North Africa has not failed to amaze me throughout the course of the last 4 months. I was exploring the Fripe Markets of Tunis in February. The Fripe markets are market areas with loads of second hand clothing. I suppose the majority of clothing offered here is imported from Central Europe. From the selection of brands and variety of clothes offered from shoes, dress shirts to winter jackets one may assume that this is big business.
Our driver Fehri told me a story on one of my recent travels to the airport about the phenomenon before I first encountered it myself. There is a whole industry dedicated around the Fripe markets of Tunis (german essay in taz). Rumour has it that the wealthier families pay the vendors to have priority access to the latest “collection” before it enters the regular markets.
Coming from a more and more frugal background myself during the last months I have to admit that the culture of reuse is quite appealing to me. Places like Stuttgart lack a broader market for second hand clothes at least for the male gender. This is even more troubling as many of the business people of Stuttgart should be able to trade their stuff or put it on commission for others to find bargains. The thrift shop culture of Canada might have done the rest for me. But I admit that I think a vivid second hand market is a good idea and helps the local community in many ways.
The fripe markets of Tunis – a shoppers paradise
Though opened every day the Fripe markets peak at the weekends. Families will come out and search for the latest styles. Strolling the market myself with good friends from Tunis was a nice way to spend a lazy sunday morning. Even though I didn’t buy something in the end the window shopping aspect and some good coffees satisfied my bargain needs.
With prices starting as low as 1 TND – estimated 0.30 EUR at the time of writing this article – the items on sale are affordable for almost everyone. What I learned in the past few months is that you will almost never see any Tunisian person dressed badly. I guess the Fripe markets of Tunis and Tunisia in general add to this impression tremendously.