“According to the global environmental advocacy group Ekō (formerly known as SumofUS), an estimated 85 percent of the used clothing imported into Iquique remains unsold.”
Chile imported more than 700,000 tons of new and used clothing in 2021. The leftovers piled up in the Atacama with tags from H&M, Zara, Adidas and Ralph Lauren still attached, then burned. A local official reported 11,000 tons of clothes gone in one fire. Your old clothes did not go to someone in need. They went to a desert and came back as toxic smoke.