Abstract

HERNANDEZ HERNANDEZ, Alberto  and  LOUREIRO FERREIRA, Fernanda. American Clothes: Commerce, Contraband and Purchasers of Used Clothing at the Border between Corumbá, Brasil, and Puerto Quijarro, Bolivia. Frontera norte [online]. 2017, vol.29, n.57, pp.31-56. ISSN 2594-0260.

This article studies the marketing and sales of used clothing at the border between Bolivia and Brazil. The clothes cross through several countries via various forms of transportation, undergoing processes of smuggling, reuse, and wardrobe redefinition. At the end of the 20th century, the used clothing market acquired major importance through the involvement of North American and European nongovernmental organizations in collecting these goods in the form of donations to then send to South American countries, where the garments are remarketed. The used clothes take long voyages to get to Chilean ports, and then journey by train and other means of transportation toward Bolivia's eastern border with Brazil. Puerto Quijarro, Bolivia, and Corumbá, Brazil, represent an encounter of cultural and commercial exchange where smuggling and the buying and selling of used clothes are part of the cities' day-to-day engagement.

Keywords : used clothing; smuggling; border; Bolivia; Brazil.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )