Dozens of clothing manufacturers in Tel Aviv have decided to dump garments them into a pile that eventually grew to 20,000 items, available for passerby to pick through and take home. The event was organized by a group called the Movement for Israeli Fashion, and was designed to protest what the over 150 members of the group said was the government’s failure to protect them from unfair competition.

Some of the issues that are clothing manufacturers and retailers are because of the overrated shekel, next to zero duty on clothing imported from the far east, and the requirement that Value Added sales Tax (VAT) to be paid on purchases from Israeli retail stores while items that are bought online from foreign sales sites are exempt from all taxes in most cases..

The organization is also demanding that the government impose tariffs on Chinese imports, or negotiate a trade deal that will make it as easy and as cheap for them to export to China to protect manufacturers. All Western countries except Israel have tariffs in place on Chinese imports. The EU has a 12 percent tariff on such imports, Canada and Australia an 18 percent tariff, and the United States between 17 percent and 33 percent, depending on the item.