In Mexico, Old Clothes Can be Bad News
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Some 350,000 items of used clothing – with brand names like Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nautica, Aeropostale and Guess – were confiscated at this market in Iztapalapa, Mexico City in March. (Source: Mexico's Tax Administration Service)
Mexican border customs officials in Piedras Negras confiscated 4,400 items entering the country illegally after stopping a truck in the "Nothing to declare" lane. (Source: Mexico's Tax Administration Service)
A worker from the Tax Administration Service inspects new clothing in a store in Mexico City's Historic Center in April. Later, roughly 45,000 items of clothing were confiscated because vendors could not prove they had followed Mexican commerce laws. (Source: Mexico's Tax Administration Service)
Workers from the Tax Administration Service carry off 50 tons of illegal used clothing, shoes and perfumes in Jalisco in October. (Source: Mexico's Tax Administration Service)
Stacks of "ropa de paca," often originating from Goodwill and The Salvation Army, reach the ceiling at this facility in El Paso. (Source: Melissa Gauthier)
People sort through "ropa de paca" – bales of clothing – in one of El Paso's many businesses selling used attire, much of which ends up in Mexico. Source: Melissa Gauthier (Source: Melissa Gauthier)