Skip to main content
BoF Logo

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

Inside America’s Fast Fashion Graveyard

In a bordertown in Texas, towering heaps of discarded clothing from across the country fill sprawling warehouses — the last stop in a global supply chain overflowing with fast fashion castoffs. One woman is trying to save what she can, one thrift tour at a time.
Clothing warehouse in Laredo, Texas.
Laredo, Texas is home to approximately 46 used clothing warehouses, each spanning 10,000 square feet and houses piles of vintage and secondhand apparel that can reach up to 10 feet high. (Isabel Slone)
By
  • Isabel Slone

LAREDO, Texas –– Every day, thousands of trucks and railcars shuttle back and forth into and out of the Port of Laredo. Mostly, they’re bringing goods in from Mexico or overseas, from chemicals to packaged foods to auto parts, destined for factories, grocery stores and warehouses across the US. But there’s one product that’s more often than not headed in the other direction: vintage clothing.

Please sign in to ensure you can read our agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice. Or get in touch at support@businessoffashion.com if you experience difficulties.

Further Reading

Chasing the Holy Grail of Circularity

Fashion has yet to crack industrial-scale recycling technologies that can keep clothes out of landfill. But there are solutions on the horizon, says Edwin Keh.

In This Article

© 2026 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from Retail
Analysis and advice from the front lines of the retail transformation.

The Industry That Eats Its Young

Small fashion labels have always been shortchanged by their wholesale partners. A wave of high-profile bankruptcies has turned a structural injustice into an existential crisis. There is a better way to do business, writes Imran Amed.


The Zara-Fication of John Galliano

Fashion’s enfant terrible is trading exclusivity for the mass market. Is it the ultimate fashion coup, or the final surrender of prestige?


view more
Latest News & Analysis
Unrivalled, world class journalism across fashion, luxury and beauty industries.

The Industry That Eats Its Young

Small fashion labels have always been shortchanged by their wholesale partners. A wave of high-profile bankruptcies has turned a structural injustice into an existential crisis. There is a better way to do business, writes Imran Amed.


The Zara-Fication of John Galliano

Fashion’s enfant terrible is trading exclusivity for the mass market. Is it the ultimate fashion coup, or the final surrender of prestige?


The Impact of War on Fashion’s Supply Chain

Textile hubs are already feeling the cascading risks of the conflict in Iran as Washington ramps up forced labour probes to revive tariffs, while decarbonisation in fashion’s factories might finally have a standard to go off of.


VIEW MORE
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
CONNECT WITH US ON