Give Your Unwanted / Unworn Clothes To Charity
Go through your clothes. No, really, you can do it! Pull out the items you don’t wear – not just the ones you will never wear. Most of us have a few too many jumpers or blouses, t-shirts or trousers. Someone else will value your cast offs.
There are around 6,500 charity shops in the UK. The re-use and recycling aspects of the work of charity shops often goes unrecognised. For many years, charity shops have been recycling in large volumes, ensuring that large quantities of clothing and other goods are re-used which is good news for people who rely on charity shops for their clothing – and good news for the landfill sites.
An alternative to charity shops is organisations working with refugees, homeless people or victims of domestic violence many of whom are grateful for donations of clothes and in some cases household goods.
Shouldn’t be difficult to find an outlet near you.
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GB , 15 Aug 2005
i love giving clothes away especially children’s clothes – but i am finding it increasingly liberating to give my clothes away too. It is remarkable how little is needed to get by. although i think charity shops are great i tend to give mine to a woman down the road who works with peole fleeing domestic violence. I also take stuff to my parents who pass it on to SCRATCH a southampton based charity which is mightily impressive http://www.scratchcharity.co.uk/
24 Aug 2005
Helped that the local council started doing roadside collections. We sorted bags of old clothes out that had been stored in the attic when we first took up this action. Now it’s only an occasional action, but as I have a separate set of clothes for summer and winter, with one lot being stored away while the other is in use, it’s something to think about when I swap them over.
taunton, GB , 30 Aug 2005
i have far too many clothes and am rubbish at giving them away as am always saying: when i loose weight i might wear that. how sad and bridget-jones-like is that?!
i must must must get rid of more clothes.
help!
i’m good at getting rid of kids’ clothes tho… they are 6 and 7 and i’m still being given handed down clothes for them, and am able to pass on those clothes to others when they’ve grown out of them… which is fab.
30 Sep 2005
I just went through my closet and took everything I haven’t been wearing and dropped it off. It ended up being 2 large bag full. Amazing what you end up holding onto for little/no reason.
Now if I can go through the rest of my stuff and get rid of the un-necessaries I’ve been holding onto, I’d be in better shape.
Stroud, GB , 30 Sep 2005
I do agree this is fun and liberating…but it’s a tad distressing when I look long and hard at my wardrobe and realise that many of the things I’m wearing regularly would be considered too tatty the charity shop. However, our local authority has a rag bank beside the bottle/plastic/paper banks so the saddest garments go there.
South London, GB , 05 Oct 2005
A firend of mine holds clothes swapparties – where you take along clothes you don’t like or wear very often or fit into anymore or are bored of and swap with others at the party. So it’s recycling as well as passing on. Anything left (the purple lycra leggings forexample) gets taken to a charity shop.
09 Oct 2005
We are slowly trying to declutter, sorting out clothes that we won’t wear again and giving them to local charity shops, or a box in church that we collect good second hand clothes, to send to a homeless project.
Maidenhead, GB , 10 Oct 2005
I just read in out local paper how a small charity shop chain in our area is forced to spend £15,000 a year disposing of donated items that are not good enough to sell. I guess the trick is to be realistic about what is worth donating, and what may be better taken to the clothes bank for recycling.
20 Oct 2005
My cupboards and drawers are full of stuff I’ll never wear again. Time to have a clear out. And Drew, thanks for the tip about realism.
20 Oct 2005
This is an action where everybody wins! YOu get wardrobe space, someone else gets some lovely clothes that will actually fit them, and the charity gets a donation! How good can it get!
Now I need to work out what to do with my unewarable clothes that are too raggy for the shop, but seem a waste to throw out!
Perhaps we could try and commit to buying a percentage of our clothes from charity shops as well?
07 Nov 2005
Have been sorting out blankets and warm clothing for an ‘aid’ lorry organiesd by the local Rotary club going out to areas of devastation
15 Dec 2005
I have a load of stuff that I sorted out to take the charity shop ages ago but just haven’t got round to dealing with so I’m going to try and get this one done over Christmas.
21 Dec 2005
We pass all our out-grown children’s clothes on to friends, charity shop our clothes.
Such a wonderful thing to do .. we need so little of what we already have.
03 Jan 2006
Great feeling to take a couple of bags of stuff off to the TRAID shop the other morning, so that, following Christmas, our total amount of clothing we hardly wear has not risen quantitatively by that much. Gets you thinking about the total amount of clothing being produced today, whether it might be too much but driven along by marketing to the wealthy like us who want to get new stuff long before the last new stuff has past its sell by. Presumably part of the answer lies not just in taking surplus clothes to Oxfam etc shops… but also buying your ‘new’ clothes from them. Or maybe learning to knit… no…
Bath, GB , 11 Jan 2006
I hope this is as liberating as some folk say. I find it really difficult to get rid of clothes that I no longer wear but seem too good to throw away, e.g.I still have 3 1980’s Laura Ashley dresses! They came from charity shops, but are still in excellent condition – who would buy such things even from a charity shop now? Perhaps the material could be recycled into patchwork quilting! Now there’s an idea… The LondonWroes point is pertinent – it is a luxury to be able to replace clothes before they are well worn, just because they are not fashionable – need to reflect on this. On an upbeat note my favourite recent purchase is a great (and originally expensive) pair of jeans bought for £6 in a charity shop.
Newark, GB , 16 Jan 2006
I already pass on a lot of clothes to charity shops or put in my recycling crate each week. This weekend I’ve signed up for a rag rug making workshop using old clothes too!
08 Feb 2006
in my house, when we have clothes we no longer wear, we allshare them out between our housemates, a great way to change your wardrobe for free!
16 Feb 2006
I have loads of clothes—my old ones are not up to much.I too cannot take my old clothes to Charity shops because they are too scruffy. Rag rugs is an excellent idea.
most of my clothes are bought second hand—what’s the point in spending a fortune when after the first wash they may as well be second hand anyway? I tend to live in the same clothes and wear them to death,and then mourn their passing.
26 Feb 2006
I love this, one of my favourite things is declutering my life, which benfots everyone else! Clothes video’s and all sorts goes. We have just found a lovely group who have bought a container to go to Africa for an AIDS refuge, so they are taking everything they can!
01 Mar 2006
Three bags of clothes to Help the Aged this week.
12 Apr 2006
I love getting a carrier bag or two together for a charity shop! I never just bin things unless they’re in such bad condition that they wouldn’t be saleable. Everything else – books, clothes, music, vids, crockery etc – goes to a charity shop.
Dalton in furness, GB , 23 Apr 2006
What a good way to sort through belongings, lighten the load and help local charity shops!! Love it…just have to get the bags out of the house before I change my mind or think of something it might be useful for at some point!! Two bags of clothes to local charity shop this week.
03 May 2006
I am happy to continue doing this action. I also buy clothes from charity shops as well as anything else I see. I think these shops are great recycling resources.
Little Green Fee, GB , 25 May 2006
Like any recycling we’ve got to buy the recycled products, not just take the goods to be recycled. It’s OK giving loads to charity shops but not if there’s hardly anyone buying it! I agree with Jane B we should commit to purchasing a percentage of our clothes from charity/nearly new/vintage shops.
My personal aim is to buy 50% + from second hand sources. Items that I buy new I’m sourcing from more ethical shops. A great online directory of ethical shopping is www.livingethically.co.uk/Pages/shopping.htm
Cheltenham, GB , 17 Aug 2006
If you have woolly jumpers or cotton shirts which are a bit too far gone for the charity shops – you could recycle them in a different way. See below:
From: info
Date: August 11, 2006 10:43:54 BST
Subject: any old jumpers?
Dear Friends,
CAN YOU HELP??? I am experiencing problems with my supplies of textile waste.
So thought I’d ask you all – before you send your old jumpers off to the charity shop or textile bank or worse the ordinary bin & therefore landfill!! would you consider sending them to me at the address below. Knitwear poses a specific problem in landfill as it creates large amounts of methane as it decomposes, which contributes to the huge problem of greenhouse gases.
I am in the early stages of my career as an eco-warrior creating beautiful textile interior pieces from reclaimed wool and cotton shirting but have a temporary supply problem. It seemed obvious to ask everyone I know to consider sending their old woolens to me. They can be damaged/holey as I cut up and remake anyway – but must be 100% wool. I would also like your old cotton shirting – again it has to be 100% cotton, but stripes, spots, checks are all fine.
To save your postage or refund you, I can either send pre-paid packets for you to fill and post back or I can send you the value of your postage costs in stamps or a cheque.
As well as your postage re-funded, you will receive a teeny handmade Maxine Sutton gift as a thank you, (as well as a special place in my heart of course)
Please ask around your friends too and feel free to forward my request to anyone you can think of who might be receptive.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT – DID YOU KNOW??
“If everyone in the UK bought one reclaimed woolen garment each year, it would save 371 million gallons of water (the average UK reservoir holds about 300 million gallons) and 480 tonnes of chemical dyestuffs” (Evergreen)
“It is estimated that 400,000 tonnes of textiles are landfilled every year… At least 50% of the textiles going to landfill are recyclable.” (www.wasteonline.org.uk)
LOVE TO ALL Maxine
Maxine Sutton www.maxinesutton.com E: info@maxinesutton.com T: 07958 604688
30 Aug 2006
Many people have said to me that they send most of their clothes to charity shops but “oh, you can’t send underwear/socks with holes/anything that you can’t get a stain out of”.
This is rubbish.
Charity shops tend to do the following with their clothes donations, from what I have read: Very good quality, last season’s slightly-out-of-fashion: sell in charity shops in the UK in fashionable areas
Good quality but less fashionable: either sell in the UK in less fashionable areas, or ship to developing countries so they can be sold there
Good quality underwear, children’s clothes that are slightly dirty or have a few holes: ship overseas for sale there. They will be sold, believe me.
Poor quality, things with holes: sell for cleaning rags or recycling.
So don’t put any of them in the bin! Really, they will be used!
wolverhampton, GB , 31 Aug 2006
Something I used to practice – but must admit have let things slip recently, was to decide how many clothes I needed (ie how many t-shirts, pairs of jeans, jumpers etc) and gave everything in excess of this number away to charity shops.
However the next step is key – I wasn’t allowed to buy any new clothes unless I gave away the equivalent (so buy new shoes must give away old shoes). This meant I bought less because I didn’t want to get rid of my current clothes and it stopped my wardrobe getting out of hand. It sometimes even meant giving away gifts that were new if I preferred my current clothes!
Very challenging and very liberating. Try it!
Luton, GB , 13 Sep 2006
Years ago I took the decision that I really spent too much time and money on clothes and didn’t really need any more – so now I can only have new clothes if I give or throw something away (unless it’s a present, when it would be really hard to have to give something else away to keep the present – especially if maybe I liked the present less!!!). Currently my second-hand stuff that’s still reasonable gets posted to a friend in Zimbabwe who either needs them for her family or can sell to at least raise some little money when things are SO tough there.
13 Sep 2006
I have done this propoerly for the first time ever. Sorted my wardrobe and sent all the excess, plus the things that I can’t get into for charity. Why was I keeping a checked shirt from University 15 years ago???
14 Sep 2006
When we resently moved to Bristol we recycled a large amount of clothing, old toys, ornaments etc. Because of the quantity we shared our horde with a number of charity shops. Putting them into types of items really helps the volunteers – see katie’s comment 30th Aug. We also try to buy books from charity shops(and return them to the shop when read for more recycling), clothes (particularly children’s, suits etc), and nick nacks (which again can be recycled by returning them when we want a change). I was shocked by quite how much we had horded and vowed to never be quite so bad again (try to buy only what I know I will wear, use, and really like)...watch this space!
GB , 20 Sep 2006
I take my clothes to recycling bank as I know they will be able to find a use for them. I also make rag rugs out of old clothes, but it’s a long task so I only manage one in a year as I’m a wee bit busy. I also think that freecycle (www.freecycle.org) is a good way to get rid of baby clothes as there are always other Mum’s in the area desperate for the next size up as babies grow up so fast!!!
Amersham, GB , 20 Oct 2006
I clear out my wardrobe at least twice a year and send whatever is wearable to the charity shop. Most of my son’s old clothes go directly to smaller children. Many of my clothes are pretty raggy by the time I’ve finished with them, and these we turn into rag rugged wall hangnings and cushion covers.
GB , 12 May 2007
I do this regularly, and like many have commented already, it is incredibly liberating to simplify one’s life by passing on things that aren’t used and aren’t needed to others.
Dub, IE , 13 May 2007
Am going through mine & my 3 kids wardrobes and taking a lot of whats there to local clothes banks (9 bin bgs of it to date! embarassing to realise I was holding on to so much for so long!) Plan to do a bi yearly clear out in future (at birthday and Yule). Feels so good to be creating some space too :-) Any clothes not fit to be given away I am taking off buttons, zips etc (to use on various sewing projects) and either use them for cleaning cloths, stuffing for cushions or rag rugs.
Ipswich, GB , 19 Jun 2007
This is such a great action for meeting several targets – environmentally-friendly, fairly-traded, saves landfill and extravagance. Some ways I’ve found to extend this action you might like to try: 1. commit to buying all your clothes from charity shops and jumbles too (undies and socks might need to be an exception) 2. only replace what you have given away (to keep your wardrobe simple) 3. patch and mend clothes where possible 4. save buttons, zips etc. for sewing projects 5. Use past sell-by date items as cloths and rags 6. natural fabrics such as cotton and wool can be shredded and rot down in compost bins 7. old towels, blankets etc. are good for pets, DIY and messy household and work chores
Bristol, GB , 13 Jul 2007
I tend to wear my clothes until they are falling apart and no longer of any use to anyone else so most of them end up in our council’s black recycling box. The few that are still presentable go to one of our many local charity shops.
Stavanger, NO , 03 Aug 2007
As I’m curerently slimming I have made the commitment to give all my “Fat” clothes to the local charity shop everytime I go down a clothes size. I also pass on all of my children’s clothes once they grow out of a size, mainly to friends with younger children or to the charity shop. I do the same with our pre-loved shoes too.
24 Sep 2007
I’m pleased to commit to this, as we have been giving to and buying from charity shops as a family for years. Particularly children’s clothes, as they just don’t wear out. My only exception is shoes for the kids as regular measuring is vitally important while they are growing.
For adults clothes, I do urge using a MENDING SERVICE for those items you love but need attention – better than them cluttering up your washing basket. For those in East Anglia, there is a fantastic lady on CAMBRIDGE MARKET (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) who does all sorts of sewing and mending, cheaply and quickly.
Port Hadlock, WA, US , 09 Mar 2008
Working my way through organizing the closets and dressers after moving into a new home. Hubby and I share one small closet and dresser, and our preteen boys share one large dresser (their closet is for playthings.) So if a new clothing item comes in, something has to go out.
Usually things coming in are quality second hand, as we seldom buy more than socks, undies and shoes new. Bought a “new” purse yesterday at second hand store, so an old purse is going out. Took several bags of clothes to charity after cleaning out the boys’ dresser last week. Now our dresser is next.
Kingston upon Thames, GB , 05 May 2008
I’ve been doing this for a while – very satisfying to declutter and help charitable causes at the same time ;)
Taunton, GB , 14 Nov 2008
I have a a couple of bags waiting to be taken away right now!
Bicester, GB , 14 Mar 2009
Have been taking adult clothes to a charity hop for a while, but with baby and kids clothes have passed them on to " Baby Store" a recycling project based in Bicester which gets clothes and baby equipment to those who really need it and provides a swopping facilty for anyone who wants to join in.
22 Mar 2009
You can also donate your unwanted clothes to a local homeless charity or shelter where the clothes are given free to those that really need them.
20 Aug 2009
I work in a charity shop and I would say that 65% of the stuff we get we have to throw out.
so please donate stuff that is clean and has no holes in.
20 Aug 2009
i work in a charity shop and we wouldn’t sell socks with holes in. we also don’t sell knickers or pants. unless new
26 Nov 2009
If you want to raise some cash and you are in th UK, you can contact a company called Sellmyclothes on 0207 637 2008. They arrange a free courier to collect heavy bundles and pay for all undamaged clothing (much more for designer items).
http://sellmyclothes.co.uk