In Sennan City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, the used clothing sorting company "Fiber CDM" is sorting collected used clothing one by one according to different destinations such as sellable, reusable, and fiber-recyclable, in order to address the problem of used clothing becoming waste at its destination after export.

Key Points

  • On September 10, 2026, at its sorting site in Sennan City, Osaka Prefecture, the company sorted used clothing layer by layer according to degree of soiling, gender, and even fiber type.
  • It has 15 directly operated stores, with supply mainly from the Kansai region, and collection volumes rise further during seasonal wardrobe changes.
  • The company advocates sorting before export to reduce the problem of used clothing being directly discarded overseas; however, from collection to recycling, challenges remain piled up.

According to a Mainichi Shimbun photo report, images taken on September 10, 2026, in Sennan City, Osaka Prefecture, show that after used clothing enters the sorting line, pants, T-shirts, and other items are first separated by degree of soiling and the wearer's gender, and then further subdivided by fiber type. The purpose is to distinguish the portion that can still be sold as secondhand clothing (vintage clothing), the portion that can enter reuse channels, and the portion that can only be shredded into rags or fiber raw materials, so that each follows its own path.

The report points out that the sorting site mainly handles used clothing collected from the Kansai region. Collection volumes also increase during seasonal wardrobe changes (koromogae). The inventory shown in the images is labeled as the portion sorted by "Fiber CDM" that can be sold as secondhand clothing; the company has 15 directly operated stores in the area.

The report also highlights a structural problem: much of the collected used clothing is exported directly without sorting, but at the export destination no one takes it, and it ultimately becomes local waste. To avoid this outcome, the company chooses to complete sorting before export, keeping and diverting the truly valuable goods, and then exporting. However, along the chain from collection to recycling, there are still many issues to be resolved.

For the used clothing trade industry, this on-site lead from Kansai, Japan, provides a comparison: the depth of sorting directly determines whether used clothing is a resource or waste, and also determines whether export supply can be steadily absorbed by downstream markets.

Source: 古着の回収からリサイクルまで 課題山積 [写真特集1/12] | 毎日新聞 · Originally published 2026-09-29