New wardrobe of lost loved one

[Sunningtoday]

Hello there, I was hoping for some considered ideas on how best to approach tackling the sale or gifting of some of my late wife's clothes.

She was only 45 and quite stylish the loss (this year) was expected for the past 2 years.

I am in the middle of a general declutter anyway looking at 25 years worth of accumulated possessions from both of us.

But my question was about this new wardrobe of clothes which I only just realised the extent of it today. She had been on an online shopping spree in April and sadly passed later that month and has new designer clothes from REES, Oasis, French Connection and the like, nothing too expensive but all together is must be a couple of thousand pounds worth of clothes, sizes 8 to 10.

I decided to keep some items which remind me of and reflect her personality and style but there are far too many to keep them all. We had already given many bags of work clothes to MIND charity shop and I feel its kind of a shame giving unworn clothes to them.

On the other hand its a lot of work to put them on ebay for example and sell them individually. Its only the older clothes that have some sentimental value to me and one or two new ones.

I know this is relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things but its practical and I need to address what to do as keeping everything is possible but that also seems wasteful and a bit sad too...

Any thoughts would be most welcome.

Also, I mentioned to other family members to take some items but they were like, no it wouldn''t be right' which I kind of agree with too.

Thank you, Mark

Hi Mark, could you have a charity day with friends and family to raise money for a charity she supported? So sorry for your loss.

So sorry to hear of your loss.

How about doing a boot fair? And like the poster above said raising money for charity. You could set a minimum amount for everything but ask that people pay what they think it's worth.

Oxfam will put individual higher value clothes online to sell them

What about something like this?
smartworks.org.uk/

Sorry for your loss. My dh died last year and i kept clothes that were very "him" and i remembered him wearing a lot on holiday etc. The rest i gave to charity but his clothes were not particularly expensive or valuable.
It might be worth selling the clothes to be able to use the money on a holiday or family. Could you pay someone commission to sell them for you?
I need to finish clearing dhs wardrobe so dd2 can use it.
I did have a massive clear out and redecorated/carpeted in the year following the loss of my dh. There's still lots of his stuff in his wardrobe though

There is a charity that provides outfits for interviews for women who may not have anything to wear/can’t afford new clothes. I will google.

Very sorry about your wife

Could you get someone to make a patchwork quilt out of some of the fabric from her older clothes?

X post with Judas

Here's a charity which supplies work clothes for unemployed women returning to work, sounds like some of your late wife's clothes might suit?

smartworks.org.uk/

I'm very sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry you lost your wife. It must be very moving to deal with her clothes now.

I came on to suggest Smart Works, too. Great idea.

You could get in touch with a women's refuge, too - often women have to leave without any clothes. If the refuge wanted to, they could sell the clothes online instead and raise money that way.

There's a shop near me that sells good quality second hand clothes and gives the owner a percentage of the selling price.

Thanks for all the thoughtful responses, I will definitely look out some items for smartworks, work clothes can be so expensive at just the wrong times.

Sorry for your loss, Sunningtoday

When my DH died, I gave his male friends choice of his fabulous flowery shirts, for which he was renowned. They loved it.

Are there items from your your late wife's wardrobe, e.g. scarfs you could give to her friends?