Cairo's thriving used-clothes market is a sign of the times

Even the relatively well-off have begun shopping at Wekalet El Ballah

Salma Mabrouk, the founder of El Wekala Sustainability, an online thrift shop. Mahmoud Nasr / The National

Ten years ago, Wekalet El Ballah, with row upon row of second-hand clothes displayed for sale in open-air stalls, would have been beneath consideration for most affluent and fashion-conscious young Egyptians. But not these days.

Egypt’s largest market for used clothing, in Cairo’s Bulaq district, has become a major draw for even well off shoppers amid a growing interest in “thrifting” and an economic crisis that has forced people to save money wherever they can.

Until very recently, wearing second-hand clothing was seen as the mark of a lower socioeconomic class, says Salma Mabrouk, the owner of a budding thrifting brand and a regular visitor to Wekalet El Ballah.

“People used to think along the lines of ‘why would anyone purchase second hand clothes if they can afford new ones?',” Ms Mabrouk told The National.

“But recently, all that began to change and more people began to show more interest in thrifting.”

This shift has been in the making for a few years, aided by increased awareness of sustainable shopping habits.

But it has become much more apparent this year as Egypt witnesses its highest inflation in six years.

The cost of almost all goods and services has risen sharply over the past year, but some of the largest increases have been seen on imported clothing from fast-fashion brands.

Ms Mabrouk makes weekly trips to Wekalet El Ballah, or El Wekala, as it is commonly known, to buy choice items at cheap prices that she upsells through her online shop.

She says that over the past 10 years the market has become a popular haunt for young fashion-conscious Egyptians who are more in tune with the thrifting culture popular in the West since the mid-2000s.

They, in turn, produced social media content and introduced their friends and family to thrifting, which she says paved the way for the marked rise in its popularity.

Ms Mabrouk’s is one of many businesses launched in the past few years in response to the rising demand.

“It was really the younger generations who brought it to the mainstream. They come down and live-stream their visit and speak to sellers which, in turn, has made more people aware that the Wekala is a place you can go and find unique items that nobody else would be wearing,” she says.

Many global surveys over the past five years have shown that young shoppers are more prolific buyers of used clothes than older generations.

However, in recent months, prices of fast fashion items from shops such as Zara and H&M have risen beyond the reach of many Egyptians. Now even more of Cairo's affluent citizens are visiting Wekalet El Ballah and other markets.

“The price increases turned many shoppers off these kinds of brands because their items are not of the highest quality anyway, so many started to look for alternatives,” Ms Mabrouk says.

“When they discovered that they can find really good quality items at El Wekala for next to nothing, more people began to thrift.

“I also think that the steady rise in the popularity of thrifting culture over the past few years removed a lot of the shame that people might have felt wearing second-hand clothes over a decade ago.”

Second-hand clothing stalls are now among the busiest at Cairo's markets as more Egyptians tighten their purse strings.

“Even a year and a half ago, there were only a few second-hand clothes stalls down here,” says Umm Mohamed, an elderly seller at an informal market in Giza.

“There were a lot of vendors of new clothes, but not too many used clothes. But last year, more used clothes sellers began to set up shop here every week.

“This past week, you couldn’t walk more than 10 metres without finding some guy standing on top of a large pickup truck unpacking blocks of used clothes.”

She says sellers like her are not necessarily part of the larger clothing industry as they do not have the capital to launch full operations like the stores one finds in Wekalet El Ballah.

While sellers at Wekalet El Ballah typically purchase their wares from clothing wholesalers who import thrifted items from abroad and sell them by the kilo locally, their counterparts at smaller markets stock their stalls with goods acquired through less direct channels.

One seller told The National that he gets his stock from a local orphanage that receives more donated clothes than it needs. The orphanage management give him the surplus clothes in exchange for services such as cleaning or gardening, he said.

Clothes at Wekalet El Ballah typically cost anywhere between 10 Egyptian pounds (about $0.30) for common items and 500 pounds for more unique pieces.

On the other hand, sellers at informal markets set one price for all items, usually between 50 piastres and 1 pound.

Demand for second-hand clothing has been rising globally, with sales increasing by 28 per cent in 2022 compared with the previous year, a recent report by online thrift marketplace ThredUp said. The increase was attributed to rising global inflation.

The report said global sales of second-hand clothing would double by 2027 as more brands begin to intensify resale efforts to meet sustainability quotas.