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Mitumba traders move from stalls to TikTok streams
Alex Kimani, the owner of the Jamaldeen Collection, displays a handbag for sale during a TikTok live session at his shop in Kilimani, Nairobi, on April 11, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
Would you spend Sh50,000 on a second-hand designer handbag—or buy a pre-owned carpet during a TikTok livestream, without hesitation, knowing it will go to the first person who pays? That is the new face of Kenya’s second-hand trade.
Mitumba or second-hand fashion, once relegated to open-air shops in Nairobi’s Gikomba or Mombasa's Kongowea markets and defined by bargain hunts and crowded stalls, is now finding prominence an online marketplace on TikTok live sessions.
