I took a bunch of old clothes down to the gas station yesterday, and deposited them in one of those clothing donation boxes.
What actually happens to those clothes? I put in a couple of nice jackets (well, great condition but they were a bit dated – a brown corduroy sport coat and an almost-black, once very hip sport coat) and some very nice dress shirts and trousers, plus a bunch of cotton shirts and khakis that were a bit faded. It would be nice to think that someone might wear the nicer things that I’ve shrunk out of. But I thought I heard that most of these donated clothes get sent to Africa where they are cut up for making other clothes, or else shredded for industrial purposes.
What’s the dope?
Not that it really matters to me where they go. I can’t use them. I’d just like to know.
I always thought those donation bins were put there by Goodwill and the like.
OTOH, My Daddy wore very nice suits everyday. When he died we donated them to a group that collects dress clothes for men down on their luck, who need to apply for jobs. If that had not been easily accomplished I would’ve taken them to a donation bin.
Yes, they may go to thrift stores, where they can be bought by poor people who have some cash, thrift shoppers who may simply want to save on clothes, or people who may alter them, into trendy styles or clubbing costumes, or use them in plays or even major Hollywood films. The proceeds will then go to other charitable uses, like food for shelters, new clothes for the poor, and yes, the charity’s overhead costs.
The thrift store model is generally a better distribution method than: determining who’s poor, needs clothes, fits the item, has the wherewithal to clean the item, alter it if necessary, and merits the item. I don’t believe there’s an organization that takes on all those responsibilities, and executes them efficiently to the satisfaction of everyone.
Take Beckdawrek:'s example, or even the original post – these are some very dressy clothes, perfect for a man who needs a suit for a job interview. A man shows up. Is he clean-shaven? Is his hair neat? Does he have a resume? Should the organization screen out people who don’t fit the job seeker ideal? Can a woman buy a blazer to pair with a skirt she has, even if the styles clash?
Seems like we can open even more cans of worms, if we try. Better to just let anyone buy it for any purpose.
It all depends. Some of the boxes are run by organizations that sell the clothes in thrift shops and use the proceeds for charitable purposes - some of which also give low income people vouchers to shop in the thrift stores. Others are used to stock for-profit thrift stores and some sell the clothes to be used for other purposes ( like to fill a “box of rags”) and the proceeds from those sales might be used for charitable purposes or not. I have even heard of a church in my area that reportedly collects a fee for use of their name- you get a flyer at your door saying “Saint So and So’s Church” will be collecting on some date. But it’s not actually the church collecting- it’s a business. And they pay the church a percentage of their proceeds to use the name.
According to ABC News, organizations like Goodwill sell some of the clothes in their thrift shops, and sell the rest to recyclers (and use the proceeds of those sales to fund their other efforts). The recyclers sell most of the clothes to be made into industrial rags, and send the rest to Africa where it is sold in regular African markets.
Not all organizations - my local food shelf/social services center has racks of clothes they give away for free - but most of the clothes they get either aren’t what people want, even poor people, or they get more than they need, so they also recycle.
I am only donating the clothes to get rid of them. If Goodwill or the Salvation Army can make something off it, and it gets recycled rather than ending up in a landfill, I am OK with that. And if the recyclers can get Africans to pay $6-7 a pair for my old jeans, good luck to them. Goodwill gets the money, the recyclers make a buck, and the Africans get the jeans. A win-win-win.
I recall buying not-so-gently-used baled clothing by weight in El Paso or Cd. Juárez. What I don’t remember, and maybe I can find someone to ask, is if these were thrift store rejects or what the deal was.
There are some for-profit organizations who put bins out to get free used clothes, then sell them. There is a currently tension between the U.S. and Rwanda, for example, because the inflow of used U.S. clothing is stunting the domestic textiles industry.
Most thrift stores have on-site donations also. Ones with multiple stores might sort the donations at a central location and then distribute them to stores depending upon the need.
I’m both a donator and buyer, less of clothes than of jigsaw puzzles. I donated several large boxes of puzzles to the thrift store with the best selection, and the next time I went like half the puzzles on the shelf were mine.
There are reasonable clothes there, though you have to look. And appliances too. When our built-in microwave was in repair hell, we bought a tabletop microwave for $10, which was a lifesaver.
I’ve read the idea that shipping all of this used clothing off to Africa is actually a bad thing for the economies there, because it squeezes out the domestic clothing industry.
And I’ve also read that some Goodwill locations go through the donated goods and sell some of the really good stuff online.
They definitely do this. Stuff like recent name-brand designer clothes, popular electronics, collectibles, etc rarely make it to the store racks these days. Instead, they get sorted out and sold on eBay or similar venues for a significant amount of money. On one hand, I suppose the extra money helps the organization. On the other, if you had daydreams that you were going to allow some poor person access to your fancy clothes or Xbox, that isn’t going to happen (of course, no promises that it wasn’t going to be bought up by a middle class thrift shopper anyway).
It depends on how you look at it. It might be bad for the domestic African clothing producers, but it is good for the Africans who get jeans they want.
It’s like any other business - if you outsell me, that’s bad for me but good for you, and also good for the consumer who gets to buy more of what he wants. Plus, what does it say about the African clothing producers, that they can’t come up with a product at or below $7 a pop that people want more than our cast-offs.
We could throw our aluminum cans into a landfill, and that would be good for the bauxite mining industry. But we don’t - we recycle the cans, and that’s better, overall.
I can also vouch that it’s a lot of work to sort through all of those clothes. I do it for my church’s rummage sale, but it’d have to be even more work with those parking-lot bins: I’ll bet a lot of folks just toss trash in there.
Most donated clothing end up in landfills or Africa where they destroy native Industries. And not just donated clothing by Individuals but by corporate.
The clothing industry has a huge carbon footprint. Most clothing stores change the clothes for sale each month and it’s becoming a taboo to wear “last year’s” fashion. Guess what happens to last month’s clothes in stores and last year’s clothes in closets ? it ends up in landfills or Africa.
The clothing industry needs such cheap labor to keep this vicious cycle going that China and India pulled out of this long back. The clothing industry is constantly in search of cheaper labor.
There was the controversy around Toms shoes where they were donating shoes and let to smaller businesses in those places go out of business.
the hats and T shirts for teams that lose the title game in NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. are donated to places like Africa. I’ve seen pictures of shirts for losing teams.
