What do they do with donated clothes?

[PinnyPencher3]

Where I live my options are:
-drop off at charity shop
-leave outside house in bag that was put through letterbox (charity initiative)
-take to clothing bin at supermarket (charity initiative)
-take to dump where there’s a bin (think charity thing but not sure)

So I understand if I have a garment in relative decent condition I can donate to charity shop and they’ll sell it. But what about other stuff, what do they do with it, should I not give them stuff that isn’t charity shop sellable?

Examples:

• a t-shirt that I don’t think the Charity shop would sell as is too worn
• a pair of socks or pants, good condition but not new
• a towel
• a piece of clothing beyond repair (so just fabric at this point)

I of course want to avoid landfill. Am I mad to think that someone might want these things (maybe not the last item) because they have nothing, for example maybe a homeless person / person in extreme poverty?

I suppose my question is - what happens to stuff I donate? Is there a way to donate non sellable items to people in need?

I asked in my local charity shops and the staff didn’t know!

Primark take clothes in any condition for recycling

Homeless people and people in extreme poverty need good quality clothes, not old rags. They are likely to be sleeping out, or else indoors without being able to afford to put the heating on.

Local vets will usually happily accept washed towels (& newspapers), but I'm not sure with covid hitting the industry so hard if they can still accept them.
We have a clothes bank in some of the bigger supermarket carparks which takes rags too.
Your council website may have a page on recycling?

Oxfam own a textile recycling facility in Huddersfield. Put anything too worn out to sell on - including old pants, bras and socks - in a separate marked bag. I'd wash them first of course.

Some charity shops collect rags too - these are sold bundled to dealers (so charity shops make a little money) who sift through, many items can be sold overseas in markets, other material can be recycled

I volunteer with a clothing charity scheme, it's really opened my eyes.
Clothing in good condition goes on the rails. No tears holes stains or smells or bobbly/shrunk things. Some goes to an elderly hospital ward. Decent everyday casual clothes are most in demand, suits etc less so. Good menswear is rare.

The rest goes to "rags" but that's shorthand for sending to a specialist textile recyclers who do a detailed second sift to export, fibre recycling, etc. Charity gets a price per kilo for this.

Sometimes we have a slightly less tidy item that goes in the rough sleepers box such as one off event t shirts, more worn coats and hoodies. But a big part of restoring people's dignity is that they are worth clean, decent clothes.

The worst thing in donatons is decent clothes that have been wasted by being
sent dirty/unwashed or stored damp and smelling musty or worse. I had to put a Jaeger dress in the rag bag because it had soup or something dripped on it. Expensive trainers with er .. trodden in dirt. Send clean stuff if you want another human to wear it.