SECONDARY MARKETS - Afterlives of Unsold Goods: Secondary markets and continuations of global supply chains in Southeastern

Overproduction and overconsumption in European Union countries, particularly in fashion, have led to various attempts to find solutions. In recent years, specialized companies have organized the export of unsold consumer goods to non-EU countries, with Southeast European countries providing new markets for these goods as "secondary markets." Southeast European countries have long been excluded from markets offering "desirable" fast fashion goods. These products now arrive as secondary goods at low prices. For EU countries, this provides a solution for disposing of unsold inventory while creating new consumer markets in the Balkans. The project "Afterlives of Unsold Goods: Secondary markets and continuations of global supply chains in Southeastern Europe" is a multi-sited ethnographic study analysing these secondary markets as extensions of global supply chains. The project addresses critical gaps in understanding how secondary markets extend global supply chains, revealing power dynamics between EU centres and Southeast European margins. Key innovations include adapting "follow the thing" methodology for bulk commodities, focusing on "following the cargo" and analysing value transformation processes that convert EU "surplus" into "desirable" products in Southeast European countries. This project will analyse two companies that export unsold goods to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Additionally, it will examine informal traders who import "desired" goods to juxtapose these phenomena. Expected outcomes include theoretical contributions to supply chain studies, policy insights on EU-semiperiphery trade relations, and sustainability implications of overproduction redistribution. The project will produce high-impact publications, policy briefs, and establish new research networks between European institutions.