Fast-fashion giant Shein pledges $15m for textile waste workers in Ghana
Source: The Guardian
Fast-fashion giant Shein pledges $15m for textile waste workers in Ghana
Gesture announced at Copenhagen sustainability summit earns praise and some cries of greenwashing
Fleur Britten
Wed 8 Jun 2022 07.15 BST
Last modified on Wed 8 Jun 2022 07.16 BST
Chinese fashion behemoth Shein might be the organisation least expected to win applause at an international conference on fashion sustainability, but thats what happened at this weeks global fashion summit in Copenhagen.
The industrys largest forum for sustainable progress saw the ultra-fast fashion brand praised for making a donation of $15m (£12m) over three years to a charity working at Kantamanto in Accra, the worlds largest secondhand clothing market.
Liz Ricketts, director of the Or Foundation, a Ghana- and US-based not-for-profit working with Accras textile waste workers, announced the fund, tearfully telling the audience that the workers are doing backbreaking work.
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Ricketts said that 15m secondhand garments arrive in Ghana every week, 40% of them waste. Ghana doesnt have landfill or incinerators, she said. The clothing enters the environment; some of it goes into the oceans there are millions of garments on the ocean floor, and the currents push the garments on to the beach.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/08/fast-fashion-giant-shein-pledges-15m-for-textile-waste-workers-in-ghana