Poland snips used clothes trade

Second-hand clothes shops must now be licensed

By Nicholas Walton Warsaw

A new law has come into force in Poland, aimed at cutting imports of second-hand clothing from the West.

The measures have attracted criticism and protests from many Poles, including actors and costume designers.

With severe economic problems and widespread poverty, especially among the old, such shops - estimated to number 16,000 - are popular for providing decent clothes at cheap prices.

Theatre companies are also keen customers, after finding that the shops are an inexpensive source of costumes for the stage.

Competition

Used clothes sometimes find a role on stage

Actors have been involved in recent demonstrations and petitions against the new measures, which insist that clothes and textiles should be washed and sorted before they enter the country, and that used clothes shops should be licensed.

The government, for its part, argues that the second hand imports provide unfair competition for Poland's own textile industry.

But protesters say the type of customer who buys second hand clothing for a handful of loose change is more likely to turn to cheap new imports from Asia rather than more expensive Polish clothing.

Re-export

They argue that prices of used clothes will be forced up, because the cost of sorting and cleaning is higher in richer Western countries than in Poland itself.

Protesters also say that there are Polish industries that make good use of the waste textiles that are mixed in with the imports, such as paper producers.

Around a third of second-hand clothing imported into Poland is at present in turn re-exported to the countries of the former Soviet Union after being sorted.