Photo by James Pelisan
Ukay-Ukay is Visayan for “sift through” or “dig up.” Up north the term is wag-wag, “to dust off.” You find the best bargains by digging them out of a pile and dusting them off.
In the trade’s early years, ukay-ukay referred to garments shipped to the Philippines as donations from some charitable group to help refugees and calamity victims. Soon enough, overseas workers learned to collect used clothing and send it to the Philippines in balikbayan boxes. Entrepreneurial friends and relatives would buy in bulk, then sell by the piece to the public.
-Dr. Jaime S. Ong (click here to view the article)
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