What the Kantamanto Market fire means for sustainable fashion

A devastating fire broke out at Ghana’s Kantamanto Market in the early hours of 2 January, leaving thousands of clothing recycling and upcycling businesses displaced — and thrusting fashion’s lack of alternative waste handling options back into the spotlight.

The secondhand clothing market — which is the largest in West Africa and believed to be among the biggest in the world — has been “decimated” by the fire, according to Ghanaian-American non-profit The Or Foundation, which is supporting with relief efforts on the ground.

Per The Or Foundation, there are more than 30,000 traders operating in Kantamanto Market. Market leadership have informed the non-profit that around 8,000 of those have been affected by the fire, and its volunteers on the ground estimate that at least 10 of the 13 market sections have sustained “catastrophic damage”.

This isn’t the first time a fire has broken out in the market — it has become an almost annual occurrence, albeit not quite on this scale. As Vogue Business previously reported, the ad-hoc construction that enabled the market’s rapid expansion has left it unstable and prone to fires. It is also unprotected from heavy rains, meaning that flooding routinely shuts the market down.