informal and underfunded.

“Repurposing requires access to machinery, training in textile design, and reliable sorting systems,” says Kwabena Koomson-Grant, Communications Officer at The Or Foundation.

“There are creatives ready to offer customers new experiences, but without financial and technical investment, the sector’s potential cannot be fully unlocked.”

He explains that many artisans cut garments on their laps instead of using proper flat-cutting tables, making it harder to produce consistent quality comparable to new products.

At the root of the problem lies a fragmented supply chain, a lack of infrastructure, and a policy vacuum. Currently, Ghana has no comprehensive national framework for managing secondhand clothing waste or supporting circular fashion businesses.

Abena Manso-Howard Gyamfi, a Senior Commercial Officer at the Ministry of Trade and Agribusiness, notes that although research has been completed, the main obstacle is investment to implement the study’s recommendations.

“Several development partners have expressed interest in supporting the government to improve this area,” she says.

Circular economy solutions

The Ghana Circular Economy Centre (GCEC) project seeks to address critical challenges within Ghana’s textile value chain by promoting sustainable practices aligned with circular economy principles.

Mr. Joseph Yeboah, GCEC’s Strategic Partnerships and Engagements Lead, says the textile component of the project aims to reduce environmental degradation and economic inefficiencies associated with the importation of secondhand clothing and the widespread disposal of textile waste.

The five main pillars of the project are to establish centre of excellence for Ghana’s circular economy, provide training and build capacity, provide technical assistance to improve and develop business models, provide support to the financial sector to develop financial products for circular businesses, and then support networking and exchanges.

To achieve these goals, GCEC will collaborate with stakeholders, including local artisans, informal sector workers, and creative entrepreneurs to develop viable circular business models. These are backed by research, capacity building, and clean technology pilots focused on fabric recovery, textile-to-textile recycling, and eco-design.

The Or Foundation, the lead for the textile value chain, will play a central role in piloting innovations and engaging in policy discussions to shift the system from linear consumption to circular practices.

Ultimately, the project seeks to enhance livelihoods, reduce textile pollution, and strengthen Ghana’s domestic capacity to manage and transform textile waste into economic opportunities.

“GCEC has funding for five years from Global Affairs Canada, but ultimately, we are looking at raising more resources to expand into other sectors and strengthen Ghana’s regional leadership in circular solutions.” Mr. Yeboah adds.

A call for action

Experts warn that time is running out. Without immediate policy action, Ghana’s thriving secondhand clothing sector could become an even larger environmental burden.

Mr. Nuetey believes textile waste is now piling up in the ocean. He is calling for a scientific study to assess the scale of marine textile pollution.

That concern appears justified. The Ghana News Agency (GNA), during a recent beach clean-up organised jointly by the UN System and Plastic Punch, helped recover 789 kilograms of textile waste within a distance of just 20 average steps.
It is a powerful visual of the hidden scale of the problem.

To scale solutions like Zakiya’s, the Ministries of Trade, Agribusiness, and Local Government must collaborate to address the unfair practices in the sector, where low-quality clothes are bundled and shipped to Ghana without proper inspection.

“Before the late 2000s, secondhand imports were of decent quality, and importers could trust suppliers,” Nuetey says.

“Now, exporters often mix in clothes meant for disposal. Yet Ghanaian traders can’t inspect bales before buying, and prices are pegged to the dollar. Many open them only to find junk.”

He calls this an unfair trade practice, blaming it for bankrupting traders and even causing health problems from stress.

Both The Or Foundation and GUCDA are calling for a national policy on sustainable secondhand clothing trade. This policy would set import standards, promote repurposing industries, establish proper disposal protocols, and encourage Globally Accountable Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

They recommend a multi-stakeholder roadmap that integrates import quality control, supports green fashion start-ups, and includes textile waste in municipal waste systems.

For now, Zakiya and more than 20,000 like minded tailors continue to transform discarded jeans into school bags, jackets and joy despite little institutional support.

“We are doing what we can,” she says. “But imagine what we could do with real support.”

As Ghana strives to meet its climate goals under the Paris Agreement, perhaps the most unlikely ally lies in a forgotten pair of jeans reimagined, repurposed, and ready to tell a new story.

By Albert Oppong-Ansah

Source: GNA