Why Nigerians buy used clothes

Posted by Akanakem on Monday August 15, 2016 at 15:58:38:

Used clothes are also known as Okirika in Nigeria. Most Nigerians prefer to buy the used ones rather than the new ones. If you visit most of the fashion markets in Nigeria where used clothes are sold, you will see a lot of people scrambling to select the best and pay cash for it. Little wonder those markets are usually called ‘bend down select market’.

One might be wondering why most Nigerians would opt to buy used clothes rather than new ones. Only few Nigerians buy new clothes as a good majority by the used ones.

Some of the reasons why many Nigerians prefer to purchase used clothes includes:

1. Used Clothes Are Cheaper: One foremost reason why Nigerians prefer to purchase use clothes is because used clothes are usually sold at a cheaper price than the brand new clothes. Most average Nigerians like to settle for cheaper items to the more expensive ones, so it is natural that they go for used clothes because of its price tag. In the past, when the standard of living was better and people had more disposable income, used clothes did not get as much customers as new ones but as poverty level grw, the market for used clothes which were cheaper also grew.

2. They are Unique at times: Most brand new clothes are produced in mass quantity, so you can easily see someone wearing the same style and colour of your brand new clothe. Used clothes on the other hand tend to be unique or diffreent and so it is usually very difficult to bump into someone wearing the same style and colour of the used clothes you have. It's probably because most of them are outdated or have been used for years before being shipped to Nigeria from foreig countries. Thus, most Nigerians prefer to go for used clothes because of they are unique.

3. They tend to have Higher Quality at times: Besides the uniqueness of used clothes, another reason why most Nigerians prefer to buy used clothes is because of its relatively high quality when compared to some new clothes. Most used clothes are made from top quality materials, and style, which means that they tend to last longer than the new clothes in the market nowadays which are made with cheap or substandard fabric at times. Some old clothes may be made in the USA with really higher quality and could do better than some new clothes that are mostly made in China nowadays.