🍋Two books that help you find the meaning of the second-hand clothing industry.
Most people think the second-hand trade is just cheap clothes.
But the global reuse industry is actually worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Today and tomorrow is World Book Day & Earth day, and there are two books I always recommend to people in this industry.
Junkyard Planet
Secondhand
by Adam Minter
If you work in recycling, used clothing, or global resale, these books explain something many people outside the industry don’t see:
Behind every bale, every container, and every sorting line —
there is a massive global circular economy.
Adam Minter grew up in a recycling family and spent years reporting from China, visiting recycling yards, factories, and sorting centers around the world.
His work shows how second-hand goods move across continents and create millions of jobs globally.
Last year I shared these books with people in our industry.
A small moment I appreciated —
Adam himself liked the post.
It reminded me that even in a traditional industry like ours,
knowledge and ideas still connect people globally.
Sometimes reading about the industry you work in
makes you understand why the work matters. 🌍