Welcome to Kantamanto, the world’s largest second hand clothing market
This is our home, our community, and our source of inspiration. Fashion waste is threatening what we have. Here’s how we’re creating solutions:
Incubator Program
THE REVIVAL Incubator Program is a hands-on training initiative that empowers young women, especially Kayayei (female head porters), with upcycling skills to transform textile waste into valuable products.
Community Work
THE REVIVAL has executed infrastructure improvements in Kantamanto and offered immediate disaster relief. We maintain an open door policy in our studio to offer the community access to resources and a creative gathering space.
Landfill Diversion
THE REVIVAL landfill diversion program allows traders in Kantamanto to bring unsellable textiles to our studio instead of sending them to landfill. This textiles are what our seamstresses use to make our upcycled products.
About 12 million garments circulate in Kantamanto every week. 20 - 40% end up as waste.
Understanding the Challenges
For over half a century, second hand clothing from Europe, North America, and East Asia has arrived to Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana to be resold. Selling used textiles is a generational trade that represents the livelihood of thousands of families and individuals in Kantamanto.
Clothing arrives is mixed bales sorted by garment type and graded from A-C. Traders must buy bales without knowing what is in them, hoping they can sell enough of the contents to make a profit. Since the early 2000s, the influx of poorly produced and predominantly synthetic fast fashion has threatened the economic viability of the trade as more incoming clothing is unsellable.
Insufficient waste infrastructure means excess textiles are illegally dumped or burned. These practices are polluting our air, soil, and water, inflicting health issues on our community and harming our coastal ecosystem.