doGoodGoods
a sustainable art and fashion project by Alioum Moussa
Charity organisations in the global North are collecting used clothes „for the poor“. Often without regard for their usefulness – not every African needs a ski suit –, tons and megatons of used textiles are shipped around the globe, also feeding growing businesses in the recipient countries.
Cameroon is one of the beneficiaries of this transfer and many families there depend on the second hand market, both as sellers and buyers, especially since the devaluation of the CFA in 1994. Others appreciate it for their finds of exclusive international brands, so different from the cheap Chinese clothes that are sweaping the shops now. The Cameroonian state though has its issues with this informal trade because custom duties are by-passed, hygienic standards ignored, the local textile industries threatened, and unsold, finally discarded clothes cause an environmental challenge.
The project doGoodGoods takes into account the good intentions behind the charity projects, the economic et ecologic reality and the desire for quality fashion, by
- bringing together fashion designers, artists and other enthousiasts to create cutting-edge fashion from used clothes
- inventing a more effective system of collecting used clothing with a range of partners in Europe, to supply doGoodGoods with material.
- establishing a tailor’s workshop in Douala, Cameroon, to realise those creations and to provide a range of young fashion professionals with work
- Raising awareness for issues related to the global (second hand) textile business and marketing its products with regard to sustainability and its social implications.
Annette Schemmel
curator, Berlin 2010
Alioum Moussa 