International African Institute

Second-Hand Clothing Encounters in Zambia: Global Discourses, Western Commodities, and

Local Histories
Author(s): Karen Tranberg Hansen
Source: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 69, No. 3 (1999), pp. 343-
365
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African Institute
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Africa69 (3), 1999

SECOND-HAND CLOTHING ENCOUNTERS IN ZAMBIA:

GLOBAL DISCOURSES, WESTERN COMMODITIES, AND
LOCAL HISTORIES

Karen Tranberg Hansen

This is the second in a series of New Directions papers commissioned by

the US Social Science Research Council

In commonparlancein Zambiasince the mid-1980s,the term salaula has

referred to second-hand clothing imported from the West. It means
approximately,in the Bembalanguage,to select from a pile in the manner
of rummaging.As such,it graphicallycaptureswhattakesplacein urbanand
provincialmarketsas consumerspick throughthe piles of importedclothes,
selectinggarmentsto satisfy clothingneeds and desires.
The second-handclothing trade has a long but unexploredhistory in
Africa.It has grownrapidlyin recentyears in tandemwith the liberalisation
of economies with previouslytightly regulatedimportregimes. Its rapid
growth masks considerableregional variation that is shaped by socio-
political norms and pre-existingclothing and textile productionpractices.
This article argues that there is much more to the piles of second-hand
clothingdisplayedconspicuouslyin publicmarketsup anddownAfricathan
meets the eye. If non-local observershave paid passing attentionto the
phenomenonat all, they have tendedto view it as akin to dumpingand the
consumptionpracticesit is givingrise to as a fadedandwornimitationof the
West. Ratherthan elaboratingthe obvious, that is, how the international
second-handclothing trade provides yet anotherexample of inequitable
North-Southrelations,this articlefocuses on the agency of the consumer,
suggestingthat a culturaleconomyis at workin local appropriations of the
West's unwantedclothing.Turningto Zambia,I approachthe popularityof
salaula with a view to teasingout some of the strikingcontradictionsof that
country'son-goingmarginalisation.
My long-termengagementwith issues arisingfrom urbanlife in Zambia
convincedme in the late 1980s that the ways in which people there were
dealingwith the West's cast-offclothes were rarelywhatthey seemedto be
in the view of externalobserversand critics. As the researchprojectfrom
which this particulardiscussiondrawsunfolded,I continuedto be struckby
the diversity of local constructionsthat helped transformthe West's no
longerwantedgarmentsinto desirableclothes.l For instance,while dressing

1 The research
projecton whichthis articledrawsexploresthe entirecircuitof second-hand
clothing provision(Fine and Leopold, 1993) by tracingsecond-handclothing consumption
backthroughthe varietyof processesthathave givenriseto it: beginningwithits 'production'/
sourcingin the West's clothingsurplusand the roles of charitableand profitmotives in the
process, throughits internationaldistribution,retailing, and consumption,to the clothing
practicesin Zambiathat embed it in social relationsof consumptionthat are differentfrom
those in which these commoditieswere originallyproduced.For methodologicalconsidera-
tions see Hansen (1995).

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344 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA

in jeans andT-shirtsto achievethe 'big look' in 1997,youngadultmen who

workedas open-airbarbersand street vendorsarounda Lusakashopping
centre strove for 'distinction' (their term). This is why, one of them
explained,he did not like 'commonclothes and imitations'but preferred
somethingthat was 'outstanding'and made people look. He went on: 'In
salaula you will find things you don't know how good they are.' A middle-
aged marriedwomanI interviewedin a medium-incomeresidentialareaput
it this way whenexplainingwhy she shopped'fromsalaula'. 'I don'twantto
wear what everyoneelse is wearing.' 'Clothesfrom salaula are not what
otherpeople wear,' said anotherwomanin the same area,explainingwhy
salaula is viewed as 'exclusive'.
These commentsdemonstratethatthe West andZambiacome togetherin
complicatedways when dealing with clothing. Indeed, Zambianinvolve-
mentswith second-handclothingtell a storyof a globalencounterthatoffers
insightsinto the diversemeaningsof 'theWest' in people's lives, depending
on their biographicallocation,its context, and time. Because second-hand
clothing appearsso inextricablybound to the West, insisting on a local
perspectiveon clothing consumptionmay appearproblematicto some. I
havechosento forefrontthis issue becauseit encapsulatesthe developmental
dilemmain Zambia.The 'allure'or 'crazefor foreign'thatZambiansdisplay
in clothingconsumption(bothof new andused clothes)turnsthis particular
commodityinto a centraltokenof modernity(OrloveandBauer,1997: 13).2
That is to say that people's preoccupationswith clothingare an important
key to understanding the processof becomingmoder in this partof Africa,
and thus to understandinglocal experiencesof development.Thirty-five
yearsof independencefromBritishcolonialrulehave not broughtmodernity
in its developmentalguise withingeneralreachin Zambia.With increased
awarenessof living in an interconnectedworld, ordinaryZambianstoday
want access, they want progress, if not for themselves, then for their
children.Theremustbe belief in the future(Friedman,1994: 242). In their
narrativesaboutdevelopmentthey define the moder throughits objective
attributes:education,occupation,and wealth.3At the very least, they want
satisfactionof basic needs such as food, schooling, work, housing,health
services,and transport.
People in Zambiaalso want well-dressedbodies, as the anthropologists
who workedtheretold us alreadyduringthe colonialperiod(Mitchell,1956;
Mitchell and Epstein, 1959; Richards, 1939; Wilson, 1942). Unlike the
developmentliterature,which is havinga difficulttime with the normative
aspect of the relationshipbetween consumptionand well-being (James,
1992: vii), many Zambianswill keenly express their subjectiveinterpreta-
tions and desires. And clothing goes to the heart of widespreadunder-

2
Wilk (1990: 79) refers to V. S. Naipaul (1968) as the source of this formulation. I came
across it as the title of a dissertation (Ichaporia, 1980).
3 Rowlands makes a
fairly similar argument about Cameroon, emphasising that the local
version of modernity is shaped by its distinct cultural historical setting (1996: 188-9).

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 IN ZAMBIA
USEDCLOTHING 345

standingsof well-being(WorldBank, 1994: 30-1).4 Not only does salaula

give people what they need, namely clothingthey can afford;it also gives
themwhatthey want:the abilityto dressratherthanwearrags.It is because
of the way clothingconnectswith bodies both literallyandfigurativelythat
dealings with second-handclothing offer a particularlyrich subject for
exploringhow people in Zambiareckonwith themselvesandtheirsituation
in the wider worldbeyondthem.
Highly chargedcultural,political,and economicquestionsarisefromthe
internationalflow of second-handclothing, the charitableguise of its
sourcing in the West, its export and marketingconnections, and the
consumptionpracticesit is giving rise to in poor countrieslike Zambia.I
begin by outlining some of them, including questions about cultures of
consumption,global and otherwise, and what we may make of them.
Becausethe internationalsecond-handclothingtradeis a grey scholarlyarea,
I next brieflydescribeits recentdynamicsin orderto providea contextfor
my discussionof Zambia'sdevelopmentpredicament.I turnthento a global
encounterof a particularkind,the consumptionof second-handclothing,and
the ways in which it has been explainedby externalobservers,local critics,
and consumersthemselves. The article's empirical sections explain the
culturalsignificanceof clothing in the Zambiancontext with referenceto
historicalmaterialsandmy own clothingsurveys.The meaningsof clothing
are neitherstatic nor uniform.Dependingon the culturalpolitics of their
time, people in Zambiainterpretsalaula in ways that shift acrossclass and
genderlines, andbetweenurbanandruralareas.Ratherthancontributingto
culturalhomogeneityon a world scale in passive imitationof the West,
second-hand clothing consumption in Zambia promotes awareness of
difference between local livelihoods and opportunitieselsewhere while
allowingthe expressionof variety,individuality,anduniquenessin clothing
practice.

ANDCONSUMPTION
GLOBALISATION
Is therea global cultureof consumption?While Coca-colaandMcDonald's

4 In a recentassessmentof
poverty,ruralrespondentswere askedto describea poorperson.
Wearingragsplayeda majorrole in characterisations of poverty,andmoreso for womenthan
for men.Theseruralperceptionsof povertywerebasedon a combinationof householdsurvey
and participatorydata, in the analysis of which gender-basedprofiles of poverty were
constructed,attributingproportionalweight to specific aspectsof poverty.Both women and
men referredto lack of food and clothing as the most importantcharacteristicsof a poor
person,with women giving emphaticallymore weight to these basic needs thanmen. Rural
womenalso placedmoreemphasison incomeandsafetynetsthanmen,who focusedon assets
andmoney.Specifically,in theircompositepovertyprofilewomenweighted'wearingrags/no
clothing'as 21 percent and 'havingno food/doesnot eat well' as 20 percent.Menassigned14
per cent to 'wearingrags/noclothing'and 15 per cent to 'havingno food/doesnot eat well'.
Womenandmen equallyweightedlack of moneyas 20 per cent of theircharacterisation of a
poor person (World Bank, 1994: 30-1). Although the overall poverty assessment was
conductedin both urbanand ruralsettings,the publishedreportdoes not includeany urban
povertyprofiles.

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346 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA

are enjoyedalmosteverywheretoday,predictionsof the worldbecominga

global village have nevercome true.Such depressingviews have yieldedto
more complexunderstandings of culturalprocessesthat spanlargerregions
of the world,often with quitedifferentoutcomesfromone place to the next.
Put simply, recent approachesto globalisationhave viewed it as distinct
fromearliertransnational andcross-culturalencounters,owing to worldwide
productionshifts in labourand capitaland to developmentsin communica-
tions technologyandtransportthatarefacilitatingthe movementsof people,
commodities, and ideas on an unprecedentedscale (Appadurai,1990;
Hannerz,1992). In this reconfiguredtemporalisation of globalspace,all that
was solid might melt into air in a mannerthat Marx never would have
imagined.As Daniel Millerhas suggested(1995), consumptionmight then
becomethe vanguardof history,openingup to the people 'withouthistory'a
global worldof previouslyunimaginedpossibilities.
The problemswith this post-industrialversion of Polanyi's The Great
Transformation (1944) arebothhistoricalandanalytical.Briefly,in termsof
history, ignoresprevioustransnational
it and cross-culturalencounterswith
globalisingeffects, sleightingcontinuousinteractionbetween colonial and
post-colonial societies, and placing a break where perhaps none exists
(Ranger,1996: 274; Werbner,1996: 5). JonathanFriedman,.for one, has
harpeduponthis (1994). And in termsof analysis,this view blursimportant
differences between commodities.While recognising the importanceof
centre-peripherymodels in explainingThirdWorldculturalprocesses,Ulf
Hannerzhas warnedus againstoverly deterministapproaches,suggesting
insteadthatwe explorediversityof outcomesandtheirconsequences(1992:
221). Hannerzmakes a special case of the media, yet we may extend his
concern with the variabledistributiveimplicationsthat arise from global
encountersto otherculturalflows. Distinctcommoditiesmay resonatevery
differentlyin their local reception,some being interpretedthroughlocal
representations,othersbecomingreconfiguredfrom scratch,and still others
being carried over with much of their original meaning. In effect,
globalisationproducesdifferentcommoditystories,dependingon whether
we analyse worldwide the consumptionof sugar (Mintz, 1985) or the
entertainment providedby electronicmedia.Last,butnot least,the diversity
of outcomesis also influencedby the proportionof oligopolycapitaloriented
towardthe marketingof specific commodities(Carrierand Heyman,1997:
356).
Because they mediate identity in different ways, few other imported
second-hand commodities-for example, cars, spare parts and tyres,
electricalappliances,or computerequipment-cast as stunninga light on
this global interchangeas does second-handclothing. For second-hand
clothingis notjust any commoditybut a very specialone. This is becauseof
the way in which,as an importedcommodity,it offersa specialexposureon
the interactionbetweenthe local andthe West, andbecauseof the way it, as
dress,mediatesbothindividualandcollective identitiesanddesires.Indeed,
the power of the dressed body remindsus of the very special natureof
clothing as a commodity.Erasmusof Rotterdamrecognisedthis long ago
when, anticipatingthe comingof the moder individual,he likeneddressto
'the body of the body' (Elias, 1978: 78), in this way capturinghow bodies

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 IN ZAMBIA
USEDCLOTHING 347

are 'worn'throughthe attributesof the person.TerenceTurner'sdesignation

of the body surfaceas a 'social skin' invitesus to explorethe individualand
social identities that the dressed body creates (1980). Extending these
insightsto analysesof dresspracticesin Africa,Hildi Hendricksonrecently
explainedtheir value: 'Being personal,[the body surface]is susceptibleto
individualmanipulation.Being public,it has social import'(1996: 2).
While the economichistoryof textile andgarmentproductiongoes to the
heart of classical political economy and the expansion of the West, its
present-dayproductionpracticeslink Northand Southin a hostile embrace
(Gereffi and Korzeniewicz,1993). The internationaltradein second-hand
clothingaddsinterestingtwiststo this story,as do the dresspracticesthatare
arisingaroundthe growingconsumptionof the West's cast-offclothingboth
at home andabroad(e.g. Hansen,1994;McRobbie,1989).But globalisation
is not only, or mainly,aboutthe effects of macro-levelsocietal changes;it
also involves local cultural and subjective matters. This is Roland
Robertson'sview when he suggests that the essence of globalisationlies
in the consciousnessof the global, in people's awarenessof the global
situation,specificallythat we all inhabitthis world (1992: 164-81, 183). I
suggestthatthe interactiveaspectsof globalisationrevealthemselvesin the
meaningsZambiansconstrueaboutthe local and the West throughsecond-
handclothingconsumption.

THEINTERNATIONAL
SECOND-HAND
CLOTHING
TRADE
To be sure,the recentrapidgrowthof the internationalsecond-handclothing
trade is a productof on-going unequaleconomic integrationon a global
scale. Yet the directionsof the commodityflows thatcomprisethis tradecut
acrossconventionalNorth-Southandurban-ruraldivides,givingrise to new
distinctions,as I demonstratelater. Although the trade in second-hand
clothinghas a long history(Ginsburg,1980),its economicpowerandglobal
scope wereneveras vast as they havebeen since the early 1990sin the wake
of the liberalisationof many Third World economies and following the
sudden rise in demand from former EasternBloc countries.Worldwide
second-handclothing exports increasedsixfold between 1980 and 1995,
froma valueof US $207 millionin 1980 and$845 millionin 1990 to $1,410
million in 1995 (Haggblade, 1990: 508; UN, 1996: 60).5 Sub-Saharan
Africancountriesareamongthe world'slargestimporters,withconsumption
of second-handclothingexceedingthatof all otherregions.

5 There are
hardlyany conventionalsocial science or economic studies of this process.
Europeangovernmentsand NGOs have solicited occasional consultancyreportsinto the
operationand effects of the trade.My richestsourceof insightshas been news wires. While
journalisticreportsare often sensationalist,they do identifyimportantissues. The worldwide
statisticsstem mainlyfrom UN reports;some are estimates,some referto volume,othersto
weight, and they all underestimatethe extent and real scope of the trade because illegal
practicesare widespreadin it. In Zambiain 1990 total second-handclothingimportswere
estimatedto a value of US $1,181,000; they grew in 1994 to an estimatedvalue of US
$6,881,000, declining in 1995 to US $3,651,000. In 1994 about half of Zambia's total
estimatedimportsof second-handclothing,to the valueof US $3,596,000,weresourcedin the
UnitedStates(UN, 1995:60. 1996: 60).

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348 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA

The UnitedStatesis the world'slargestexporterof second-handclothing,

followed,in 1995,by Germany,the Netherlands,Belgium-Luxembourg, and
the UnitedKingdom(UN, 1996: 60). The alreadylarge shareof the United
Statesin this worldwideexporttrademay increaseeven furtherin the near
futureif recentlylegislatedpolicy in the EuropeanUnionon wastedisposal,
includingsecond-handclothingfrom membercountries,is implementedas
intended.In 1995the UnitedStatesexporteda totalof some US $340 million
worthof used clothing,comparedwith US $174 millionin 1990 (UN, 1995:
60, 1996: 60). By 1997 second-handclothing comprisedthe sixth largest
exportof the UnitedStatesto sub-Saharan Africa,increasingalmost38 per
cent between 1993 and 1996 (US Departmentof Commerce,1997: 1).
The bulk of the used clothes thatenterthe West's exporttradeis sourced
from majorcharitableorganisations,which, taken together,are the single
largestworldwidesupplierof this commodity.The majorcharities-includ-
ing, in the UnitedStates,the SalvationArmy,Goodwill,St Vincentde Paul,
and Amvets, and, in Europe,Humana,Oxfam, and Abbe Pierre,just to
mentiona few-receive far moredonatedclothingthanthey can sell in their
thriftstores.They disposeof a largeportion,between40 percent and60 per
cent, dependingon who you talk to, to the textile recyclers/raggraders.The
rag gradersoperatesortingplants where the clothes are sortedinto many
differentcategoriesof garmenttypes andqualitiesandcompressedinto bales
ready for shipmentto importersin countrieslike Zambia.'Used clothing'
includes not only garments but also shoes, handbags, towels, sheets,
blankets,and draperies.Severalcharitableorganisationsalso provideused
clothing in emergency situations.The volume that is shipped for such
purposesis difficult to estimate, and so is the extent to which clothing
donatedfor crisis relief in fact ends up in local markets.
Local normativepracticesconcerningdressaffect whattypes of garments
are imported.In Muslim-influencedNorth Africa, for example, far less
second-handclothing is importedthan in sub-SaharanAfrica. And dress
'traditions'continue to be made up. In Mobuto Sese Seko's Zaire the
'authenticity'code forbademen from wearingWesterncoats and ties and
womenfromwearingjeans. One of the first edicts PresidentLaurentKabila
of the new DemocraticRepublicof Congo enactedafterassumingpowerin
1997 forbadewomenfromwearingpants,stretchleggings, and shortskirts.
In some countries,second-handclothingwas long considereda down-market
commodityculturallysubordinatedto locally styled dress (Heath, 1992).
Continuing economic decline, at times combined with civil strife, is
changing the status of the West's used clothes in some countries-for
instance,in Congo Brazzaville,where the second-handclothing tradehas
growndramaticallyin the wakeof the recentcivil war.In a regionknownfor
its highly stylisedpreferencefor expensive,brand-name,importedclothing
'fromParis',epitomisedin la sape (Gandoulou,1989)residentsnow flock to
second-handmarketsto purchaseaffordableclothing,referredto locally as
sola ('to choose') (IPS, 4 July 1998).
Becausethis growingimportposes a threatto domesticproduction,textile
and garment manufacturersin several countries have called for its
prohibition.Some countries-for instance,Mali-charge high importtariffs
(between61 percent and83 percent, accordingto some sources)on second-

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 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA 349

handclothing,seekingto reduceits volume, with the aim of protectingthe

domestic textile industry (US Departmentof Commerce, 1997: 20).
Althoughsome countries-includingCote d'Ivoire,Kenya,andNigeria-at
one time or anotherhave bannedthe commercialimportof second-hand
clothes, in practicesuch rules are unableto restrictthe flow of this popular
commodityacrossAfrica's notoriouslypermeableborders.6
The trade in importedsecond-handclothing in Zambiais not new but
extends practicesthat had alreadyby the 1920s, if not before, made used
clothingfrom the West availablefor local purchase.Second-handclothing
was importedinto the Belgian Congo and then tradedinformallyacrossthe
borderto NorthernRhodesia, as Zambia was known then. Accordingto
elderly persons with whom I have discussed the trade, in the 1940s and
1950s, people did their best to conceal the fact that they were wearing
second-handclothing. But when stringentimportrestrictionsbegan to be
loosenedin Zambiain the last half of the 1980s, second-handclothingfrom
the West becamean increasinglypopulartradeandconsumptionitem with a
name of its own, salaula.
Because of upheavalsin Zaire (the DemocraticRepublicof the Congo)
since the late 1980s, second-handclothing is now importeddirectly into
Zambiaby local wholesalers.Containerloads of second-handclothingarrive
at the portsof Dares Salaamin Tanzania,Durbanin SouthAfrica,andBeira
in Mozambique,from where they are truckedto importers'warehouses.
Zambia's capital, Lusaka, is the major hub of this trade, though some
wholesalershave up-countrybranches.By the mid-1990s the bulk of the
salaula wholesale tradewas in the handsof thirtyto forty firms, many of
themgeneralwholesalerswho hadaddedsalaula to theirinventorywhenthe
tradeincreasedin the early 1990s.Thesewholesalerssupplyretailers,mostly
small-scaletraders,who purchasebales of salaula and resell garmentsin
public markets, on the streets, in residential neighbourhoods,and in
downtownoffices. Up-countrytradersalso purchasebales in town, and
town-basedtraderstravel across the countrysideselling and exchanging
salaula for meat, fish, and produce.Today's second-handclothing trade
differsfromthe pastin at leastone regard,andthatis its enormousreachand
appeal, which since the mid- to late 1980s has given rise to a popular
consumptioncircuit with complicated North-South linkages and deep
urban-ruralinterconnections.

SECOND-HANDCLOTHINGENCOUNTERS
Like many othercountriesin Africawhereone-partystateswith centralised
economiesaregiving way to reformin the post-ColdWarera,Zambiain the
1990sis up for sale. The SecondRepublic's(1972-91) strategiesof political

6
I have madeformalobservationsin Zimbabweas partof a consultancyteamin 1993 and
informalexplorationsinto the dynamicsof the second-handclothing tradethroughoutthe
widerregion(Uganda,Botswana,andthe EasternCapeof SouthAfrica,1992;Zimbabweand
Namibia,1995;Johannesburg, CapeTown,andDurban,1995;the Transkei,1997).I also kept
an eye open for these processeswhen my worktook me to Nigeriaand Ghanain 1989.

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350 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA

repression and economic austerity have been relegated to the past.

Privatisationof major national assets is under way in an international
biddingprocess in which severalonce importantplayershave reappeared.
Tate & Lyle, for example,recentlyboughtup the nationalsugarcompany
thatit had ownedbeforeit was nationalised.Meanwhile,establishedmining
interests with prior involvement in Zambia like the Anglo-American
Corporationare finalising the purchaseof major parts of the parastatal
miningcorporation.A flood of importsare enteringthe countryand being
sold from new local branches of major South African chains, making
clothing and housewaresavailable to the medium-incomeand up-scale
consumermarket.At the sametime as this marketsegmentis being targeted
from abroad,all mannerof importedgoods are sold to ordinaryconsumers
by streetvendorsand itineranttraders,some of whomworkon commission
for formalfirms.
If the worldtodayis for sale in Zambia,it is predominantly
importsfrom
southernAfricathatarefloodingthe market.Northmead,a popularshopping
area near downtown Lusaka, has become known colloquially as 'Little
Jo'burg'. Other consumergoods are broughtin by small-scale 'suitcase
traders'who travelto ZaireandTanzania,wherethey purchaseinexpensive
importedtextiles, garments,andhousewaresfrom the FarEast for resalein
Zambia.The Zaire trade route that fell into disuse because of political
troublesis seeing trafficagainto andfromthe new DemocraticRepublicof
Congo. With the exceptionof a brief period duringthe Second Republic,
when political decisions not to interactin formal economic terms with
apartheidSouth Africa reducedimportsfrom the south, South Africa was
always-as it still is today-an importantsource of things Western in
Zambia.In fact, customs rules and regulationsduringthe colonial period
placed preferentialtariffs on imports from South Africa and Southern
Rhodesia.Otherthanin mining,therewere few developmentsin industryor
manufacturingin NorthernRhodesia. That period's local stores selling
'Kaffirtruck' had a limited range of merchandise,mainly non-perishable
foodstuffs, simple household goods, farm implements, and tailor-made
clothing.
Only after independencein 1964 did the new Africangovernmenttake
initiativesin establishinga domestictextileandgarmentindustry.Duringthe
periodof the extremeeconomicausterityregime,when importpermissions
were grantedonly for essential commodities,the two state-ownedtextile
mills operatedin a nearmonopolysituation,forcingconsumersto purchase
garmentsproducedlocally or to source illegally from outside.When both
importand currencyrestrictionswere eased in the late 1980s, customers
flocked to the salaula markets,extollingnot only the affordabilitybut also
the choice of second-handgarments.Because of the poor qualityand high
price of locally producedgarments,Zambiansfrommost walks of life have
continued to shop 'from salaula' throughout the 1990s.
Life is hardfor most Zambians,and it has got harderduringthe Third
Republic's liberalisedeconomic regime, where retrenchmentboth in the
publicandin the privatesectorhas madeever morepeople dependfor their
living on self-relianceof the informal sector kind. The social costs of
structuraladjustmentreforms have been high. In terms of too many

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 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA 351

indicators-among them education,health, longevity, child mortalityand

nutrition,formalemploymentand wages-Zambians in the first half of the
1990s were worse off thanthey had been in the mid-1970s(GRZ and UN,
1996). Given the decline in their purchasingpower, the significance of
second-handclothingto poor householdsis not surprising.Yet, as I discuss
shortly,the enormouscross-overappealof this particularcommoditycan be
explainednot merelyin termsof its affordabilitybut above all by reference
to the role people in Zambiaattributeto clothingin mediatingdesiresabout
living betterand differentlives.
Becauseclothingconsumptionis bothan economicanda culturalforce to
be reckoned with, salaula has mobilised public opinion at many levels
within and outside Zambia. The growing trade in and consumptionof
importedsecond-handclothinghas been portrayednegativelyin accountsof
the economy's performanceproblems by external commentatorsand
journalists,who drawa directconnectionbetweenthe popularityof salaula,
the closureof textile andgarmentproducingcompanies,andthe loss of jobs.
Local commentarypeaked in 1992 and 1993 when representativesof the
manufacturersof textiles and garments,who blamed salaula for 'killing'
their industries,criticised the new governmentfor not removing adverse
tariffs on necessaryproductioninputs while allowing the importationof
salaula.Mostof the importdutieswereremovedin the late 1990s,yet textile
andclothingmanufacturing firmshave continuedto close. The firmsthatare
surviving,particularlythe textile companies,have shiftedproductionto the
cottonexportmarket.It is becauseof these economiccircumstances,among
other things, that Zambianshave become more dependentthan ever on
importedtextiles and clothing,most of which are sourcedfrom SouthEast
AsianandSouthAfricanproducers.Giventhe sorrylook andstyle of locally
manufacturedproducts,for example printedcloth, it comes as no surprise
thatZambianconsumerspreferimports,whichanywayare moreaffordable.
Unlike in South Africa and Zimbabwe,where the trade unions in the
textile and clothing sector actively engaged in the second-handclothing
debate,organisedlabourin Zambiahas taken a low profile on the salaula
issue. Most workersin the textile andclothingsectorearnlow wages. Many
of them are likely to be retrenchedor pruned,owing to IMF/WorldBank
directivesto reform/rationalise the economy. They are among those who
have satisfiedthe clothingneeds of theirown householdswith salaula and
they praiseits 'goodness'.I was told by peoplefrommanydifferentwalksof
life that 'thegoodnessof salaula' derivesfromthe availabilityof qualityand
stylish clothingat prices people can afford.Whatis more,salaula retailing
anda whole lot of ancillaryactivitieshave createdworkfor personswithout
jobs. Last,but not least, fromthe perspectiveof parents,at the sametime as
young people are learningaboutbusinesspractices,salaula marketingalso
keeps them out of mischief.
The responseof governmentto the salaula tug-of-warhas been equivocal,
alternatingbetween statementsabout ruling out a ban to advocatinga
prohibition on importing salaula. At the moment, salaula is no longer front-
page news in discussions of the problems of Zambia's manufacturing
industry,althoughthe debate may pick up momentumagain. Textile and
garmentmanufacturersnow complain about 'cheap imports' in general,

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352 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA

referring to subsidy and dumping on the part of South East Asian

manufacturersand widespreadsmuggling. Firms that produced locally,
amongthemColgate-PalmoliveandLeverBrothers,have restructured from
to
manufacturing marketing and significantlyreducingtheir
distribution,
local operations.Johnson& Johnsonand Dunlopmoved theiroperationsto
Zimbabwein 1997. In fact Dunlop,the only tyremanufacturing companyin
Zambia,ceased its local operationbecauseof inabilityto competewith the
growingimportof remoulds(FinancialMail, 16-22 September1997, p. 8).
The constrainingeffects of economic liberalisationon the domestic
manufacturing scene in generalare clearernow thanthey were in the early
1990s, when the popularityof salaula was made a scapegoatfor the textile
andgarmentindustry'sproblems.Suchan argumentassumedthatthe growth
in the importand retailingof salaula was at the expense of the domestic
textile and garmentindustries;it did not examine the problemsof those
industriesin termsof the contradictory forces,manystemmingfromthe past,
that were acting on their componentsas the Zambianeconomy began to
liberalise.Out of politicalexpediency,the governmentin the shorttermhas
chosennot to interferewith salaula, a popularcommoditywhichpeoplecan
affordto buy, given the social cost of economicreformsand their adverse
effects on purchasingpower. This stance has obvious resonancewith the
feelings of those who are at the receivingend. In commonparlance,three-
quartersof the Zambianpopulationpurchasetheir clothes 'from salaula',
which they speak of as 'our shops'. I now turnto their engagementwith
clothing.

ZAMBIANPREOCCUPATIONSWITH CLOTHING
We cannot come to grips with the social and cultural dimensions of
consumptionunless we examinethe ways in which commoditieshave been
deliveredandhow they have enteredpeople'slives. Clothandclothingwere
key commoditiesin the long-termtransformations thatbroughtthe marketto
NorthernRhodesia and graduallymade local people dependenton it as
consumers.As a widely used trade commodity,and an early measureof
paymentfor labour,lengthsof importedcloth wereimportantvehiclesin the
broader engagement which we usually describe as modernity.African
encounterswith Western notions of work, time, wealth, sexuality, and
moralityshapednew ideasaboutidentity,home,andspacethathadcomplex
effects on consumption,especiallyon dressand clothingpractices(Hansen,
1992).
Fromthe earlydaysof theircontactwithtraders,prospectors,missionaries
and, later, colonists, the people who lived in what now is Zambiaeagerly
embracedimportedcloth.Yardlengthsof whiteandblue calico werewidely
used as part of remunerationfor porterageand service work performed
duringcaravantravelsat least duringthe first decadeof this century,if not
untilthe adventof motortransportin the 1920s (Hansen,1989:31; 40-1). In
additionto its role in early labourrecruitment,cloth was also a mediumof
exchange in the grain trade. Africans exchanged some of this new
commodityfor food, and they adoptedit increasinglyfor their own use
and for distributionamong relatives. In effect, cloth and clothing had

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 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA 353

become an idiom for establishingrelationsbetweenthe sexes andacrossthe

generations.
Specific items of clothinghave theirown historiesof local incorporation,
distinctfor men's andwomen'swear.This has to do with the unevenpace of
the developmentof men's and women's mass-producedgarmentsin the
West andthus with the earlieravailabilityof surplusmen's wear,including
army surplus(Fine and Leopold, 1993: 100-1). Men's 'fever coats' and
jackets came first to this part of Africa, and women's dresses and skirts
followed later.But the distinctlygenderedhistoriesof men's and women's
wear also hinge, as I discuss shortly,on the pivotal role of clothingto the
very processof makingconsumersandto the unevenlygenderedpace of that
process. General access to the new commodity, clothing, depended on
location in relationto the shiftingcentresof economic activity and to the
buildingof roadsandrailways.Tailorswho followedin the wakeof the early
establishmentof tradinghouses and storesfound an eager clientele among
the growingnumberof wage employedmen. Africanrecollectionsfromthe
early decades of this century stress the importanceof clothes from two
angles: access to clothing was a great incentive to migration,and tailors
formedan importantoccupationalcategoryduringthe earlygrowthof small
bomasand towns (UNZA, n.d.).
Anthropologistswho workedin thisregionduringthe colonialperiodwere
struckby the active interestlocal people took in dress. Duringthe 1930s
Africanmine workersin Kabwe (BrokenHill) spent 51 per cent of their
monthlywage on clothes.7GodfreyWilsonnotedthatthe 'desirefor clothes'
broughtAfricansto town, andthat 'nakedness'was theirusualanswerto his
question'Whatmade you leave the country?''They have been driven,'he
argued,'withoutany possibilityof return,fromtheirEdenof bark-clothand
skins' (1942: 18). As dresspracticeswere embeddedin everydayurbanlife,
clothingbecame 'the chief mediumin whichobligationsto countryrelatives
[were]fulfilled'. Africansin Kabwe,wroteWilson, 'arenot a cattlepeople,
nora goat people,nora fishingpeople,nora treecultivatingpeople,they are
a dressed people' (1942: 18). This preoccupationwith clothing was not
solely an urbanphenomenon.AudreyRichardsnotedin the early 1930s that
the rural Bemba constantlytalked about clothes (1939: 16-18). Wilson
echoed this at the urbanend, pointingout that Africansin town discussed
clothes 'unceasingly, in much the same way as ... villagers discuss their
cattle; they are tended lovingly and carefully housed in boxes at night'
(1942: 18). The keen interestAfricanson the Copperbelttook in clothingin
the 1950s also struckJ. C. Mitchell and A. L. Epstein,who held Western
clothing to be the most importantitem in African status aspirations
(Mitchell,1956: 12; MitchellandEpstein,1959:32). Then,as now, clothing
matteredimportantlyin maritaland sexualrelations,in statuscompetitions,
and in economicexchange.

7 At the time of Wilson's

studyAfricanworkersreceivedfood rationsanda cash wage.The
proportionof the wage spenton clothingwouldhave declinedif workershad to pay cash for
food.

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354 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA

By the 1950s Africans from NorthernRhodesiahad become adept at

making Western-inspiredclothing part and parcel of their own dress
universe.As I noted earlier,their clothingincludedsecond-handgarments
traded into NorthernRhodesia from the Belgian Congo. Its advent in
Luapulaand the Copperbeltwas facilitatedby close interactionin the trade
in fish and second-handclothingbetweenCongo-basedGreekand African
entrepreneursin Luapula(Musambachime,1981; Mwansa, 1992). During
the 1940s and 1950sLuapula-based entrepreneurs extendedthe second-hand
clothing trade across the NorthernProvince,the Copperbelt,and into the
CentralProvince. Africans from as far away as Bulawayo in Southern
Rhodesiatravelledto the Congo to buy second-handclothing which they
resoldin local marketsor hawkedin town (Gussman,1952: 88-90). Indeed,
as AndrewRobertsremindsus in an essay with the fitting title 'African
cross-currents'(1986), colonial frontierswere very porous.Social horizons
expandedas new ideas andgoods wereexchanged,reorientinglocal ways of
life towardmarketrelationships.Of the manufacturedgoods availablein
towns and companystores,clothingwas the most importantcommodityin
the katundu(Nyanjafor luggage)of returninglabourmigrants(Davis, 1932;
Marwick,1974).
Last,butnot least,the consumptionpracticesthatarosein the engagement
with commoditieslike Western-styledclothing were thoroughlygendered
(James, 1996; Martin, 1995: 161-9). Migrant labour involved men in
market-orientedconsumptionmuch earlier than women, whom colonial
authoritiesattemptedto keep backin the ruralareas.In effect, the overlapof
male authoritarian values in both colonisers'and Africanruralauthorities'
view of women's properplace exposed them very differentlythan men to
store-boughtandtailor-madegarments.Deep-seatedculturalnormsheld that
husbands,fathers,or guardiansshould provide women and childrenwith
clothingat regularintervals.Whena womantodayargues-for example,in a
divorcecase in a local court-that herhusbandhas not given her a dressfor
several years, her maritaltroublesare self-evident (Hansen, 1996: 120).
Touchingthe core of widespreadZambiansensibilities,the engagementwith
clothing goes to the heartof men's and women's differentexperiencesof
socio-economic change. While these norms are lingering on today, the
disjuncturebetween them and people's actual lives is becoming more
apparent.The way in which clothingis acquiredhas changedas more and
morewomenareearningan incomein theirown right,shoulderingimportant
burdensin rural and urbanhousehold survival.By conspicuousclothing
display,womentoo easily lend themselvesto sexual suspicion,even if they
boughttheirgarmentsfrom salaula, using money they earnedthemselves.

'YOU WOULDN'TBELIEVEIT, BUT IT'S FROM SALAULA'

Zambia'sgeographyof salaula retailingcontainsseveraldistinctsegments
that are most noticeablein big cities like Lusaka.By the beginningof the
1990s the salaula sectionsof outdoormarketsin both urbanandruralareas
had grown much largerthan the food sections. In the mid-1990s salaula
retailinghad spreadinto urbanhigh-incomeneighbourhoods and downtown
offices, and it had spilled out on to the city's main streets. Still, the

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 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA 355

established market places remain the centre of activity. Today, salaula is

available in most corers of the country, brought out from Lusaka, Chipata
or the Copperbelt by small-scale entrepreneursor traders' hired hands who
travel, for instance to commercial farms and other rural sites offering wage
work, such as game parks and tourist lodges, where they sell their goods to
workers on pay day, and into the countryside, where they exchange second-
hand clothing for agricultural produce, goats, chickens, and fish. Villagers
who barter their crops for salaula do so for lack of a market, and they often
complain of the unequal terms of trade (Times of Zambia, 1996a).8
Today, dealings with second-hand clothes extend across most segments of
Zambian society except the apamwamba (meaning 'those on the top' in
Nyanja). My 1995 survey of clothing consumption practices fleshes this out
in more detail.9 Roughly two-thirds of the survey households in high-income
areas in Lusaka, for example, met most of their clothing needs from salaula;
in addition to buying salaula, more than half of these households also made
regular use of a tailor; and the apamwamba are the only group with a real
cjoice in the clothing market. These observations can be furtherspecified in
terms of age, gender, and socio-economic background.
As an aside, judging from my monitoring of several spatial clusters of
tailors in downtown Lusaka since 1992, the tailor's craft appears to have
survived through niche production. Some, but not many, tailors undertake
alterations and repairs of salaula. The respondents in my surveys who
regularly used the tailor did so either in order to acquire specially styled
garments, for instance elaborately tailored chitenge (printed cloth) outfits, or
because of size problems. Persons of medium to high income frequented up-
market tailors, and several had individual arrangementsor even hired a tailor
to work for them in their home.
The least well-off of my survey households met most of their clothing
needs from salaula, save for children's school uniforms and shoes; yet
parents or guardians often buy parts of school uniforms such as stockings,
shirts, jerseys, and shoes from salaula. Nurses, whose dress allowance does
not come close to the price of a new uniform, sort through salaula, searching
for lab coats. Many young men buy their first suit from salaula. Adult
women in better-off households obtained their clothes both from shops and
from tailors, men bought from shops, whereas most of the clothes of children
and young adults were purchased at salaula markets. The apamwamba
bought clothing everywhere; they also frequented, but did not depend on, the
salaula market when searching for specific garments to complement their
wardrobe or when buying clothes for country relatives or their household
staff. In fact, they sourced most of their garments from the 'outside'. A mid-

8
I have undertaken extensive research in Zambia on the distribution, wholesaling, and
marketing angles of this trade, monitoring the market in Lusaka since 1992, examining
provincial distribution and trade, and exploring the cross-border trade. This includes interviews
with wholesalers and extensive surveys of urban and rural markets.
9 The clothing consumption survey comprised ninety-two interviews in Lusaka (fifty-five in
low-income households, fifteen in medium-income households, and twenty-two in high-
income households) and nine in the Luapula Province.

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356 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA

level publicsectorexecutivein herlate thirties,for example,explainedto me

in 1995 thatshe boughtalmostall her clothes from 'suitcasetraders'.Suits
from South Africa were popularoffice wear that year, as was 'American
clothing',broughtback by personsflying via Londonto the UnitedStates.
Not everyoneis enthusiasticaboutsalaula. Universitylecturersandmid-
level civil servants,for example,whoseconsumptionandlife stylehavebeen
severelycurtailedby the economicdecline in general,and by retrenchment
in public and privatesector employmentin particular,purchasedmore of
their families' clothes from salaula than they cared to admit. 'Only
housewiveshave the time to go to the salaula market,'a male secondary
school teacher told me. Still, white-collarworkers of both sexes from
Lusaka'sdowntownoffices often visit salaula marketsduringtheir lunch
hour.But some adultmen will tell you thatthey won'tbe caughtin a salaula
market.Insteadthey send their wives to select the right-sizedshirts and
trousersfor them. Yet men who would not be caughtin a salaula market
themselveswill neverthelessadmitto buyingsecond-handclothes.Thereis
an extensivetradein high-incomeneighbourhoods, as thereis in downtown
offices, carriedon by individualswho notify friendsof theirpurchaseof a
bale of salaula and/orcirculatein office buildings,sellingclothesto persons
who receive a monthlypay cheque.Informalcreditarrangements are linked
with such practices,as they are with the retailingof tailor-madegarments
and clothingbroughtin from the 'outside'.
Whenshoppingfor salaula, consumershave a numberof thingsin mind,
dependingon whetherthey are coveringbasic clothingneeds or satisfying
specific desires.The scrutinyof salaula takes time. Colourco-ordinationis
keenlyattendedto, andthereareissues of size andfit to consider.Regardless
of income group, most consumersconsidered'value for money' a major
selection criterion,discerning'good value' in terms of both quality and
fashion/style.Low-incomecustomersboth in Lusakaand in the province
paid attentionto garmentdurability/strength, whereasyoung urbanadults
looked for 'the latest'. This is their own term, and it comprisesinfluences
from South Africa, Europe,and North America as well as from specific
youthcultures.Becausemanymen's trousersaretoo big andmanywomen's
dressestoo tightfor adultmale andfemaleZambianbodies,youngadultsin
fact have the best choice in the salaula markets.
My clothingconsumptionsurveydepictsa well dressedadultas a person
who is put togetherin garmentsthat are well taken care of, with well
matched accessories that extend the good look of the clothes, carefully
groomedhair,make-upenhancingthe naturalfeatures,and poised manners
and deportment.Clothingattentionis highly focused on creatinga smooth
line, including such styling details as fabric quality and texture, folds/
draping,and trimmings.The exceptionis women's chitengedresses,which
are becoming more elaborateand increasinglyconstructed.The general
concernsaboutclothingare with the lengthof the skirt,the exposureof the
body,the patternof the blouse/shirt,the cut of thejacket,andthe style of the
trousers.Women'sclothingshouldnot be tightand short,andmen's should
be neithertoo loose nor scruffy.This clothingideal produceselegance and
dignityin a 'look' that is neat and polished,not too casual,flamboyantor
extravagant.And such ensemblescan be readilyassembledfromsalaula. A

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 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA 357

personin his or her salaula best is barelydistinguishablefrom a personin

store-boughtclothing.
While apamwambawardrobesare more expensive, containingclothing
andapparelthathas been obtainedfroma widervarietyof sourcesthanthose
of medium-incomepeople, the norms of what constitutesa well dressed
person, dependingon age and sex, and on the situation,are pretty much
sharedacrossthe income/classspectrum.Designerlabels are not household
names, save among the apamwamba.Among ordinaryconsumersI have
foundhardlyany concernwith brandnameclothingsince I beganobserving
the clothingmarketin Zambiain the early 1990s.Most storesandboutiques
selling ready-madeclothes sourcedtheirgarmentsfromlow-cost producers,
largelynon-local,withoutbrandnames.Only in T-shirts,baseballcaps, and
runningshoes had fakedbrand-nameproductsmade theirappearance.This
may, of course, change,as alreadyappearsto be happening.By 1997 one
men's specialtyshop in Lusakawas displayingdesignerclothes by names
like Dior and Armanifor the upperend of the market.
This is to say that,by andlarge,incomeandclass distinctionsarenot very
markedin clothingconsumptionbecauseof the readyavailabilityof salaula.
A few years ago, when he describedhow women 'pounce on any latest
importmania',a male news featurewriterremarkedon this. 'Whenit comes
to fashion,' he noted, 'the women in our cities are classless.' As he
explained,'the issue of class does not come in because women from both
down-and-outandaffluentfamiliesarein the race' (Timesof Zambia,1990).
Indeed,clothingcompetencein puttingoneself togetherwith style, quality,
andfit is so keenlydevelopedthatit is mainlythroughshoes andaccessories
that the second-handstatus of garmentsand apparelreveals itself to the
discerningobserver.This contrastswith ruralpeople, who have had less
exposureto salaula and often were identifiableby theirill-matchedclothes.
Their 'lack of style' is a resultof the limitedruralavailabilityof garments
combinedwith the tendencyof urbantradersto offload unpopularsalaula
designs,colours,andfabricson countrypeople.Even this is changingin the
late 1990s, as the salaula circuit has reached consumersthroughoutthe
country.Rural dwellers have in fact begun to complain about the poor
qualityand styles of the clothes the salaula tradersare selling to them.
Clothingcompetenceincludesknowledgenot only of which garmentsto
wear but also of how to wear them. As I noted at the outset, bodies are
'worn' throughthe culturalattributesof the person.Clothingpracticesand
performancecompriseonejuncturewheresocio-culturalnormstakeon local
authorshipover the West's used clothing (Strathern,1992: xiii). Salaula is
pulled apart, resewn, altered, and put on in ways that physically and
culturallyfit Zambianbodies. Whatis being transformedis not necessarily
the garmentbut its meaning.In effect, the body is the site on whichcultural
ideals are constructedthroughdress. For example,many young adultmen
who are close to graduatingfrom secondaryschool are reluctantto wear
jeans for fear of being mistakenfor street vendors.They have higherjob
aspirationsfor themselves.This contrastswith the searchof the youngmale
barbersandvendorsI quotedat the outsetfor oversizejeans fromsalaula to
create the 'big look' they associate with the opportunityand daringof a
world away from home. I related earlier how easily women who dress

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358 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA

extravagantlyare suspectedof havingloose morals.And some young adult

women who are uneasy aboutapproachingsexual maturity'hate' wearing
dresses because they make them look old, and, worse still, dresses make
them look like mothers.In short,social and sexualidentityis lodged in the
way the body is worn throughclothes (Craik,1994: 56). As the matterof
'hating' dresses demonstrates,the norms about how to dress are not
uniformlyexperiencedbut vary somewhatin rural-urbantermsand greatly
in terms of age and generation.And they dependon the situationand the
broadercontext.For lack of space I cannothere detail how the normative
practicesthat underpinthe culturalattributesalluded to above are also
challengedin everydayinteractionor how, in theirbreach,they may become
subjectto reinterpretation.

WESTERNCOMMODITIESAND LOCALHISTORIES
Therecan be no doubtthatthe acceleratedtransnational commodityflow of
second-handclothingand the widespreadconsumptionof salaula in recent
years are both a productof globalisationand its effects. But, save for the
originof salaulagarments,thereis nothingparticularly'Western'abouthow
Zambiansdeal with them.Salaulaclothingpracticesandtheirincorporation
of non-local cultural forms are not properly explained as a result of
hegemonicdominationby the West. The processis interactive,for it draws
importantlyon local notionsof how to dress.
The unprecedentedvitality of the internationalcommercialexport of
second-handclothesto a countrylike Zambiais duein no smalldegreeto the
accessibilityand cross-overappealof clothes to poor consumers.What is
more, second-handclothingis bringingthe world withinreach and with it
imaginedcommunitiesthatmay differfromthosebasedon the printedword
and the visual media (Hannerz,1993: 389). When the social and cultural
presuppositionsthat informclothingpracticescome into focus, it becomes
difficultto view the salaulaphenomenonas externallydriven.Suchclothing
practicesareunderstoodby theirwearersas beingamongthe prerequisitesof
moder society, includingsuits, dresses, and shoes (not to mentionother
paraphernalia), and going withoutthem, like wearingrags, marksout their
pre-modernstatus.
The workof clothingconsumptionprovokesa set of argumentsaboutthe
possibilityof leadinga differentand betterlife. The model implicitbehind
this clothingperformanceargumentis a ratherunspecifiedsenseof the West.
To be sure, when it comes to clothing,Africa and the West cannotescape
one another.Unequalintegrationinto the regionalandwiderworldeconomy
took place long ago in this part of Africa. People here have dealt with
garments 'from the West' for a long time. What is striking about this
engagementis thatthey rarelyuse the category'theWest'. Insteadthey talk
of the 'well developedcountries','the donorcountries',or they use terms
thatemergein the contextof specific encounters,for instance'America'or
'theUK'. Theirnarrativesarenot staticbutemployidiomsof time andplace
thatareindicativeof the differentexposureto the worldbeyondhomeby the
generationswho grew up priorto and afterindependence.

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 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA 359

While the ready availabilityof second-handclothing has redrawnthe

worldmapof clothing,openingaccessto it for the masses,consumersarenot
particularlyconcernedaboutthe provenanceof the used garmentsas long as
they come from 'the West'. Hardly any of the hundredsof tradersand
consumers of salaula I have interviewed since the early 1990s asked
questionsor raisedconcernsaboutwhy or how ourdiscardedclothesend up
as a cherishedcommodityin Zambia.In everydaytalk the generic West
carrieslittle political salience.Few would thinkof blamingit for affecting
clothing consumption,whethernew or old, and there is no suggestionof
salaulabeingthe flip side of Westernfashion.Whatthe Westis, aboveall, is
an imaginedplace, associatedwith power,wealth,andconsumergoods that
surpassmost local productsin qualityand style. Fromit came, for example,
via Americanyouthsubculturein the mid-1990s,the hip-hopstyle of young
male streetvendorsin Zambia.Yet women's two-pieceoutfitsare not what
some perceivedthem to be, American-derived, but are influencedratherby
Britishand SouthAfricanfashions.Thereare a multiplicityof heritagesat
workhere,with complexdialecticsbetweenlocal andforeigninfluencesin a
reconfigurationprocess that generatesdistinctlocal clothing consumption
practices.
Zambianshave continuedbuying salaula in spite of the print media
intermittentlyreportingdisquietingnews of thieves exhumingbodies from
graves and strippingthem of clothes which they then resell (Times of
Zambia, 1993a, b, 1996b, c, d). One confessing grave robber who had
ransackedeleven gravesin Lusakain 1997 told police thathe usedto 'attend
body viewing andburials'duringthe daytime,only to returnto the cemetery
at night a few days later. This man had earnedhis living as a hawkerby
selling graveyardclothes (Times of Zambia, 1997a, b). How tradersand
customersrespondedto this most vexing issue can be seen in changes of
clothing display in the boutique sections of the salaula markets. The
boutique section displays high-quality, high-fashion clothing carefully
selected by traderswhen their colleagues open bales. While most of the
boutiquesI saw in Lusakain 1992 and 1993 exhibitedcarefullywashedand
ironedgarments,todaythey displaytheirgoods withoutsuchintervention.In
fact, wrinklesare preferred.10 This practice,in the words of vendorsand
customersalike,reducesthe fearthatsuch garmentsare 'third-hand',which
is to say, previously used, and specifically by Zambians.Second-hand
clothing displayed with folds and wrinkles straight from the bale is
consideredto be freshfromthe source,andthereforegenuine.Garmentsthat
have been tamperedwith give rise to suspicion.The real thing, genuine
salaula, is describedas 'new' and 'alive', in contrastto clothingwhich is
considered'tired' or 'dead'. This conceptualconstructionof second- and

10 A similar
practice was recently observed in the second-hand clothing markets in the
Gambia, where 'traders do not iron or alter the clothes in any way but sell them in the
condition in which they come from the bales. This is because Gambian consumers prefer to
buy clothes which they know have originated in the West, not those previously worn and
donated by the Gambian elite' (Field et al., 1996: 372).

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360 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA

third-handclothing provides a startlingtwist on local notions of 'used'

clothes thatI did not encounterin ruralsalaula markets.
Afterthe graverobbing/stripping incidentin August1996 a salaula trader
in Lusakawarnedcustomersto be 'cautiousabout those people who sell
[only] a few items [of clothing]. Our goods are genuinely obtained,'he
explained.Anothertraderagreed, adding that it was easy to 'distinguish
salaula clothes from the second-handclothes that don't come from bales'.
He explainedthatmost 'salaulaclotheshave distinctpapertags on themand
theyhavethatuniquesmellprobablycausedby beingtied up in bales,so you
can tell genuinesalaulafromsuspiciousclothes' (ZambiaDaily Mail, 1996:
5).
Whenshoppingfor salaula,beforeassessingthe 'valuefor money'aspect,
Zambianconsumersscrutinisefirst, not the price,but whetherthe garments
are foreignenough,and genuinelyso. Discerningshopperswill be able to
'tell genuinesalaula from suspicioussecond-handclothing' (ZambiaDaily
Mail, 1996: 5). In distinguishingbetween clothing that has been worn by
Zambiansand genuinesalaula, consumersare placingtheirown interpreta-
tion on a process which from a Westernperspectiveappearsto be about
nothingbut inequitableNorth-Southrelationsand asymmetricallocal-glo-
bal interactions.

CONCLUSION

Clothing,both new and used, has a powerfulhold on people's imagination

because the self and society articulatethroughthe dressed body. I have
arguedin this article that, throughdealings with clothing, Zambiansare
makingsense of post-colonialsociety, theirown place withinit, and in the
world at large. Specifically,I have suggestedthat the preoccupationwith
second-handclothes comprises a politics of consumptionthat tells us
something about 'being-in-the-world'(Friedman,1994: 112-16; Miller,
1990) on Zambianterms. The West's cast-off garmentsare interpreted
through representationslocally available, their meanings informed in
important ways by the structure of social relations and normative
presuppositionsin Zambia.And it is these relationsand presuppositions
thatmakepracticesinvolvingWestern-styledclothinglocal.
Because the meanings Zambians attribute to second-hand clothing
consumptionare always in process, the salaula phenomenonprovokes
debateand argument.I have alludedto one debatethatraiseseconomicand
politicalquestionsconcerningthe relationshipof productionto consumption
in the developmental context, the very issue in which the salaula
phenomenonis lodged. Journalisticand externalcommentaryhas tended
to deal with these questionsfrom a one-sidedpoint of view that engages
neither with culture nor with history. By contrast,I have explainedthe
shifting meanings of clothing in people's lives in the context of global
interchangesacross time and space that have opened up for complex
interactions between this part of Africa and the world beyond it.
Understandinghow the West's used clothes have become redefined as
'new' in Zambiaand how differenceshave emergedbetween second- and
third-handclothing invites attention to the drawing and erasing of

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 IN ZAMBIA
USEDCLOTHING 361

distinctionsin clothing consumptionpractices,that is, to both cultureand

history. In effect, these very designationsand their shifts constitutelocal
argumentsover the meaningof salaula. Explainingsecond-handclothing
consumptionpracticesin this way turnsthem into much more thanthe flip
side of the West's fashion.Whatis more,this view enablesus to understand
how andwhy the practicesthatsurroundsecond-handclothingconsumption
in Zambiamay differfromthose in otherAfricancountries-for example,in
the neighbouringCongo, wherethe very same commodity,afterits tangled
journeyfrom the West, is also in greatdemand.
The tug-of-warover values which salaula is fuelling is also social and
cultural.It gives rise to conformityin some areasof life and creativityand
rebellionin others.This is becausethe commoditysalaula also is a social
thing, and thereforepeople's dealings with it have ramificationsamong
social andculturalrelationsin society at large.For example,in buyingtheir
clothesfromsalaula ratherthanbeing presentedwith themby theirhusband
as customary conjugality once prescribed,women are shaking men's
domesticimperialism.And while clothingused to marksocial distinctions,
the ready availabilityand affordabilityof salaula to both youth and rural
residentsis mediatinga desirefor social mobilityand visions of a different
life. Of course,the dreamof a betterlife mustnot be mistakenfor equality,
and thereforethe levelling influence of salaula beyond the domain of
clothing consumptionmust not be overdrawn.Salaula may well mediate
desiresbut it also dressesbodies. Above all, becauseclothingconstitutesa
major dimensionof well-being in Zambia,the widespreadsatisfactionof
both clothingneeds and desires 'from salaula' offers concreteevidence of
the country's developmentpredicamentand the uneasy coexistence of
freedomand constraintsfrom which it arises.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This articledrawson preliminaryworkcarriedout in Zambiaduringthe summersof 1992 and
1993, on extensive field researchand archivalwork I conductedin Zambia,the southern
Africanregion, and Europeduringthe calendaryear of 1995, on continuedworkin Europe
duringsummer1996 andspring1997, anda returnto Zambiaduringthe summerof 1997.My
workhas been supportedby facultyresearchgrantsfromNorthwestern Universityandawards
from the US Social Science Research Council and the Wenner-GrenFoundationfor
AnthropologicalResearch.I am gratefulto the Instituteof Economicand Social Researchat
the Universityof Zambiafor continuingmy researchaffiliatestatusand to Ilse Mwanzafor
facilitatingall kinds of help. Muchof the stimulusbehindthis particulararticlecomes from
RichardWilk's inispiring piece (1990). A preliminaryversionwas presentedat the conference
'Globalization,Developmentand the Makingof Consumers:what are collective identities
for?'organisedby EIDOS/WORTRO andheld at the Hague,13-16 March1997.I owe special
thanksto BogumilJewsiewickiandRon Kassimirfor keepingmy engagementwith the SSRC
projecton new researchdirectionsalive, and to MurrayLast and the refereesof Africa for
seeing it through.

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ABSTRACT
The rapidexpansionin commercialexportsof second-handclothingfromthe West
to the ThirdWorldand the increasein second-handclothingconsumptionin many
Africancountriesraise challengingquestionsaboutthe effects of globalisationand
themeaningsof the Westandthe local thatconsumersattributeto objectsat different
pointsof theirjourneyacrossglobal space.This articledrawson extensiveresearch
into the sourcingof second-handclothingin the West,andits wholesaling,retailing,
distributionand consumptionin Zambia.Discussing how people in Zambiaare

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 USED CLOTHINGIN ZAMBIA 365

dealing with the West's unwanted clothing, the article argues that a cultural economy
is at work in local appropriationsof this particularcommodity that is opening space
for local agency in clothing consumption. Clothing has a powerful hold on people's
imagination because the self and society articulate through the dressed body. To
provide background for this argument, the article briefly sketches recent trends in the
global second-hand clothing trade that place the countries of sub-Saharan Africa as
the world's largest importing region. There follows a discussion of Zambians'
preoccupation with clothing, both new and second-hand, historically and at the
present time. It demonstrates that the meanings consumers in Zambia attribute to
second-hand clothing are neither uniform nor static but shift across class and gender
lines, and between urban and rural areas. Above all, they depend on the cultural
politics of their time. In dealing with clothing, people in Zambia are making sense of
post-colonial society and their own place within it and in the world at large.

RI1SUMt
Le developpement rapide des exportations de vetements d'occasion de l'Occident
vers les pays du Tiers-Monde et la hausse de la consommation de vetements
d'occasion dans les pays africains soulevent des questions pertinentes sur les effets
de la mondialisation et les significations de l'Occident et du local que les
consommateurs attribuent aux objets a diff6rents points de leur parcours dans
l'espace mondial. Cet article s'appuie sur des travaux de recherche approfondis sur la
provenance des vetements d'occasion en Occident ainsi que sur leur commerce en
gros et au detail, leur distribution et leur consommation en Zambie. Analysant
l'attitude de la population zambienne a l'egard des vetements dont l'Occident ne
veut plus, cet article suggere qu'une economie culturelle intervient dans les
appropriations locales de cette marchandise particuliere qui ouvre un espace au
commerce local de vetements. Les vetements influent beaucoup sur l'imaginaire car
le moi et la societe s'expriment a travers le corps vetu. En toile de fond, l'article
dresse brievement un profil des recentes tendances du commerce mondial des
vetements d'occasion qui placent les pays africains sub-sahariens en tete des regions
importatrices au niveau mondial. II s'ensuit une analyse des preoccupations de la
population zambienne concernant les vetements neufs et les vetements d'occasion,
tant sur le plan historique que sur le plan actuel. Cette analyse demontre que les
significations qu'attribuent les consommateurs zambiens aux vetements d'occasion
ne sont ni uniformes ni statiques mais qu'elles varient selon la classe sociale et le
sexe, et entre les zones urbaines et rurales. Surtout, elles dependent de la politique
culturelle du moment. A travers les vetements, les Zambiens donnent un sens a la
societ6 postcoloniale, a leur place dans cette societe et dans le monde en general.

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