One person’s castaway is another person’s treasure. Second-hand clothing has become the main import in some African countries where it’s responsible for dressing 90% of the population. Around the world, most of us tend to keep up with fashion trends and we shop for new clothes at stores that carry name brands. In Africa the recycled use of articles of clothing is called “dead men’s clothing” – because no one would think of throwing away something you can still use. Unless the person it belonged to was actually dead.

Mitumba is the simple story of a t-shirt; its journey from the north to the south of the world, told by the people involved in the second-hand clothing trade.