Mitumba (clothing)
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Mitumba is a Swahili term, literally meaning "bundles", used to refer to plastic-wrapped packages of used clothing donated by people in wealthy countries. The term is also applied to the clothing that arrives in these bundles.
One major receiving port for Mitumba is in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam. From there the clothing is widely dispersed into the interior of Africa. The transportation and sale of Mitumba is responsible for many jobs both in wealhty donor companies and in the African countries where Mitumba is bought and sold. Critics of the Mitumba trade note that the influx of cheap clothing is responsible for the decline of local textile industries. Proponents of Mitumba point out that the clothing is beneficial in that it stimulates economic activity and allows people with limited means to afford fashionable clothing.
Mitumba is usually packaged in plastic bundles prior to transport to Africa.
[edit] Source
- "Das Hemd des toten Weißen" Alexander Smoltczyk; Spiegel, 9 January 2006, pp. 60-66.
