Used clothing in Bolivia has become a matter of national pride …
Bolivian President Evo Morales was once ridiculed for the acrylic striped Bolivian sweater he wore to meet fellow statesmen. Now, under his all-encompassing motto “Bolivia Dignified,” he has banned imported used clothing in an attempt to protect the local clothing industry and promote dignity for his people.
His country is the 32nd developing nation to impose restrictions on the $1.2 billion clothing coming in from the U.S. and Europe. Rummaging through piles of cheap clothing to find a bargain is a hard habit to break in a country where many workers bring home an average of $200 a month and have several mouths to feed. Most clothe their kids this way, out of necessity not choice.
There are an estimated 15, 000 used clothing salespeople in Bolivia, many organized into unions. The government has created a $10 million job training and loans program intended to give these “ropavejeros” alternative employment opportunities, and although approximately a third have signed up, the rest are protesting the used-clothing ban. The ban may have a limited effect, as much of the clothing is smuggled in illegally through Chile.
Meanwhile, the used clothing market is only growing. A drop in clothing production costs has created a growing market for new clothes in rich countries. More new clothes means more old clothes, as consumers buy and discard more quickly. But the availability of cheap used clothing is crippling local textile industries, which have no chance of competing with manufacturing giants like China. Bolivian producers are forced to keep costs low by using cheap cloth imported from China to produce shirts and pants that are more expensive and lower quality than US hand-me-downs. As a result, Bolivian jeans are sometimes labeled “Made in Chile,” just so locals will buy them.
The present situation is far removed from Bolivia’s rich Incan heritage of weaving, fringed shawls and quipus, a complicated system of knotted ropes used to keep records. Today, Bolivia’s handmade alpaca sweaters are bought only by tourists. They are too expensive for the local people.
This article was published Sunday, July 22, 2007.
