The second-hand clothing trade, known in Mozambique as "xicalamidade" clothing, since second hand clothes aid traditionally appeared after natural disasters or calamities, has been clothing Mozambicans for over three decades. But while informal fairs and markets thrive, Mozambique’s own cotton and clothing industry is in ruins, unable to compete with the constant influx of imported second-hand clothes, and the growing supply of cheap new clothes from Asia.
A new report commissioned by the non-governmental organisation ADPP Moçambique, says 85% of the Mozambican population depends on second-hand clothes. In urban areas, 95% of people wear second-hand clothes. The new clothes that arrive in the country are bought by a privileged few.
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The rise of the second-hand clothing trade coincided with the decline of the national textile industry. The sector's crisis cannot be attributed exclusively to competition with imported clothes; structural factors such as a lack of investment and unpredictable economic policies contributed to the deindustrialisation of the sector. Many old factories were turned into warehouses or simply abandoned, reflecting an industry that could not modernise itself to compete with cheaper imports. At the same time, cotton production, which once supported an integrated textile value chain, has shrunk due to a lack of incentives and of a coherent strategy for the sector.
Today, only a few textiles factories survive, many operating exclusively for export under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), supplying the US with locally produced garments but with no significant impact on the domestic industry. MozTex, a factory rehabilitated from the former Texlom, is currently the leading Mozambican company operating under AGOA. The enterprise has become one of the few surviving examples of the national textile industry, employing around 1,300 workers, most of them women.
The Mozambican government has sought to boost textile exports through the AGOA Utilisation Strategy 2018-2025, launched by the now-defunct Ministry of Industry and Trade. This initiative aims to expand the export of Mozambican products to the US, focusing on the textile and clothing sector. The lack of internal investment, the absence of tax incentives and competition from cheap imports - both new and second-hand clothing - continue to limit the national industry's capacity for growth.
Used clothing markets are thriving. Ensuring affordable clothing for millions of Mozambicans, the sector drives the informal economy and generates essential revenue for sellers and municipalities. Municipal agents collect fees from sellers daily in places like Mercado do Goto, Beira, or the Xiquelene and Xipamanine markets in Maputo, even on Sundays.
