Planning on cleaning out the closets this weekend, and I’m debating what to do with probably 50 - 60 old articles of clothing that I haven’t touched in probably two years.
The only problem is that most of this stuff would be considered crap to most people. Old white T-shirts that have become discolored; the jeans I wore that time I painted the garage (which are effectively ruined); button-down shirts that have frayed at the collar and at the sleeves, etc.
Would Goodwill / the Salvation Army have any use at all for this stuff? I don’t know if I should box it all up and take it to the local office, or if it would be seen as “patronizing” to just dump my crap on them. I’m thinking that maybe by the “there’s starving kids in Africa” philosophy (which got me to eat my green beans as a kid), maybe somebody somewhere could get some use out of it?
Or should I just say ‘forget it’, and throw it all in the dumpster?
They will launder clothes and may fix a small seam split or something like that, but frayed or discoloured clothes, missing a ton of buttons, torn all over the place, whatever… It’s too much time and effort for them to repair before selling.
I only donate clothes which are good enough to wear again - charities refer to them as ‘gently used’. For stuff that’s completely worn out, there are bins around the station where I live where charities collect clothes to be made into rags - I think they make a small amount of money selling the clothes in bulk.
One of the city councils here (Brisbane) has this to say about donating clothes for rag use:
Heh. In Japan, the charities demand that clothes be cleaned/DRY-CLEANED if necessary, before donating. I had so much trouble even finding a place that would accept used clothing that I now ship to a Goodwill-type shop halfway across the country. Shipping adds another $20 or so.
All of it. I worked in a charity shop a couple of years ago when I was unemployed- once a week, a van would collect sacks of textiles and rags to go off for recycling and re-use. They paid us per bag, and the contents just had to be any fabric.
Used to work at a Goodwill, and can corroborate the last few posters. Unusable clothing is sold to recyclers/resalers, so “crap” clothing still makes the charity some money. Probably best to call ahead, but definitely don’t jump to a conclusion that a charity will “throw it out.”
If you do have “good” clothing to donate as well, it helps to put it in a separate bag; a ton of stuff is donated every day, and sorters have to work quickly, so good clothes can accidentally get tossed into a recycle bin if it’s lost in a jumble of bad clothes. If you have matched set/multiple-part garments, like suits or something, having them together on a hanger or in their own separate sack helps to keep the set together through processing. If you’re donating new/unused clothing, it can help to mark this on the bag (or simply leave the tags on).
Dirty and/or wet clothing is the one type of clothing we couldn’t use or recycle. You wouldn’t believe how many people would try to donate wet clothing. People would bring sacks of stuff from flooded basements, or leave bags in their pickup trucks while it rained, then get pissed off when we would turn it down.
I volunteer as a clothes sorter at a charitable resale shop on occasion. I’m a secretary at their food bank, but fill in at the resale shop when they are short.
Please, do not send your dirty clothes. I can’t tell you how many times I have been totally grossed out out opening a bag full of nasty, dirty clothes. My least favorite was a whole bag of worn out, menstrual blood stained, bathing suits. Ick.
We sort and hang good clothes that are clean and in good condition for resale. We do not wash or repair anything.
Unsaleable clothes are dirty (no rings around the collar!), frayed, stained, missing buttons, etc. If it can’t be worn out of the bag, it is tossed to the recycle bin.
Unsaleable clothes we give to a recycler. I do not know if the recycler pays for them, if we pay the recycler to haul them away, or if the clothes are just given to the recycler. I suppose if the reycler is getting paid, they may not mind the unusable clothes.
Is it strictly the state of the clothing, or does style have anything to do with wearability? Most of what I donate is stuff that’s usually about 10 years or so old, so it looks goofy, but is still in fine shape.
I admit I do donate some of my kids’ junky clothes. Why? Because there might be some people out there who, like me, want old play clothes for their kids. I got tired of buying good clothes for them to go outside in and stain irreparably. I started going to Goodwill and buying “prestained” clothes on the cheap and then I didn’t have to worry about what they did to them.
Of course, I don’t donate unwearable clothes, but even stained garments might be considered usable under the right conditions!
This. Might make an exception for anything covered in menstrual blood, but otherwise take it all in. Where I work they get 55p per kilogram for rags, which normally amounts to between one and two hundred pounds per week added to the takings.
One of my favorite local thrift shops doesn’t have a recycling program for the ‘crap’ clothes. They end up throwing stuff out. And if they get too much of it, they get CHARGED for throwing it out.
I’d say it’s always best to ask in advance.
For what it’s worth…I donate to this shop because it’s small…located in an area giving it clients from homeless to poor to moderate. I’ve seen them give huge discounts to some of their regulars. I’ve even taken a homeless friend in when he had a job for a few months up north, and they GAVE him a few pairs of jeans and some sweatshirts to help him out.
Picking a thrift shop to donate clothes to can be like picking any charity to donate money to - they’re all a little different, and shopping around can be a learning experience.
Styles run in cycles. Kids of today might find your goofy stuff to be quite amusing, in an ironic sort of way…
Bell bottoms have come & gone several times. Sources say that shoulderpads for women are the next zombie style. (Those who do not remember the fashion mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.)
Apparently most places will accept out-of-fashion clothes, or they’re willing to keep the stuff awhile…a lot of people I know consider thrift stores good places for costume shopping.
I don’t take stuff to a thrift store unless it’s something I would wear again (if it fit!). I did some clothes-sorting for a local charity after Hurricane Floyd, and it was very clear that many people in that area consider charities to be dumping grounds for worn-out clothing. The worst item we got was a very, very large bra that had once been white…it was a blotchy yellow, and the fabric was stiff from sweat and filth.
Until I read an article a couple of years ago I used to assume like Sierra Indigo does that they throw out anything they can’t sell, but now I know better. 90% of clothing donations get sold to recyclers and Goodwill (specifically GW, small thrift shops are a different matter) makes a nice chunk of change that way, so it’s far better to give them your “crap” clothing than simply tossing it out because you can’t imagine anyone wearing it.