Okrika, second-hand, used clothes, bend-down-select, these are some of the names used to refer to imported clothing that is not new. The opposite would be ready-made clothes because they have never been worn by anyone else, it’s new.
Okrika derived its name from the Port where it used to be delivered in Nigeria which happened to bear the name ‘Okrika’, Headquarters of Okrika Local Government Area in Rivers State.
Okrika used to be known as clothes for the less privileged but recently, it’s accepted and even believed to be of higher quality. People are more open to using Okrika than ever before, and these clothing can be found in every part of the country despite importation bans.
The origin of Okrika clothes can be traced as far back as in the 1950s and 1960s. It was the time when Nigeria only started its way towards Independence. Therefore, the only port that could take the used clothes from Europe was Okrika. For quite a long time, this type of clothes was the most demanded in the country.
The truth is that Nigeria couldn’t afford to manufacture its own cheap clothes in the middle of the twentieth century. There was almost no one who could afford new clothes.
Therefore, the market for the used cloth was thriving. A lot of Nigerians could support their families by buying and selling used clothes named Okrika.
Okrika clothes come from a lot of places in the world. The most popular countries where they come from include Europe, Asia, UK, and USA. Of course, the best sales come from Europe and USA. Nevertheless, the clothes from Asian countries are also good in quality.
So whenever the cloths where imported. They sell it off in large quantities. The market was named Okrika Market.
So the goods being sold adopted the name Okrika. But now Okrika is not exclusive to Rivers or Okrika Market it can be found all over Nigeria
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