A white dress priced at 213 yuan was disposed of as waste by Jinan resident Zhang Mei (pseudonym) after being worn three times, with a recycling price of only 0.13 yuan. The journey this dress subsequently underwent reveals the real picture of China's used clothing export industry chain: door-to-door collection—rough sorting—purchased by trading companies by the ton—fine sorting—exported to Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East—sold locally by the piece at about 3 US dollars, with its value rising more than a hundredfold compared with the recycling price.

Key Points

  • Jinan used clothing recycler Liu Cunhui buys idle used clothing from households at 0.2 yuan/jin, with each household supplying 60 to 100 jin per transaction, and household idle clothing accounting for 95% of the supply.
  • Zaozhuang Puyi International Economic and Trade Co., Ltd. purchases roughly sorted used clothing by the ton: summer clothes and shoes at 5,000 to 5,500 yuan/ton, while winter clothes are only 500 to 1,000 yuan/ton.
  • Affected by a reduction in export ships, the price of a single container rose from more than 1,000 US dollars to more than 10,000 US dollars, and freight once exceeded the value of the goods.

From Households to Recyclers
On November 13, 2021, Zhang Mei contacted Liu Cunhui of Blue Whale Used Clothing Recycling Company for door-to-door clothing collection. Liu Cunhui's main source is idle used clothing from ordinary households, as well as store overstock. He checks light-colored clothing piece by piece; dirty, torn, worn-out, pilled, stained, faded, or dyed items are all substandard. Besides clothing, he also recycles shoes, bags, and autumn/winter clothing. For shoes, obvious creases or discoloration on the upper make them substandard. Zhang Mei's batch of summer clothes totaled 80 pieces, 75 of which met the standard, weighing 50 jin in total, and the deal was made at 0.2 yuan/jin. That dress worked out to 0.13 yuan, and compared with the 213 yuan purchase price, Zhang Mei said bluntly that she "felt a bit shortchanged."

Grading and Consolidation
Liu Cunhui stores the collected clothing in a roughly 50-square-meter single-story warehouse on Woniu Mountain Road in Licheng District, Jinan. This initial sorting is handled by his mother—classifying by summer clothing, winter clothing, shoes, and bags, and again picking out substandard items. Larger recyclers further subdivide after rough sorting according to how new or old the items are. Items in 90% new condition are packed separately because the newer they are, the higher the price. The warehouse can sort two to three hundred jin per day, packing items in worn cloth and labeling categories with a marker. Once one ton is accumulated, a trading company is notified to haul it away. According to industry estimates in 2020, China produces 5 million to 10 million tons of used clothing each year, about 5 kilograms per capita; a survey by a secondhand trading platform showed that an ordinary household generates 30 kilograms of idle used clothing each year.

Entering the Export Trade Stage
Trading companies mostly buy roughly sorted used clothing directly from small recyclers, and some also cooperate with online platforms. Zaozhuang Puyi International Economic and Trade Co., Ltd. is an enterprise engaged in exporting used clothing. Its purchase pricing changes from by the jin to by the ton, and each package is checked for quality while being weighed. A standard package generally weighs 50 jin, and there is no unified price standard; it is tied to category: summer clothes and shoes at 5,000 to 5,500 yuan/ton, while winter clothes are only 500 to 1,000 yuan/ton. At this stage, that dress was sold for about 1.83 yuan, nearly 14 times the 0.13 yuan recycling price.

Quality inspection takes about two hours, and qualified used clothing is sent by forklift into the fine-sorting workshop. The workshop has 18 assembly lines, with each group consisting of 5 sorters and 1 feeder, and members are about thirty or forty years old. They perform more detailed classification by gender and type—that dress would be placed into the special category "summer clothing—women's—90% new—dress," packed into a "tofu block" and shipped to many places in Africa. Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries and the Middle East are also major import destinations. Various assortments are weighed and matched according to customer requirements, and export prices vary depending on popularity.

Disinfection, Customs Clearance, and the Resale Chain
Exported used clothing usually needs to undergo disinfection and sterilization. Some trading companies complete disinfection before export, while others leave this step to overseas customers, generally using fumigation. Secondhand clothing itself does not need fumigation, but the customs clearance requirements of many importing countries require shippers to provide COC (PVOC) certification. To obtain the certificate, they must submit a health certificate (health declaration) and fumigation certificate to their own customs; otherwise, they face heavy fines after arrival at port. After the goods arrive in Africa, importers resell the whole bales of used clothing to wholesalers and then to retailers. Except for a few already graded varieties, no one in the circulation knows the specific styles and condition inside the packages. It is only after conversion to retail that pricing changes from by the bale to by the piece—that 90% new dress can sell locally for 3 US dollars, more than a hundred times the original 0.13 yuan.

The volume that actually reaches overseas customers smoothly is limited. Under the pandemic, export ships decreased and shipping space was in short supply. The price of a single container soared from more than 1,000 US dollars to more than 10,000 US dollars, and freight once exceeded the value of the goods. Foreign buyers postponed delivery one after another, and used clothing could only be piled in warehouses waiting.

For this industry, this means that the core value of used clothing recycling lies in the fineness of sorting and the stability of export channels: category subdivision at the front end determines the ton price, while shipping costs and customs certification capabilities at the back end directly affect whether goods can be delivered on schedule.

Source: The overseas "appreciation" journey of secondhand clothing: it will find a new owner abroad · Originally published on 2021-11-23