Ukay-ukay is seen as one of the possible solutions to sustainable fashion because of its approach of selling second hand garments to the public.

Data from World Integrated Trade Solution

Just in 2019, we received a total of $2B worth of garment imports from other countries which is seen to increase each year.

Majority of this imports come from China, which contributes to more than half of the total imports that year.

In 2018, 85% of the textile wastes thrown away in the US are either end up in landfills or burned. Just imagine the scale of this disposal in the Philippine settings, especially with the amount of imports we're receiving each year.

In the context of COVID, lots of Ukay-ukays are closing down or are getting less visits from consumers, leading to more textile waste being produced.

All the imported clothes have to undergo a process of decontamination by the Bureau of Customs, especially right now in the state of COVID protection.

These decontamination processes uses unsafe chemicals that not only increases chemical pollution during the process but may also harm the workers involved with skin diseases or dermatitis.

Transport emissions alone by Fashion already produces more emissions than most countries in the world when comparing their energy produced.

Overall, Fashion Transport has produced more carbon emissions than the Philippines when compared to energy related emissions given that its the 4th largest carbon emitter in total.