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The Apparel Recovery Coalition (ARC) was officially launched at the Kantamanto Market in Accra to address the pressing environmental and social challenges posed by the global second-hand clothing trade. This new global initiative brings together some of the world's largest fashion brands, including H&M Group, Inditex, Bestseller, and Adidas, alongside The Or Foundation, to mitigate the impact of textile waste in Ghana. The coalition represents a significant step toward corporate responsibility by addressing the life cycle of apparel beyond its first point of sale.
The coalition's inaugural project focuses on supporting Ghana’s circular textile economy through a series of targeted interventions. Key components of the initiative include environmental remediation to clean up existing waste, the development of training programs for local workers, and significant improvements to local infrastructure within the market area. By focusing on Kantamanto, which is the largest second-hand clothing market in West Africa, the ARC aims to transform how discarded garments are managed and repurposed, thereby reducing the environmental burden on local ecosystems.
A central tenet of the ARC is the inclusion of local stakeholders in the decision-making process to ensure solutions are sustainable and community-led. Officials at the launch emphasized that discussions regarding textile waste have historically been dominated by international corporations, often excluding the communities most affected by the trade. By involving local retailers, tailors, and waste managers, the initiative seeks to create a more equitable model for textile recovery. Moving forward, the coalition plans to use the results from the Accra project to inform global strategies for textile circularity.