If you want to do good by donating your clothes to charity, it’s important to follow these nine rules to ensure your donation provides the most value possible. From buying less to taking better care of your clothes, speaking to your local charity shop to tying your shoes together, I hope this guide helps you to give your pre-loved clothes a new home without promoting overconsumption.
9 Rules For Donating Clothes To Charity
1. Reduce the amount of clothing you buy
The first step to making more meaningful clothing donations is to start by reducing the amount of clothing you buy. And start now! Empty your cart! Clear your wish lists! By slowing down your own consumption, you’ll hopefully begin to shift towards making higher quality yet less frequent clothing purchases. However, the ability to avoid shopping is actually a lot harder than you might think! Check out my guide to how to stop feeling the pressure to shop, where I outline see the sneaky ways fashion brands sell us clothes we don’t need, as well as tips to stop falling for them.
2. Take good care of your clothes
Next, learn to take better care of your clothes. To make the most of your wardrobe – and pass on higher quality clothes donations when the time comes – learn how to take care of your clothes and accessories. By knowing how to best wash your clothes, repair them, and alter them, you’ll keep them in good condition. This will ensure you wear the clothes for longer, while also having better quality clothes to donate at the end of your time wearing them.
3. Set up a ‘purgatory’ bag in your wardrobe
If and when you do fall out of love with your clothes, put them in a ‘purgatory’ bag. I recommend storing unwanted clothes for a period of one to three months before passing them on. This ensures you won’t regret giving the clothing away, or worse, end up re-buying the same item. In the meantime, you could list them on a clothes resale or fashion rental app.
4. Sort your unwanted clothes by quality
When you’re ready to pass on the clothes in your purgatory bag, sort them by quality:
- High quality clothing: anything brand new, with or without tags, and clothing you would feel happy giving to a friend. Make sure the clothing is clean and doesn’t need any repairs.
- Low quality clothing: any underwear, hosiery, socks, pyjamas, and unwearable items, including torn, stained, or broken items. Make sure these are washed before donating.
5. Resell your clothes and make a donation
For your high quality clothing, why not resell them yourself and donate the proceeds? This takes the pressure off the charity’s own resources to process and sell the garments online or in-store. It could also likely net more money as you’ll know the item’s original value.
I like to sell my clothes on eBay and Vinted, where I find there is more activity and I can sell most items for a good price.
Plus, if you have lots of items, or have friends who also want to donate clothes, why not host a clothes swap for charity?
6. Wash and prepare your clothes donations
For the rest of the clothing you wish to donate to charity, I recommend freshly washing them and checking them over. All clothes donations must be clean and laundered to be sellable, and that even applies to low quality clothes, socks, and rags. Be sure to tie pairs of shoes, gloves, etc. together.
According to fashion activist Tansy Hoskins, one helpful thing you can do to signal to a charity that a piece of clothing is unwearable is to cut them almost in half.
And for any clothes going to a clothes recycling bin, put these in cloth tote bags or pillow cases, as plastic bags often catch and rip.
7. Speak to your local charity shop
If you wish to donate clothes to a specific charity shop, I recommend calling them beforehand. This way, you can find out if they are accepting donations, and find out when they would like you to drop the items off.
If you’re aiming to donate to a specific charity shop because you’d like your clothes to be sold there, be sure to ask. Don’t be surprised if this isn’t the case – for many charities with multiple shops, it is more efficient for them to pool all donations at a textile recycling facility, where they grade donations, and send some to shops.
In fact, this process actually makes charity shops fairer, with a range of styles, prices, and items being spread across different shops.
8. Donate clothes at a clothes recycling bin or by post
Another great way to donate clothes to charity is at a clothes recycling bin. You can donate clothes in any condition at clothes recycling bins, as well as other items like homewares, electricals, and more. Last month, I visited The Salvation Army’s textile recycling centre to discover what happens to clothes donations and was so impressed by the way they sort clothes and pass them on.
Plus, if you don’t have a clothes recycling bin near you, or require additional access, it is now possible to donate your clothes by post, or book a free clothes collection in London!
9. Never throw old clothes in the bin
Finally, a warning. When a garment has come to the end of its life, do not throw it away. Not even torn, stained, or unwearable clothes should be put in the bin. Any clothing that goes in your black bin will go to landfill and will take years and years and years to break down. Maybe even hundreds of years if they are made from oil-based synthetics such as polyester or acrylic.
Despite this, more than 300,000 tonnes of old clothes are thrown into household rubbish bins each year in the UK.
One day, I hope to see kerbside recycling include items like clothing, but until then, it’s up to charities and textile recycling facilities to ensure our clothes continue being worn for longer, and when they’re no longer able to be worn, are recycled into new clothes, furniture, or insulation. To help them with this process, be sure to follow the rules I’ve shared above!
