Germany is the biggest single Economy in Europe with 80 Million citizen and the country in Europe being the first concerned about the Environment on a broad basis.
Around 10.000 employees are working in the Used Textile Industry in Germany in approx. 85 professionally operating companies of sizes between 20 - 500 employed staff members.
90% of the Textiles used in Germany go into the Recycling process which makes 1.540.000 Tons used Textile over all divided into 850.000 Tons used clothings and 690.000 Tons of Home Textiles. This is an Industry of a turnover per anum of around Euro 200 Million.
How do we sort in Germany ?
Here we collect the Used Clothings Textiles mainly in Metal Street containers being emptied every 2-3 day. In rural areas the Recycling companies use small Plastic Baskets. Collection from Charities and Churches are also a major source of getting the material.
When the Textiles are in the warehouse they will either be sold as Original Clothings and Original Shoes, or sorted in different qualities and pressing sizes. Some warehouses in Germany only sell Original, others are only grading companies, while most of them do both jobs.
First quality can be supplied as ASM (African Summer Mix) or AWM
(African Winter Mix) in big bales of 450 - 500 kg, or in smaller bales of 45,55,80,100 kg etc. as item by item sorting accordingly to the customers wish, while not all warehouse companies have a pressing machine to make all sizes needed by the market.
Some companies offer Pakistan or Indian quality and cut their Originals in Wiper quality for industrial use.
Shoes are of short supply in Germany, while Textiles are always possible.
Comparision USA / Canada and Germany
Companies, specially from Africa, know that the prices in USA / Canada compared to Germany are a bit cheaper, but we are happy to see that this attitute has changed over the years as the transport costs to Africa from America are much higher than from Germany and the time of transport is much longer. Therefore the overall strategy is these days that while waiting for one container from USA / Canada to arrive in Africa, the companies can already sell one container from Germany and see that the overall invoice amount is very much competitive.
Conclusion:
Germany is your best option