The experiences of Haitian women involved in the second-hand clothing trade in Haiti are being documented as part of a Cardiff University academic's research.
Dr Charlotte Hammond has spent the past decade interviewing women involved in Pèpè, the Kreyòl term for used clothing in Haiti, that has been arriving in tightly-bound bales from the United States since the 1960s.
With her book coming out later in the year, Dr Hammond's photography is currently featured as part of an art installation at the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery in New York City. The exhibition by the Parsons School of Design titled Revolisyon Toupatou is an exploration of Haitian art and fashion.
Apparel is the main Haitian export to the United States, but little if any of the new items remain in the country for use by those who live there.
Haiti's increased dependency on pèpè, a global commercial trade in foreign 'cast-offs', is the result of trade liberalisation agreements forged between the US and Caribbean nations from 1982. This opened the floodgates to the international second-hand clothing trade, which profited from preferential duty-free arrangements and customs exemptions.
Dr Hammond, based at the School of Modern Languages, said: "These uneven trade agreements have equally benefitted multinational garment suppliers with factories in Haiti. Apparel remains the number one Haitian export to the United States in terms of importance, a startling contradiction if we consider that the garments produced in the apparel assembly sector rarely remain in Haiti for local consumption. While Haitian garment workers cut and sew US branded apparel for export, Haitians are forced to seek clothing provision in the mounds of pèpè that reach its shores.
"At the same time, trade and gifting in second-hand garments provides employment, formal and informal income, and a means of keeping 'in touch' for Haitians around the world. Cloth creates a temporary union between people; it connects the community or lakou across geopolitical borders. Through informal pèpè economies, Haitian women take on the responsibility of providing for their families abroad. Generations of Haitians have been raised on pèpè and the sacrifices made by Haitian mothers."
Revolisyon Toupatou, an exhibition of Haitian art and fashion curated by Professor Jonathan Square (Parsons) and Professor Siobhan Meï (University of Massachusetts Amherst) is on view until February 15. The bilingual exhibition (English and Haitian Creole) explores the enduring legacy of the Haitian Revolution in contemporary art and fashion, showcasing the work of 19 Haitian artists.
Mobile informal commerce has been a pathway to self-sufficiency and autonomy for Haitian women since colonial times. Within a degenerative pèpè system, Haitian women and women of Haitian descent are using alternative economic pathways, self-protection and care networks to provide for family in the US but also back home in Haiti. I am grateful to all the women who shared their stories with me.
Dr Hammond's photographs, showing various aspects of Pèpè and the people involved, were taken in northern Haiti and Miami between 2016 and 2024. In collaboration with Professor Square, they have been printed onto the curators' used garments and put on display, as a way of underscoring the West's complicity and involvement in fast fashion.
Dr Hammond is the author of a forthcoming book with Bloomsbury, Material Mawonaj ,on second-hand clothing economies in Haiti and the US.
