How secondhand clothing supports livelihoods in Guatemala

Transcript

Could you talk us through the value chain that you mapped out as a part of your research? I think that would be helpful to understand the journey of these clothes. Yes. So the vouching Guatemala is very different to other markets that have gone to in Uganda and in in Tanzania. The second hand clothing douching in Guatemala, typically the importers import 2 categories of clothing. The first type is known as ROPA. Screwed up which is known as mentioned earlier credential in the United States or original in Europe which means it is untouched clothing. The second type of clothing is known as clasificado, meaning clothing has gone through a sorting facility where quality and category has been sorted. Typically importers, some have sorting facility, retail chain and also they may have a wholesale distribution process where they can sell to the informal market. Other ones just distribute. Directly to the informal markets as it is the original Oropa Cruda when it enters both formal and informal channels. Both are sorted according to the quality and the pricing to their customer demand, allowing retailers to maximize value based on the local price demand. Both channels employs various discount strategies to move inventory and to target different price sensitive buyers providing affordable option where new clothing. Are out of reach and the remaining residual from the retail process is what we call in the United States as retail poll or in this case we call a second hand retail pole. It is often been bundled together and sold to another retailers and this is known as Saldos which is often sold to the informal markets. According to our survey across the four markets, those who buy Saldo still are able to extract 88.5% of it for reuse. And so this is quite interesting. And As for the classificados, which means swore the clothing that are sorted before it's exported to Guatemala, the upside of the bill is that has less items that do not have an off take market. Typically it is more expensive. The downside for both sorters and retailers is that it's more expensive. And they prefer ropa cruda because of affordability and they're able to extract more value of the clothing and able to generate more profits and create local jobs. Yeah. There's also some very interesting gender relating statistics in the report. Could you explain what you found and the significance? And so as mentioned before, there is a high percentage of women working in the trade in Guatemala compared to the national economy more broadly. And this is particularly interesting is that all respondents be surveyed, 46% said that they were the primary earners of their household. This was common. Mom Mary traders with over 50% saying yes and out of all of the widow, they all responded yes. So we're looking at a significant percentage of women who are being given economic opportunities but also have households dependent on them. This is an indicator that the trade could be a source of financial independence and stability for families.