How often do you throw out old, worn out clothes?

[Frumpiness]

How often do you throw out clothes in bad enough condition that they can’t even be given to charity shops? Does it happen more often now that there’s so many bad quality clothes around?

I’m feeling frustrated as I have a whole load of tops and t-shirts that are so worn and starting to go see-through. I don’t even know how old they are.

Part of problem is that I find it very hard to find clothes that fit me as I’m not a standard size, even basic tops are a nightmare to find, and I’m reluctant to get rid of things when they’re so hard to replace.

I’d love to be one of those people with a small wardrobe full of just a few high quality things, but realistically that’s hard to achieve as the quality just isn’t there any more.

I don’t do this anywhere near as often as I should… I keep them for when I do DIY, which is nowhere near as often as it would need to be to get through the pile of clothes.

I also have a load of PJs which no longer fit; charity shops don’t take them, but they’re too good to throw out, so they just take up space in my house in the vain hope that I’ll lose weight or something.

Never. It's on my job list and bothering me and I need to do it

Planning a clear out of

work clothes - no longer worn
clothes with holes

find it very very hard

Not as often as I should.

I do it as I see them. There's a bag of rags in the cupboard, including worn out clothes, it gets dropped to the charity shop that takes rags for recycling when it's full.
Separate bag for clothes that are resellable.

Not often as I don’t know what to do with them. It seems a waste to throw away clothes and add to landfill just because the have a stain or hole when the rest of the fabric is ok, but equally no charity shop is going to take them. I keep them for doing gardening/ DIY etc but I’m not very handy so the reality is I don’t really need piles of old clothes for those kinds of jobs!

I don't. I find other uses for the fabric. If they end up as cleaning rags they get thrown out when completely worn out but a lot of fabrics can be repurposed and dont need to be thrown out at all..

I think that still counts in terms of no longer wearing them and getting rid of them from your wardrobe.

I take ancient underwear and pjs/T-shirts with me on holiday so I can throw them out and use the space in my suitcase for souvenirs on the way back!

If t-shirts get those mystery holes at the front (seatbelt?) I cut them up for cleaning cloths.
Trousers and dresses don’t usually get to the ragged state, so they go to the charity shop.

I’m not afraid to make DIY adjustments, so I recently cut down a prairie dress into a peplum blouse and I’ve made a Frankensweatshirt by adding collar, cuffs and bottom hem from a blouse I never wore- think of Howard’s “dicky” on The Big Bang Theory!

For everyone who’s saying they don’t throw them out, and instead cut them up to use as cleaning cloths, this still counts in terms of getting rid of them from your wardrobe.

It’s disheartening that clothes just don’t last any more.

I’ve just had a look through my email and found some of my tops are about ten years old, which is older than I thought. No wonder they’ve worn out. Things just don’t last these days. I would be very happy to cut them up as cloth if only I could find something new that actually fits me and is of decent quality.

I continuously weed out my clothes and DHs though I still have far too many.
I have two bags on the go at all times. One for charity shop and one is rags.
T shirts are cut up for cleaning clothes and anything soft I use in cat's bed.
The rest I take to a textile recycling place at the big Tesco.

Sorry. I thought it was more of an environmental thing with ideas how to make use of fabrics so they don't just get thrown away.

If you want to carry on wearing them, visible mending is quite a popular thing at the moment.

What do you mean about clothes not lasting any more?

How long would you expect the lifespan of the average item to be?

It’s hard to tell any more. The quality of clothing has really gone downhill within the last 10-20 years, even in more expensive clothing, so this isn’t just a fast fashion issue.

I find it hard to chuck out clothes - and by chuck out, I mean send to the charity shop. I love pretty much everything in my wardrobe, although some of the smarter clothes rarely get worn. If something is ragged and beyond mending, then I will use it as a dishcloth.

I think the problem is that often even expensive clothing is made in the same sweatshops with inferior fabrics.

The only difference is a primark label sewn in by a kid earning a penny costs less than a ralph lauren label sewn in by a kid earning a penny.

If there’s wear left in it then I try them on Vinted. If they don’t sell on there in a couple of months I bag them up with clothes that have really worn out and take them to the fabric bin at our local council tip.

I’ve had a blitz recently to make space for a few new clothes for the summer.

I'm as far from being a fashionista as it is possible to get. I was asking because most of my clothes are anywhere between 5-20 years old, and I have a summer jacket that must be 30 and still going strong.

The only issue I have is with socks. The damn things shrink and go stiff.

Twice a year.
I use some of them as rags.

I use them gif cleaning first then throw out. Yes unless they’re high quality unfortunately they don’t last

I don’t really let clothes get to this stage, I give them away, donate or recycle etc before it gets to the stage they are really done in

I put the good quality stuff on ebay and if they don’t sell after a few listings they go to a proper charity shop.
My daughter puts kids clothes such as Nike, Hollister, UO and Adidas on Vinted (her way of earning pocket money!)
I use the clothes bins in the supermarket car park for everything else.

I’ve still got clothing older than my children, though. My aim for this summer is to wear each old thing once and decide whether to keep or chuck.

Very rarely. My stuff goes from:

Decent enough to wear outside
Fine for lounging about at home/gardening/decorating etc
Nightwear
Cleaning rags until they are unusable

Then I wash where possible (bin the truly mucky ones) and put them in a rag bag for charity. I have recently done a clear out and demoted a load to the second category.

Although a good tip if you are angsting about getting rid of stuff:

Put all the maybes into a suitcase or closable bag, and put it somewhere you don't often go - spare room, loft, garage etc.

Give it 1-2 months and if you haven't gone back and rummaged through the bag for any item, take the lot to charity without looking in it again.

(obviously extend the timescale accordingly for seasonal stuff )