Richard Wang

Guatemala’s largest secondhand clothing retailer, Megapaca, sits at the heart of a national reuse system that challenges prevailing ideas about circular fashion. From ropa cruda flows to fibre recovery through NovaFiber, its model shows how commercial scale, redistribution networks and data-backed transparency can extend garment lifespans and deliver circular results where public systems remain fragile.

Uganda is the fifth largest importer of second-hand clothing in Africa, and the Owino Market in capital Kampala is key to the trade in the country. A recent report looked at Owino and its impact on business and livelihoods. Study author Jennifer Wang talks about the fine print in the report.