The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade. New Preface and Epilogue with Updates on Economic Issues and Main Characters, 2nd Edition

13Where T-Shirts Go After the Salvation Army BinJapan, Tanzania, and the Rag Factory

Meet Me in the Parking Lot

In the wealthy and normally well-mannered Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, the competition is heating up.¹ It is Saturday morning, and soccer moms are in a race to throw things away. First in line is a Lexus SUV, followed by a Town and Country minivan, and then a Lincoln Navigator. The first three vehicles alone cost well over $100,000, which would buy about one-tenth of a house in much of the surrounding neighborhood. The Salvation Army truck sits outside the Sumner Place Shopping Center, but the truck has only so much room, so it pays to be early and to be tough. The wait to dispose of last year's stuff is longer than the wait to buy more stuff inside the shopping center, and often, by 10:00 A.M., the van is full and the weaker competitors are turned away until the next week. Mostly, the moms are giving away clothing—large Hefty bags stuffed to bursting with perfectly fine clothing that someone is tired of. Some of the moms admit that later in the afternoon they would be headed to the mall to buy more stuff, and that next year they would likely be unloading that as well. A few of the moms express an altruistic motive for lining up behind the van, and all say that they will use the tax deduction. More than anything, though, the moms are here because they need to clean out their closets to make room for new stuff.

T-shirts? Yes, they agree, lots of ...