Kantamanto Market – what next?

Yayra Agbofah of The Revival discusses the aftermath of the Kantamanto Market fire as his organisation paves the way for its regenerative future

WORDS Helen Jennings

In the small hours of 2 January 2025, a fire decimated Accra’s Kantamanto Market, destroying 9,000 stalls, killing two people and devastating the livelihoods for tens of thousands more. As one of the biggest second-hand clothing markets in the world, it was used to receiving around 15 million garments a week from global imports to Ghana’s shores, its teeming infrastructure and workforce providing the vital service of sorting, cleaning, mending, upcycling and reselling huge volumes of post-consumer clothing. And yet much of it still ended up as landfill and water pollution. As such, this catastrophe (its cause unknown but rumours of arson abound) only serves to bring the urgent concerns caused by the global fashion system into increasingly sharp focus.

Assemblage co-founder Odessa Legemah states: “Kantamanto reveals the deep imbalance between community-based skills and the destructive excesses of fast fashion. It shows us the environmental and social costs of a system built on overproduction, exploitation and extractive trade. And stands as a powerful symbol of how the Global South continues to bear the burden of colonial histories and global inequality. At the same time, Kantamanto offers a vision for more inclusive, just and sustainable futures – futures rooted in traditional knowledge, circular practices and radical imagination. Kantamanto is more than a marketplace – it is a living system of repair, resilience and resistance.”

“The fire was a catastrophe but the community’s resilience and unity has kept them going”

In the days and months after the fire, The Revival were among those on the frontline of relief efforts. This grassroots NGO, which addresses global textile waste in Ghana through upcycling, education and creative projects, instantly began fundraising and putting the market back together with the support of organisations including Bestseller Foundation, ReFuture Foundation, Zalando and Lago Collective. As a long-term partner of Assemblage, we sat down with The Revival’s founder Yayra Agbofah to discuss this pivotal moment for Kantamanto as it rises from the ashes and looks forward to building a stronger blueprint for circular fashion.

Please talk us through the moment of the fire and your first responses to it.

The fire was uncontrollable and the emergency services struggled. Once it subsided, there was nothing left. People lost everything – not even a needle remained. The entire market had a series of meetings and decided to rebuild immediately. We helped clear the debris and set up a GoFundMe to raise money for community aid.

What are the ways in which The Revival has contributed to the reconstruction since then?

There was the urgent assistance in terms of supplying food, shelter, medicines and other basic needs. We opened up our studio to those who had lost their homes and paid for the funerals of the two people who died. We identified 87 people who had completely given up hope and offered them the psychological and financial support to come back to trading. We’ve distributed 68 new sewing machines so far, with the goal of providing 126 among other equipment and tools. And there’s been the physical reconstruction of the market infrastructure. We’re still in the process but we’re determined to not leave anyone out. At this moment, the market is back at around 90 percent of its capacity. Most of the traders are working again.

Can you frame the wider ongoing impact of the disaster?

The Revival has helped over 500 people so far but the market represents an ecosystem of around 30,000 people, half of which went into hardship, so it’s had a massively detrimental effect to the economy and this community of traders, artisans and waste workers. But their resilience and unity has kept them going.

What has the global response to the disaster been like? Is the Global North stepping up?

We have been very disappointed by how the industry has neglected this catastrophe. These huge fashion brands, who send tonnes of their product to Ghana, have done nothing. And the media has covered the impact of the fire but failed to hold these brands accountable for not assisting the people who keep their clothes in circularity.

This follows countless disasters, notably the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, which led to an international accord. But in Kantamanto, the fast fashion industry has dodged the bullet. Why?

Here on the continent, we’re seen as the bottom on the chain. It is a new colonialism. The shipments of second-hand clothing containers didn’t stop after the fire. They kept arriving and the bales were simply stacked up on warehouses waiting for the market to resume.

The market rebuild was a chance to improve its functionality and become a more fulsome role model for the circular fashion economy. Was this opportunity seized?

The urgency of the rebuild took priority over thinking about things like fire access routes and water drainage systems. But there are opportunities for long-term improvements. We’re working with the electricity company on a better lighting and wiring system, looking to place bins in every part of the market to improve sanitation and installing signage to make navigation better. We want to place fire extinguishers at vantage points and to have a hydrant built closer to the market as well. And we’re advocating for fire safety training for traders. These are all in progress.

You’re a recipient of the 2025 Global Change Award from the H&M Foundation, which has a mission to decarbonise the textile industry. How does this recognition help move The Revival’s projects forward?

The prize comes with a €200,000 grant so we’re using part of that to scale up our operations. We have a bigger atelier now where we’ve employed more people – previously eight, now 15 – so our upcycling production is expanding. And that means we can build out our product partnerships. We still supply the V&A in London and are expanding into concept stores in Amsterdam, Paris and Tokyo as well as launching our own online store.

But upcycling can only ever be a fraction of the solution, so we’re looking into recycling as well by building a woman-run lab in the market. It is creating 80 jobs in the research and development of various prototype materials.

That sounds incredible. How will it work?

Presently, traders have to pay to dump their waste so we’re incentivising them by providing a collection space where they can dispose of it for free. We’re then bringing in students and professionals with specialisation in waste diversion and training women in vulnerable and marginalised communities, such as the kayayei market porters who carry heavy loads on their heads. Therefore, we are intercepting waste from landfill and turning it into new, usable materials with the help of local talent.

Plus, we still have our incubator in the market. At first it was training people in tailoring and upcycling processes and now we’re going on to teach them skills such as graphic design and how to make natural dyes from food waste. Then they can either work for us or start their own businesses. The aim is to foster a new generation of upcyclers and an upcycling industry that is a recognised part of our economy.

So, education remains the key – in the market, in universities, and beyond.

Yes. Our first online course in collaboration with The Hopenclass and Future Learn has been incorporated into lectures in many schools and we’re currently building a second, more in-depth version to ensure that engagement grows from a global perspective. Meanwhile we are starting a micro grants programme with the education ministry in Ghana so that university students here can explore innovations in textile circularity.

Do you remain hopeful for a future fashion revolution?

The pace is too slow from the top. Why are global policy makers talking about goals for 2030 or 2050 when the planet is being destroyed every second? This is a state of emergency – action has to be immediate. But the movement of changemakers is building and that empowers consumer behaviours. And when that happens, these people in power will have no option other than to listen to us. The shift is happening and the energy is real. We are building a future where fashion is fair, circular and rooted in dignity. And we will not stop until that future becomes the norm.