The Fashion Industry Is Broken And Ghana Is Paying the Price with Yayra Agbofah

What does your wardrobe have to do with a beach in Ghana covered in discarded clothing?

Yayra Agbofah grew up trading secondhand garments at Kantamanto Market in Accra — one of the largest secondhand clothing markets in Africa, where millions of garments arrive every single week. He saw firsthand what happens to the ones that don't sell: they end up in rivers, in landfills, on beaches. He also saw something else: extraordinary creativity. Tailors transforming discarded fabric. Traders extending the life of damaged clothes. Communities practicing circularity long before it became a sustainability buzzword.

In 2018, Yayra founded The Revival — a community-driven upcycling initiative that transforms textile waste into products, education, and opportunity. Named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025, he has since redirected an estimated 12 million garments from landfill, reduced CO2 emissions by more than 12,000 metric tons, and built free online courses so communities around the world can learn from the knowledge developed at Kantamanto.

In this conversation with Sara, Yayra makes the case that fashion's crisis is not just environmental — it is a story of inequality, colonialism, and extraction, where the Global South pays the price for the Global North's overconsumption. He talks about what the future of fashion could look like, why synthetic materials need to go, and why the most important question a consumer can ask is: where is this garment going to end up?

"It has always been dignity over charity. We're not trying to save communities — we're trying to build together with them."

In this episode:

• How Ghana became the epicentre of global textile waste — and who pays the real price
• Why Kantamanto Market is not a dumping ground but a space of innovation and resilience
• What the Global South actually needs from the fashion industry — not charity, but accountability
• The Revival: upcycling, education, job creation, and free online courses from Accra
• Why fast fashion is a story of extraction — of labour, resources, and now waste
• What the future of fashion should look like: slower, more local, more honest
• Why synthetic materials are the driving force of fast fashion — and need to be abolished
• A call to action: think about where every garment ends up before you buy it

About Yayra Agbofah:
Yayra Agbofah is the founder and creative director of The Revival, a community-driven sustainable fashion initiative based in Accra, Ghana. Named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025, he has spent over seven years working at the intersection of textile waste, circular economy, and community empowerment. The Revival has diverted an estimated 12 million garments from landfill and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 12,000 metric tons.

https://www.therevival.earth/

We Need to Act is a podcast about the people, ideas, and movements shaping a better now.