Going on about how African women don’t need bras, or that it’s somehow offensive to provide used bras is pathetic – the technology to manufacture bras is largely unavailable, as is the skill Base, and although direct investment would be nice – while we are messing about trying to find a functional market solution (which is all Oxfam are doing with these ‘stores’), I think a little less of a principled approach is needed while we stop these women getting horrendously raped. Yeah?

Also – I have worked in the apparel industry. I know what of I speak. Check out the documentary “T Shirt Travels.”

WRT the bras? Well, they are complicated and relatively difficult to fabricate unless you become a specialist in bra-making and can justify equipment purchase and training. But – second-hand? Let’s be real – by the time a woman discards a bra? It is well past its due date, unless she has lost or gained a lot of weight, or had mastectomy. Bras have a shorter lifespan than the T-shirts, and I have to imagine they are completely stretched, the fabric and elastic exhausted, and just not much of quality left. So you are creating a secondary market for – what? (More crap.) And why? If the market exists, then raise money to build a local factory and cultivate a local workforce that can make decent undergarments for local people. Don’t spend money shipping shit to Africa. It’s a stupid business practice, it is costly to the environment, and – frankly – seems like a modern form of “First World” prerogative/idiocy.