What happens when someone in Macomb wants a tshirt

1
What happens when someone in Macomb wants a
t-shirt?
Mfg.
Vintage Clothing
Retailer
A blank t-shirt is shipped to the US
Textile Recycler
Mfg.
Texas cotton is shipped to China
Wiping Rags (mfg)
Start Here
Mfg.
Used Clothing
The process all starts in a cotton field in
Texas.
2
Texas
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• The process starts in the plains of Texas and
  Oklahoma, where much of the worlds cotton is
  grown.

The cotton is picked by machine, baled, and sent
to a cotton cooperative.
3
China
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In China, the bale of cotton will be opened at a
textile factory, where it is spun into cloth and
thread. The factory is part of a hukou, a labor
district to which individual workers are assigned
(labor in China is not free to move anywhere it
wants.) The cost of mfg. labor is an average of
1.06/hour, and 70 hour work weeks are the
minimum.
The cloth is cut and sewn according to what US
consumers are demanding, in terms of quality and
basic style but probably w/o printing on the
front.
One bale of cotton weighs 480 lbs. and can make
1,217 t-shirts
4
Mauritania and the Philippines
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• In the 1980s and 1990s, concerning about the
  growing influence of China in the US textile
  business led the government to limit the amount
  that could be imported from China. Instead,
  t-shirts started coming from lower wage
  countries, such as Mauritania (West Africa) and
  the Philippines (SE Asia.)

But as trade restrictions in textiles were phased
out in 2004, textile jobs were transferred back
to China, which has the infrastructure to support
t-shirt production.
To China
5
Illinois
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The printer orders unprinted t-shirts, specifying
quality, style and sizes.
6
The afterlife of the t-shirt
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Consumer
Charity
Can Sell/Distribute through Charity Thrift Shop
7
Sorting Used Clothing
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Excess used clothing is sold by the charity to a
textile recycler in a large bundle. Some of
these recyclers are based in New York and New
Jersey.
8
Used Clothing (mitumba) in Africa
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Used Clothing in Africa
In countries like Tanzania, Kenya, the Republic
of the Congo, Niger, etc., mitumba is very
popular. Local entrepreneurs buy 50 kilo bales
from America, and display them in markets and
along roadsides.
The number one import in Tanzania from the US is
used clothing. Used clothing is one of the top
ten imported products from the US in eighteen
African countries. What effect does this have on
textiles in Africa?
9
Used Clothing (mitumba) in Africa
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This is an example of a roadside store selling
mitumba.
It is a true free market at work. A t-shirt from
America was sold to a dealer in Africa for 0.25,
and may be sold for 0.50 to 1.50, a GAP shirt
for 3, but something unstylish will go unsold
and end up as rags.
Popular items t-shirts (designers and sports
teams), pants with small waist sizes, multiple
shirts of all the same style.