Used Clothing Imports Tend to Decrease Since the Pandemic

The Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (Kemenkop UKM) reports that several Indonesian MSMEs are selling imported secondhand clothing, or "thrifting."

The import of secondhand clothing is currently classified as illegal, based on the Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) Number 40 of 2022 concerning Goods Prohibited for Export and Goods Prohibited for Import, effective June 21, 2022.

"This (thrifting) will disrupt labor-intensive industries," said Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki at a press conference on Monday (March 13, 2023).

Teten believes that the thrifting business could reduce the market for the domestic textile industry, leading to layoffs in the sector.

"If this (textile) market is taken over by foreign products, there will be a lot of unemployment. If there is a lot of unemployment, people's purchasing power will fall. In addition, the national economy will be disrupted, and people will also find it difficult to find jobs," said Teten.

He also mentioned that the sale of secondhand clothing or thrifting is prevalent on e-commerce platforms and social media.

"Later, we will certainly reprimand and follow up on e-commerce platforms if they sell illegal imported secondhand goods, but it's more difficult to stop it on social media," Teten added.

According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), imports of secondhand clothing and textile goods (HS code 63090000) have tended to decrease over the past five years.

The volume and value of secondhand clothing imports into Indonesia peaked in 2019. However, the figures dropped drastically in 2020 with the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, imports have been relatively low, as shown in the graph.

However, the above data may not fully reflect the facts. There may be a significant amount of secondhand clothing imports entering through "back channels" and going unrecorded.

This is also highlighted by the Deputy for Small and Medium Enterprises at Kemenkop UKM, Hanung Harimba Rachman. He urged customs officers to be stricter in monitoring the inflow of goods from abroad into the country.

"Perhaps our customs officers can intensify their efforts, and they can also trace the sellers in Indonesia. It's actually easy to trace where they import from," said Hanung, as reported by Katadata.co.id, Monday (March 13, 2023).