Could ‘trash fashion’ save this Nairobi neighbourhood from drowning in discarded western clothes?

A runway show in Gikomba, east Africa’s largest secondhand clothing market, has attempted to highlight the impact of mass clothing imports – and offer a solution

Antony Njoroge paces back and forth, camera in hand, as people bombard him with questions. “What do we do with this? Where should I put it? The light’s better over here! Tony, one second please.” The film-maker and his co-producer Sally Ngoiri are putting the final touches to an event that they never imagined would actually come to life when they first thought up the idea back in May: the first fashion show to be staged in Gikomba, Nairobi, east Africa’s largest secondhand clothing market.

Show and documentary producers Antony Njoroge, left, and Sally Ngoiri