Kenya’s largest open-air market, Gikomba Market, continues to attract thousands of shoppers despite heavy rains, underscoring the enduring popularity of second-hand clothing in the country.<\/p>\n
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The market, famous for its affordable garments imported mainly from the United States, Europe and China, remains a key source of clothing for many Kenyans seeking low-cost alternatives amid rising living costs.<\/p>\n
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Traders say consumers often prefer buying several second-hand items for the price of a single new garment, making it difficult for locally manufactured clothing to compete.<\/p>\n
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The popularity of the trade poses a challenge to efforts by the East African Community to develop and strengthen a regional textile and fashion industry.<\/p>\n
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Governments across East Africa have periodically explored measures to curb second-hand clothing imports and encourage local production. However, such initiatives have often faced resistance from traders and consumers concerned about affordability.<\/p>\n
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Recently, Uganda introduced a 30% tax on second-hand clothing imports as part of efforts to support domestic manufacturers. In Kenya, a proposed adjustment to taxes on imported second-hand clothing was dropped following public opposition over fears it would increase prices for consumers.<\/p>\n
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Industry stakeholders argue that while promoting local manufacturing is important, governments must also consider the economic realities facing millions of households that rely on affordable second-hand clothing.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":31020,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-35251","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Kenya's largest open-air market poses a challenge to efforts by the East African Community to develop and strengthen a regional textile and fashion industry","published_date":"2026-05-24 08:10:35","news_description":"Kenya's largest open-air market poses a challenge to efforts by the East African Community to develop and strengthen a regional textile and fashion industry","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35252,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35251\/revisions\/35252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=35251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}