Friday, July 14, 2006
evidence that we live in a small world
Sometimes, if you just look around you, it's like being back in Scottdale or Portland.
Okay, not at all, but if you just focus on some of the clothes, it would be possible. Between the ending of the Multi-Fibre Agreement in the early 2000s and lowering of tariffs on used clothes, the Kenyan cotton and textile industry is pretty much dead in the water. There's booming informal business in buying the Massive Bails of Goodwill rejects, donated clothes, etc and selling them at the markets.
Shirts I have seen in the last few months, around and about Nairobi, Kenya:
- a Steelers jacket (sorry Peter, but no, there are no Kenyan Steelers fans. I have tried explaining to people how it was exciting that the steelers won the Super Bowl ("Like winning the World Cup. No, really!") but I usually get blank looks, or surprising comments like "American football...it looks like baseball?" Me: "No." Them: "yes, yes, and they wear big shoulders! Yes, it looks like baseball." Me: "...")
- "I had a blast at Joanna's Bat Mitzvah!" (no, he didn't)
- Oregon t-shirt
- Duquesne Football sweater
- Penn State shirt
- countless volleyball and softball team shirts from small midwestern towns
- and the kicker....a SOUTHMORELAND SCOTTIES T-SHIRT!!!! I didn't actually see that, but Merv Stutzman did. Close enough, man. Close enough.
Okay, not at all, but if you just focus on some of the clothes, it would be possible. Between the ending of the Multi-Fibre Agreement in the early 2000s and lowering of tariffs on used clothes, the Kenyan cotton and textile industry is pretty much dead in the water. There's booming informal business in buying the Massive Bails of Goodwill rejects, donated clothes, etc and selling them at the markets.
Shirts I have seen in the last few months, around and about Nairobi, Kenya:
- a Steelers jacket (sorry Peter, but no, there are no Kenyan Steelers fans. I have tried explaining to people how it was exciting that the steelers won the Super Bowl ("Like winning the World Cup. No, really!") but I usually get blank looks, or surprising comments like "American football...it looks like baseball?" Me: "No." Them: "yes, yes, and they wear big shoulders! Yes, it looks like baseball." Me: "...")
- "I had a blast at Joanna's Bat Mitzvah!" (no, he didn't)
- Oregon t-shirt
- Duquesne Football sweater
- Penn State shirt
- countless volleyball and softball team shirts from small midwestern towns
- and the kicker....a SOUTHMORELAND SCOTTIES T-SHIRT!!!! I didn't actually see that, but Merv Stutzman did. Close enough, man. Close enough.
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Debby,
Wow, that's a coincidence and a half! It made me think very much of this NYTimes Magazine article (reprint) wherein a man attempts to follow a t-shirt from NYC to Uganda, and learns a lot about the global used clothing trade (and its effects on local textile economies) along the way.
Tas & I are hot and well in our nation's capital. We miss you! We hope you remain as safe and happy and helpful as you always are. Much love, Sasha
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Wow, that's a coincidence and a half! It made me think very much of this NYTimes Magazine article (reprint) wherein a man attempts to follow a t-shirt from NYC to Uganda, and learns a lot about the global used clothing trade (and its effects on local textile economies) along the way.
Tas & I are hot and well in our nation's capital. We miss you! We hope you remain as safe and happy and helpful as you always are. Much love, Sasha
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