Ukay-Ukay in Cebu

The term “ukay-ukay” about digging from the piles of discounted clothes and other products up for sale came from the local word of “halukay,” which is the act of digging. Ukay-ukay originated in Baguio City in Luzon and eventually spread to Metro Manila, Cebu and in other parts of the country.
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The ukay-ukay started back in the 1980s. Because of the frequency of calamities happening in the Philippines at that time, the religious and humanitarian organization of the Salvation Army used to ship second-hand garments and other goods as humanitarian assistance to the victims of the calamities.
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When the goods started to pile up, some business-minded people bought them at a very low cost and sold them to the public. It eventually became popular with bargain conscious Filipinos looking for imported American clothes and other items at rock-bottom prices.
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Here in Cebu, the biggest center of the ukay-ukay trade is in the Cebu City downtown area of the stretch of Colon Street and the Carbon District and in Tabunok, Talisay City. Nevertheless, there are also small-scale ukay-ukay centers in different parts of Cebu.
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The ukay-ukay items you will see are a mixture of clothes and other items that could be new signature brands, looks like brand new, second-hand, and poor quality with some damages.
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When you go ukay-ukay shopping, bear in mind that many of the products may come from the United States but a lot more actually came from other countries and then exported to the U.S. From the blog http://www.everythingcebu.com/2009/04/03/ukay-ukay-in-cebu/