and AP At Owino Market in Kampala, shoppers jostle for space between stalls filled with second hand clothes – mostly from European countries. Here, they can find almost anything, used, but for an affordable price. But not all clothes sell well.
This is particularly true for denim, according to one of the traders. Globally the market for denim jeans are estimated at $74.0 Million in 2023, according to the the "Denim Jeans - Global Strategic Business Report" published by Global Industry Analysts Inc.
The tonnes of clothes discarded by Europeans or Americans and imported to Uganda are becoming a problem. It's why one businessman has come up with a solution. Each day, Troy Elimu, founder of Denim Cartel, sends his employees to Owino Market to sort through second hand clothes to pick out the best denim finds.
These are then taken to his factory where tailors give a new lease of life to the discarded fashion items. “We are trying to protect our environment using sustainable material so we try and reuse denim, denim that has been thrown or put to waste. So, that’s where the first process starts with.
Sourcing the wasted denim or the offcuts of denim sourcing materials and then we now look at bringing it to our factories which is at MOTIV or Port Bell Road where we start cutting out patterns and pieces to specific designs,” explains Elimu. His idea has found broad support among fashionistas and celebrities alike. Content creator Patience Ainembabazi is a regular at Elimu’s .
