Pepe may refer to secondhand clothes that are commonly worn by its population in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. These clothes are usually sent from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The Haitian

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry process Cotton manufacturi ...

has suffered due to the widespread popularity of pepe. There have even been discussions about banning the import of pepe. However, this is unlikely since the general population continues to wear pepe, which include many brand names that otherwise would be inaccessible.

History

The import of pepe began in the 1960s, during the

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States * John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana * Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...

administration, leading to the moniker "Kennedy clothes". Since the 1980s, hundreds of tons of pepe has been imported, usually packaged in huge bales. The clothes are so affordable, that a used boy's t-shirt from the United States could be sold for as little as thirteen cents in Haiti. Furthermore, at an affordable cost, local seamstresses make modifications to the clothing. In recent years, Haiti has seen an increase in the amount of clothing coming from the United States as a result of

fast fashion Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry's business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, high-fashion designs, mass production, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail stores qui ...

References

{{reflist Caribbean clothing Culture of Haiti Sustainable design Sustainable business Repurposing Waste

History

See also

References