Unwanted clothes

[Sweetpea70]

What is your opinion on donating clothes, or taking them some where like clothes for cash? I'm asking from a environmentally point of view, not a financial one.
I've given up with Vinted, Ebay & car boot sales for most stuff. The market is flooded with over consumerism.
Thinking about cash for clothes, because at least you get something back.
Trouble is, you read about how much of it, & also items left in clothing banks, gets shipped abroad. This has caused their own local textiles businesses to collapse. I saw one article where anything unwanted ends up on a beach!
Charity shops are inundated with stuff too.
We have wrecked the planet with too much stuff...

I'm curious about what's the answer...apart from buy less stuff (difficult with growing kids)

I used to sell all the kids clothes on Vinted but I’ve started taking them to the charity shop or recycling point.

Everyone on Vinted wants everyone for £1 and it’s really not worth my time anymore.

Offer them on freecycle ... no hassle and definitely will be used

Trying to sell on Vinted is so time consuming, with all the photos & that. I have a lovely coat for a toddler. There's about 500 similar items. We're trying to buy less stuff now, it's getting ridiculous.

I agree. Not sure what the answer is.
Just so much stuff in every shop in my local area alone. Then multiply and I get 🤯
The time is surely to stop producing new and concentrate on using what we have ?

I've looked at that before and only ever get redirected to a Usa site. Do you know if there is a Uk site?

You are not wrong that we have wrecked the planet with too much stuff. That mindset needs to change going forward. You do not need 5 dresses all the same in different colours. You do not need a complete new wardrobe for each holiday, or a new outfit for each night out. People doing "hauls" of shite they have bought from Shein or Temu should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. We should all be buying less, buying second hand where possible.

However that doesn't address the issue of what to do with clothes already in existence. Anything is better than throwing them in landfill. Charity shops yes are overwhelmed but will still appreciate donations of good quality clothing in good condition. Or Vinted or Ebay. Or even putting them in one of the clothes bins. You won't get much from cash for clothes type places as the prices have plummeted because there is just so much excess around.

There is a charity near me (assume that there are others in other areas) that works a bit like a food bank for clothes - people donate and then families in need are referred. I’ll see if I can find a link.

jubileesolihull.org/childrens-storehouse/

My plan for unwanted /outgrown:
Anything in a really good condition, vinted for £4-5. I want it gone, that feels like a price to make my time worth it. Gets left on for a couple of months then removed and goes to charity shop. Rags /stained/badly worn clothes to clothing bins.

im trying to buy from vinted /ebay rather than new. Issues of growing children needing full new wardrobes make that harder to do, but look there first.

And for myself, I need to lose 2kg before the summer proper starts, I’m not buying new clothes in a bigger size so I’ve got to get into old things. (There is Easter chocolate all over my house making this plan harder to stick to!)

There is a local FB page in our area that people can give away children’s clothes, shoes, toys etc. In principle it’s a great idea but it is often filled with replies like ‘I will take it but you need to deliver’ 🙄

There are local sites for both Freecycle and Freegle, which is similar, for all over the country. I agree this is a great way to get rid of old clothes and they'll definitely be used. Never heard of Cash for Clothes.
https://www.freecycle.org/
https://www.ilovefreegle.org/

I just give them to a charity that collects from my doorstep.

They're brilliant, they even send you a text when they've done it.

When I lived abroad there was a clothes swap thing - it was fun. You bring a bag of clothes and dump it there and take a bag of clothes you want. Like a market set up with drinks and stuff.

UK site is called Freegle

Oxfam ! They send out out parcels for you to post unwanted clothes back to them

Which charity is that?

Do you have a local 'acts of kindness' group on social media?

Our local freecycle group comes under the heading of our local area, so maybe Google your area instead just Freecycle alone.

https://www.ilovefreegle.org/ Works quite well for children’s clothing bundles being given away. Not so good for adult clothing

I am commenting from one of the countries that receives all the excess.

A lot of the clothes that have been donated and do not sell, are then sent to African countries. But much is sold, not donated. I suppose someone has to pick up the shipping and duties somewhere along the line, but the sheer amount of stuff that is available is really quite an eye opener.

If I wanted to, right now I could buy a Coach handbag, Lululemon gym set, and a Moncler coat for less than a weeks worth of groceries.

I also think that those companies that you mentioned, offer you a small amount in cash, as they are selling to a bulk buyer for resale. I cannot tell you with certainty what % of the goods coming in, are truly going to charitable causes. Rags are also quite big business, so bales and bales are coming in, to be chopped up. And then after being soaked with oil or whatever, where to they go? Into landfill I suspect.

And then where do all of these clothes end up. Also into landfill. Or as pp said, the fast fashion graveyard beach in Ghana as an example.

But if you think that you are being charitable donating big bags of items to local charity shops and think that every item is going to used by someone in need, then you are very mistaken. Yes, of course SOME funds will go to the linked charity, and SOME items might go to the poorest of poor, but there is no way one charity can move the amount of items that are coming in. From what I see, a first world country charity shop is a place where you drop off items, and then walk away without a thought to where the items go next.

The answer is to just stop buying so much. The amount of items I have seen that are brand new with tags still attached is shocking.

Let's not even go down the route of how this has affected the textile industries here. We have 45% tariffs now on imported clothing coming in, just trying to reduce the amount Shein etc. stuff coming in as well, and try to save this industry that is dying a fast death.

Well it's actually Anglo Doorstep Collections.

They support a number of different charities and you can choose which one when booking.

I always take stuff to the Salvation Army clothing banks as they either reuse, sell or recycle stuff.

Do you know what happens after you get your text though?

This is a very likely scenario:

All of those bags of donated goods are sent to a warehouse, where they are unpacked and sorted into clothing types.

One section will be t-shirts. All the white t-shirts will be separated from the colour t-shirts and baled up. If the intention is for rags, white t-shirt material for rags are charged at the higher rate than colour tee-shirts.

The jackets will go to one section. Each jacket type will be sorted according to the jacket type. Puffer jackets will go together. Trench coats will go together. Kids sizes together. And so on.

Then on to the next category of long dress, short dress, light colour trousers, dark colour trousers, gym wear, jeans, shoes well that is just a whole other paragraph.

Then these are sanitized and compressed and wrapped up. A lot of the time they are wrapped up in things like sheeting and multiple of duvet covers and blankets that are there too.

Then they go up for sale and get shipped out to the buyer, who has now ordered 600kg bale of white tees, 50kg of short jackets and 200kg of jeans. A 50kg jacket bale is around 40 - 50 jackets.

Then they arrive to an African port and get shipped off to whoever ordered the bales. Some are for donations, some are for rag businesses, and some are for just for resale. For those going for resale, it just takes a walk to downtown central and there on the street and piles and piles of clothes. Heaped piles With a cardboard sign above saying the price per each item. Jeans 50p, dresses 20p etc.

I think if more people could see the reality, then maybe they would think twice before thinking about adding 20 items to their cart for the upcoming holiday.

I take my clothes to my local charity shop. I like the charity and they are always taking donations and seem grateful. I also get an annual letter telling me how much my donations have raised which I love!

My area has a similar charity and after volunteering with them I am truly agog at the textile waste in this country. They get bag fulls of baby clothes in size 3-6 months, at least a quarter of it given as gifts and never worn! Things that have been worn are also donated with stains that haven’t been properly dealt with or even holes etc. They get so much donated it’s not worth stain removing or repairing so it gets “rag recycled” I would guess that’s probably around of a quarter of the donations.

Having seen this, when I had my first baby I bought her new vests and asked for no new clothes (obviously still got some!) and sent round links for the little loop, which resells good quality clothing (jojo, kite, frugi etc.). These clothes last well and even third for fourth hand, they are going strong!

Our local area also has an excellent second hand sale where the bougie mums sell the nice stuff. We got 8 items from the little white company for £5!