Charity shops, I apologise

[thedevilinablackdress]

I've loved charity shopping for over 30 years, but like many I've long mixed it with online second hand shopping.
The stories in this Guardian article are not new to those of us who've read threads on here, work in the shops or know people who do.
I never sell online myself and am a very mindful donatter, but my own eBay addiction and Vinted dabbling is contributing to this in a way.
Shops won't want to discourage donations, but it seems more push back on the mountains of crap is needed.

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/oct/13/people-sell-their-best-stuff-on-vinted-how-charity-shops-became-a-dumping-ground-for-unsellable-clothes

Yes - by e-mail.

Gosh.

is it particularly important to you to know which items sell?

Agree. Im currently wearing mint velvet jeans from a charity shop . In excellent condition when I bought them.

Ragging good clothes is appalling.

Okay that’s interesting, the books I was dropping off were effectively brand new art books by publishers like Taschen. Things that had cost £35-£50 in the first place and were about individual artists/architecture etc. Personally I would have snapped those up if they’d been £5-£10 in store, they would have made lovely presents.
As it was I took them home and sold them myself at approximately £20 a pop.
I agree that they do not need multiple sets of encyclopaedia when we have the internet and Wikipedia but these lovely items? I was really shocked.

But how many people wander into a charity to spend £10 on a coffee table arty hardback? Maybe at an Oxfam or other charity bookshop, but not generally. But if they can offload ten “recent thrillers” for £2 a pop in a morning session, they can stock the shelf again for the afternoon.

I often complain to DH that my favourite shops sell the same lines every year (which is good), but to stay at the same price, the material gets thinner and thinner. I would rather pay more every year, to maintain the original quality. However, I don’t get a choice!

What should charities do if they put good quality clothes on the rack but they go
unsold, and every day they get new bags of donations, and have limited storage and limited volunteer time?

Sooner or later staff have to make “mass” decisions about stock on the shop floor or stock in the bags. Or specify categories of donations, which also seems to piss off some posters on this thread!

can I ask why you care?

I think that's why charities who sell books online do better. I have had some great purchases from Oxfam books online.

It's a tricky one. Especially since tips now don't have enough clothing bins to get rid of old clothes, either. Not sure what the solution is, tbh.

Also I want to say to you all that just because a charity shop ‘rags’ clothes - it doesn’t mean they go in the bin!! Actually Ragging clothes means they are sorted again by ‘the rag man’. Typically the rag business then grades (sorts) them into a few basic categories; in Europe this is normally Cream/extra, number 1 and number 2, and then export rag. These are then sold off priced per kilo. Items that end il in cream/extra will be sold to wholesalers, vintage buyers, market traders. Number 1 fairly similar, it will be good condition pieces but fast fashion like Zara etc. Number two is the same but possibly a bit damaged. So not everything that goes to the rag man is destined for the bin, but the quality of fast cheap fashion is so crap that it isn’t desirable.

Also want to add that those charity bags that people leave out by the road to be picked up are often rag businesses masquerading as charities. If you look at the small print on the bag it’s normally a private business who will then ‘donate’ a percentage of textile to a charity.. so when they say ‘breast cancer support’ they are just giving some textile to a charity who is in that sphere, possibly.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20201208STO93327/fast-fashion-eu-laws-for-sustainable-textile-consumption

'Textile consumption in the EU increased from 17 kg per person in 2019 to 19 kg per person on average in 2022 — enough to fill a large suitcase with new textiles. At the same time, around 12 kg of clothing per person is dumped each year in the EU.'
...
'Between 4% and 9% of all textile products put on the European market are destroyed without ever being used. Used clothes can be exported outside the EU but are mostly (87%) incinerated or landfilled.
...
The way people get rid of unwanted clothes has also changed, with items being thrown away rather than donated. Less than half of used garments are collected for reuse or recycling, and only 1% of used clothes are recycled into new clothes'

https://climateseed.com/blog/secteur-du-textile-impact-environnemental-et-reglementation

'With 4 billion tons of CO2 emitted annually, accounting for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the textile industry is a major contributor to global warming. At the European level, clothing is the fourth most environmentally sensitive consumption category, preceded by food, housing, and transport. Indeed, the demand for clothing is increasing with unprecedented speed: from 62 million tonnes in 2015 to 102 million tonnes in 2030. '

This is interesting. May have knock on effects on charity shops:

'Effective January 1, 2022, the Act prohibits the destruction of unsold nonfood products. Companies will now have to reuse, donate or recycle their unsold products, rather than landfill or incinerate unsold goods.'

Perhaps those posters who constantly tell us how charity shops should be run and what we should do with donations could actually volunteer, they could then post constructive, knowledgeable advice.
I will say that the shop ragging decent Levi’s because they have no room on the shelves for them has a management problem ，as do shops leaving unsold items out for months at a time. 2 week culling where I volunteer-even less when we can replace with better quality goods.
Again, a heartfelt plea to those donating, please don’t send dirty/torn items and broken pieces. And thank you for all those who do send lovely, saleable goods.

Everything we do seems to piss people off!
This coupled with the assumption that we take all the ‘best stuff’ makes you wonder why we bother volunteering!

@allmycats yes, it would be quite the eye opener for all the charitY shop experts on mumsnet. Just remember to take some decent gloves as it’s a bit grim at times!

I hadn't realised people are so fussy about jeans. Oh well I didn't catch anything from wearing something that potentially someone else had around their bottom. After all, I wear underwear and I have a washing machine - and I suspect the donor did too.

I always think it's weird that people would return something to a charity shop - my mum does. But I guess it depends how much you paid for it. If £4, just donate the item back. if £40, well that's a bit different.

I probably wouldn't assume the lower sales of lower body garments is all fussiness related. It's much harder to judge whether trousers in particular are going to fit you, as a pp said. I get why charity shops have closed their changing rooms but it's meant I'd only ever buy tops and coats now.

I always think it's weird that people would return something to a charity shop - my mum does. But I guess it depends how much you paid for it. If £4, just donate the item back. if £40, well that's a bit different.

Maybe. But there are posters on the thread regretting the loss of charity shops performing a dual role of providing affordable clothing to those in need, who can’t afford to re-donate £4.

I am not saying that was you 🙂 but one type of shop can’t be all the things that even the small number of people on this thread want them to be.

For anyone else in this position, some care homes will take the clothes for people who are admitted without anything. They requested my MIL’s clothes.

Maybe charities should start giving away clothing for free, very cheaply or in return for donations. There are plenty of people out there who can't afford new clothes and my local charity shops are often quite expensive.

I have worked in a charity shop so do have some idea of what it's like receiving so many donations. We often had sales to try to clear the racks but in my opinion, they didn't go far enough.

I think a big box of items, maybe outside the door - say T-shirts at 10p a time, and another with jeans at 20p, would be great. It wont raise a huge amount of money but will at least be recycling the clothes.

I used to work in A&E years ago and we had a cupboard of mainly 2nd hand clothes. Mainly to give to people who had their clothes cut off them, ripped/covered in blood etc. It was mostly staff that donated the clothes, but maybe they accept donations from others?

Maybe charities should start giving away clothing for free, very cheaply or in return for donations. There are plenty of people out there who can't afford new clothes and my local charity shops are often quite expensive.

But there are still rent, utilities and management costs to cover. Things can’t just be given away, and even low quality stuff has to have been sorted from the better stuff.

Everyone go and look in the British Heart Foundation furniture and home shops and tell us what you think.

I live under one in London. They all smoke where I leave the building.