A Thai-based collector of Southeast Asian textiles, my friend Rupert dresses everyday in vintage American shirts.

Cowboy in style – complete with “pearl snaps”, his shirts were all “Made in USA” during the 1950s to 1970s and purchased in Thailand.

How do vintage shirts arrive in Thailand? Rupert explains:

The clothes are sent in huge bales to Cambodia. Most Americans who donate their clothes to charity assume that the clothes are being given away to the poor, but from what I understand, brokers in Cambodia receive the clothes and then sell them to the highest bidder. The bidders buy the bales of used clothing unseen — they are not allowed to see what is inside before bidding. The people who buy the bales then take them overland to Thailand via the border crossing at Poipet/Aranyaphrathet. There is also a border market there where some of the bales of clothes have been opened and sorted through. Dealers from Bangkok — some of whom sell at the Weekend Market — who specialize in vintage American clothes, buy at this border market in Aranyaphrathet. There are also middlemen who buy here and deliver to the vendors at Bangkok’s Weekend Market. I have also met dealers from Malaysia who come to Aranphrathet to buy vintage clothes.

There is a huge area of stalls at Bangkok’s Weekend Market given over to vintage clothes. Older Thais are superstitious about wearing used clothes, but young Thais don’t seem to have a problem with it. The stalls usually specialize in something, for example American-style cowboy shirts, blue jeans, t-shirts, work uniform shirts (such as gas station attendants wear, complete with patches and the wearer’s name embroidered over the right pocket), Hawaiian-print shrits, etc.

The highest prices are reserved for vintage clothes that are made in USA, for example a vintage cowboy shirt with “pearl snaps” made in Colorado, USA in the 1950s-70s by the Rockmount company may sell for as much as $80, but a similarly-looking cowboy shirt made in South Korea or Pakistan will sell for about $5-$10. The dealers are usually very well versed in what they sell, and books have been written in Thai to help dealers and buyers identify vintage clothes such as American-made Levis jeans. The dealers tell me that they have regular buyers who come from Japan to buy up the best pieces and take them back for resale.

So, you see it’s all just business. I wouldn’t call any link in this chain “the equivalent of the Salvation Army” because they are not even pretending to sell to poor people. The shops in Bangkok are quite trendy and full of kids with money. I don’t know how it works in the Philippines or countries other than Cambodia/Thailand. My guess is that the donated American clothes ends up in Cambodia because it is one of the poorest countries in the region.