To want a clothes collection that actually donates to charity?

[BoogieWonder]

I have done a big clear out of children's and my clothes, so have loads of good quality stuff that I'd like to go to charity. Trouble is, all of my local shops are very difficult about donations - you can only take a small amount, you can only donate on certain days (which seem to change constantly) etc.

Ideally I would like to just get rid in one go. The local clothes bins at the supermarket are allegedly for charity, but when you read the small print just seem to sell on and then donate a tiny per cent of profits.

I've found a few places online that will collect, but either they don't say what will happen to the clothes, or it turns out they are selling them abroad and then giving an undisclosed amount to charity which I imagine is very small.

BHF will only collect clothes along with furniture which I don't have. Are there any genuine charities which would collect? I found one called Triad but it's London only.

Why does it really matter to you where it ends up? Someone's taking a load of stuff you don't want off your hands, and it will be recycled in one way or another. The charities are "difficult" about it because so much donated stuff is more trouble than it's worth, which is why they're prepared to put their name to commercial collections where someone will do the legwork for a fee, and pass something onto the charity.

Because I'd like to maximise the amount that goes to an actual charity.

I think you can take stuff to TK Maxx

I think Anglo Doorstep Collections donates to charity as you can choose which one. They don’t take pyjamas but they seem to take most other things.

If you genuinely want to help charities, then you need to donate stuff in the way that works for them, not what’s most convenient for you.

Then you need to sell on Vinted and donate the proceeds to charity.

Charities dont want your clothes, it’s more work/cost/effort for them than they get back in sales/donations. The charities aren’t there to assuage your guilt for getting rid of clothes.

Contact your local womans aid, they are always looking for clothes at the refuges

Yes, quite. They're essentially letting someone else do that bit for them. You don't help them by giving them a load of work to do.

Do you have a local Free Shop? They usually take all clothing and often (well ours, at least) collect.

Sell it to one of the places that will give you money by the kilo then donate that wherever you wish

You can download labels from Oxfam, they take big boxes of clothes. Maybe they sell abroad though.

All I want is to know they're going to be reused and not shredded for rags, that's hard enough to find.

Go through and take out the excellent stuff and give it to your charity shop. Get rid of the rest to whoever will collect. Or sell and give the proceeds to charity.

Wow. Why all the hatred? I agree. I’d rather the charities got the money than those collections companies. How do you know this person’s close aren’t beautiful high quality clothes? Good for you OP. x

Contact a local church (or other place of worship).
They usually collect clothes for those in need, homeless, womens shelters etc.
The clothes will go directly to those that need them.

It's not hatred. The charities don't "get the money" if you give them all your old stuff. It costs them money to get rid of it, so they let someone else do the work and have a cut.

As PPs have said, if it was about OP maximising the income for the charity, she'd be prepared to do the work and sell the stuff, rather than looking for someone to come and take her unwanted clothes away for free.

If it is mainly children's clothes you are wanting to pass on, have a look online for a clothes bank in your area. They usually don't have restrictions on how much you can donate at a time. Not sure that they will collect, that will be dependent on the clothes bank and their volunteers but worth a go and the clothes will go directly to families in need.

Icollectclothes picks clothes from your house and donates it to charities. Very convenient.

No disrespect to you OP because obviously I don’t know what exactly you have to donate but I volunteer in a charity shop and so many people come in with bags of stuff saying how good it is and all in excellent condition.
The truth is 9 times out of 10 it just isn’t! Often it’s dirty, worn and fit to only be ragged.
With the likes of Temu being so cheap to buy new customers don’t want to buy anything that isn’t perfect - even though we are not expensive it’s awful what we have to rag, there is nowhere that wants to take our bulk and we don’t have the space to store it ourselves.

I retired recently, but worked for a charity that very much DO want all the clothes you wish to give away. The charity’s shops are staffed mainly by volunteers who sort through them and those that can be resold are put on display. It’s true that the price they can get for RAG (clothes that are damaged and deemed unsellable) has plummeted, but they do still sell RAG on as the small amount they get for it is better than nothing. The charity’s shops’ takings literally paid my salary. OP, if you’re in East Anglia, by any chance, do please pm me, because there’s a local charity that would love your used clothes.

Do have a salvation army or Scope nearby? They take anything and everything

Does your local fire station have a Firefighter charity collection bin? All money raised goes to the charity.

Thank you!

Thanks for all the useful suggestions. The idea that either I have to accept that a charity won't really get anything, or I have to personally sell everything is wild.

Very sadly I'm not in East Anglia but will see if some of the other ideas work.

Icollectclothes and Anglo were two I found where it didn't seem that much of anything went to charity.

I give everything to the Salvation Army - they have a bin at their building in our town. I’ve always assumed the proceeds go directly back to them, but I admit I’ve never checked the small print.

I think your only options are a homeless charity or refuge who would use the clothes

i wouldn’t donate clothes to a company that sells them in developing countries

however, I think you are being quite demanding in your replies - charities need volunteers to sort it all out and aren’t just there to make your life easy!

Why is it wild? If it were viable for a charity to take clothes and sell them in order to raise money they would do that. Instead you want a system that suits you and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy at the same time. They don’t want your clothes. Your choice is to accept that and get rid of them another way, or do the work yourself to sell them and pass the money on. That would be really useful for the charity.

I agree trying to donate clothes or other items when the quality is good seems difficult - I would like to think the charity can benefit. It seems now that their are many charity shops who state the time it the type of item they accept this week or next week is different which makes it very difficult to donate