The entrepreneur tackling Uganda's second-hand clothing problem

At Owino Market in Kampala, shoppers jostle for space between stalls filled with second hand clothes – mostly from European countries.

Here, they can find almost anything, used, but for an affordable price.

But not all clothes sell well.

This is particularly true for denim, according to one of the traders.

Globally the market for denim jeans are estimated at $74.0 Million in 2023, according to the the "Denim Jeans - Global Strategic Business Report" published by Global Industry Analysts Inc.

The tonnes of clothes discarded by Europeans or Americans and imported to Uganda are becoming a problem.

It's why one businessman has come up with a solution.

Each day, Troy Elimu, founder of Denim Cartel, sends his employees to Owino Market to sort through second hand clothes to pick out the best denim finds.

These are then taken to his factory where tailors give a new lease of life to the discarded fashion items.

“We are trying to protect our environment using sustainable material so we try and reuse denim, denim that has been thrown or put to waste. So, that’s where the first process starts with. Sourcing the wasted denim or the offcuts of denim sourcing materials and then we now look at bringing it to our factories which is at MOTIV or Port Bell Road where we start cutting out patterns and pieces to specific designs,” explains Elimu.

His idea has found broad support among fashionistas and celebrities alike.

Content creator Patience Ainembabazi is a regular at Elimu’s store.

“I love the authenticity about the products here. I love the creativity. I believe they really think out of the box and repurpose denim. It gives denim more depth and makes us appreciate denim more because denim has really been a beautiful material that has been here since forever,” she explains.

In August 2023, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, declared that he was banning imports of used clothing, saying the items were coming “from dead people".

But among Elimu's customers, many are convinced that his business is a viable way of tackling the masses of second-hand clothes in the country.

The entrepreneur also hopes to re-export his creations out of Uganda.

He calls this philosophy "send back to the sender".