As Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo vows to end ‘thrifting’, anxious shoppers snap up second-hand clothes
- A national crackdown that once seemed unlikely may now be looming after President Joko Widodo promised to stamp out ‘thrifting’
- The move could devastate Indonesia’s informal gig sector, which accounts for around 60 per cent of the country’s economy according to the World Bank
The Tugu Pahlawan Sunday flea market that runs from 6am to 9am is a weekly visit for second-hand shoppers in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city.
In the cool early-morning air of a recent Sunday, thousands of bargain hunters sifted through musty piles of old clothes, imported from across the world and for sale at a fraction of their shop price.
“Thrifting” is its own subculture in Indonesia, a country where incomes are pressed by a cost-of-living crisis, yet fashion reigns supreme as the sharpest protagonists pick out designer labels, ready-to-wear clothes and high-street staples from the piles laid out for sale.
But they have to be fast.
Competition comes in the form of a throng of rival thrift shoppers. But they are also under pressure from the authorities, who close the market at 9am in a country where second-hand clothing sales are officially banned to protect the local textile industry.
