NOUR EXPORT SPRL: Belgian Expert in Second-Hand Clothing Export & Sorting

Company overview

Nour Export srl is a Belgian sorter and exporter of second-hand clothing at Drève de Wisbecq 3B, 1430 Bièrghes, in the commune of Rebecq south-west of Brussels. The company states 25 years in sorting and export, supplying wholesalers and retailers across Africa and Europe.

Goods are sold wholesale in bales with the selection adapted to the buyer's requirements, and there is a separate vintage handpicking service at the warehouse.

They book the container to your port

The single most useful thing on the site is one sentence: the company arranges transport of the 20 ft or 40 ft container as far as the destination port.

For a first-time importer that removes the part of the job that is hardest to do from a distance. Booking a sailing, dealing with the line, matching the container to the load and getting the documents right are all easier for someone who does it weekly from the loading end than for a buyer arranging it from three thousand miles away. It is also where new importers most often lose the margin they thought they had, because an attractive ex-works price and a delivered price are different numbers.

Get the terms named before you compare it with anything, though. Arranging transport does not by itself say who bears the risk, who pays the destination charges, or whether insurance is included. Ask for the offer written as an Incoterm, FOB, CFR or CIF, and ask what is not covered at the far end, because terminal handling, demurrage and clearance at the destination are usually the buyer's problem whatever the freight quote says. Buyers comparing several second-hand clothing suppliers should insist every quote uses the same term, otherwise the cheapest one on paper is simply the one that includes least.

The country list tells you how the mixes are built

Nour Export names its destinations rather than saying Africa. In Africa: Gabon, Mali, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d'Ivoire, Burundi, Kenya, Senegal, Guinea, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Namibia and South Africa. In Europe: Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, alongside other European markets.

Read that list geographically and it becomes information rather than a boast. It spans West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa, and those are four different demand profiles, not one. Senegal and Guinea buy light summer goods all year. Kenya and Burundi sit high enough that mornings are cool and light knitwear moves. Namibia and South Africa have a real winter, and a container of tropical mix arriving there in June is a mistake somebody pays for.

A supplier shipping to all four regions is therefore running genuinely different mixes rather than one product with different labels, which is a point in its favour. It also gives you the question that separates a real specialist from a list of past invoices: ask which of those markets your mix would be built for, and who else they currently ship there. The four Eastern European countries point at a second, distinct product, since that region buys wearable shop-grade goods for retail rather than volume for the market stall.

Vintage handpick, by appointment

The warehouse offers handpicking: book by phone or email, and on arrival you have nine bins of vintage clothing to work through, choosing what you need for your shop. Everything is sold by the kilo.

Nine bins is a specific and modest number, and it is worth reading as such. This is a real service for a boutique owner arriving with a van, not a warehouse floor you can spend a day in. Ask what the bins are refreshed with and how often, because with a stock that size the answer decides whether a second visit is worth making. The distinction between this and container buying is the distinction the whole trade runs on, and it is worth knowing how sorting houses generate the vintage fraction before you judge the price per kilo.

What is not published

There is no grade ladder, no bale weight and no defect rule on the site. For a company of this size that is normal, and it makes three questions unavoidable at first contact: what grades exist and what defect level each allows, what the bales weigh and to what tolerance, and what the delivered price is under a named Incoterm. Read the standard grade definitions before that call so you can tell a precise answer from a vague one.

Contact is [email protected] or [email protected], +32 473 84 36 62 and +32 488 40 88 34. For a wholesale buyer in one of the fourteen African markets named above, a supplier who already ships there and books the freight is worth a call even if the price per kilo is not the lowest on your list.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Nour Export based?

At Drève de Wisbecq 3B, 1430 Bièrghes, in Rebecq, Belgium, south-west of Brussels.

Does the company arrange shipping?

It states that it organises transport of 20 ft or 40 ft containers to the destination port, so ask for the offer expressed as a named Incoterm and check what is excluded at the far end.

Which countries does it export to?

Gabon, Mali, Cameroon, DR Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d'Ivoire, Burundi, Kenya, Senegal, Guinea, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Namibia and South Africa, plus Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and other European markets.

Can I pick items myself?

Yes. Handpicking is available by appointment, with nine bins of vintage clothing to choose from, sold by the kilo.

Are grades and bale weights published?

No. Ask for the grade definitions, the defect rule per grade and the bale weight with its tolerance in writing before the first order.