China and India Are Flooding Nepal With Fast Fashion

Nepal is sandwiched between two giants who also happen to be two of the biggest clothing producers in the world - India and China. These two countries are flooding Nepal with environmentally toxic cheap clothing.

While Nepal's environmental laws prevent hazardous waste from crossing into Nepal, the law does not specifically mention clothes, meaning that the textiles coming into Nepal are both disposable and dangerous. Shockingly, Nepal (unlike Europe) has no legislation governing the chemical content of textile imports.

Nepal's 1,700km open border with India is also a smuggling hotspot for illegal imports of clothes and shoes. Both legal and illegal imports of clothes are undermining Nepal's tiny domestic garment industry.

Recycling solutions face their own challenges: Shredded textile waste is known as Kalo Rooiin Nepal and has traditionally been used to stuff quilts, mattresses, pillows and cushions. However, even this local industry is under threat as China is now exporting shredded rags into Nepal, and at such cheap prices that it undercuts local production. 

Key findings:

• Fast fashion is swamping Nepal and causing excessive landfill and river pollution.
• Nepal has banned the import of worn clothes but the problem is the new clothes being imported - both legally and illegally from Nepal's neighbours China and India.
• Nepal produces a meagre 0.027 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions but is ranked as the fourth most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate crisis.
• Nepal has no legislation governing the chemical content of clothing.

Main image by Subash Shrestha.

Photos in the gallery below by Subash Shrestha and Arun Karki.