Undated: (Pepé, Secondhand Clothing From the United States Sold Throughout Haiti Since the 1980s, Forming a Major Economic Activity Where Massive Bales of Us…

Undated: (Pepé, Secondhand Clothing From the United States Sold Throughout Haiti Since the 1980s, Forming a Major Economic Activity Where Massive Bales of Used American Clothes Are Tailored to Individual Preference by Local Seamstresses at Minimal Cost): Pepé is the Haitian term for secondhand clothing imported in enormous bales from the United States, a trade that has operated at scale since the 1980s. Thousands of tons of used American clothing arrive in Haiti and are sold cheaply, then taken to local seamstresses who tailor the garments to individual preference for a minimal fee. The practice is widespread and deeply embedded in daily economic life. It represents one of the more visible circuits of inequality in the hemisphere: American consumers discard clothes that become the primary wardrobe of Haitian families, a flow of goods that undercuts local textile production while simultaneously making clothing affordable for people who could not otherwise access it. The pepé economy is practical, resourceful, and a reminder that global supply chains always have a human story at the receiving end.