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An earlier version of this guide misattributed a source as a For Days representative. The representative was speaking on behalf of Trashie. Renting Moving Blankets
If you have piles of old clothes and shoes languishing in your home, figuring out what to get rid of is just half the dilemma. You also have to decide how to unload those castoffs.
When it comes to this type of purge, balancing every consideration—what’s practical, moral, and sustainable—can be stressful. Do national donation centers really need every sweater? Are those “recycling” programs at local shops any good? And what the heck should you do with the worn-out garments that nobody wants? Here’s our advice for donating, reselling, repurposing, and recycling—without losing your cool.
Resist the temptation to toss a pile of stuff into the first donation bin you see: The first step is sorting through the mess, advised Karen Pearson, chair of the Sustainability Council at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Items should be clean and free of stains and tears. Separate the wearable clothes by type and label them for easier sorting by a charity. Stained and damaged items should be set aside for repurposing or textile recycling.
Ultimately, everything you donate should respect the potential future recipient. Don’t expect someone in need to be grateful for a stained T-shirt or a pair of ratty sweats. Our experts said garments that don’t make someone feel good—or wouldn’t fetch any money if they were resold—are unlikely to find a second home. “If you don’t want it [because it’s damaged], nobody else does,” said Aja Barber, author of Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism.
There are some items that experts told us are always welcome donations, including new bras, socks, underwear, and bedding; new or gently used shoes; and professional attire. (Ditto for toiletries and beauty products that are new, unopened, and not slated to expire for at least six months.)
Before you head to your local donation center or ship off a package, verify what the organization needs. Many organizations feature this info on their website, but it’s a good idea to call or email to confirm what they’ll accept. Taking this step not only helps you ensure that your garments are going to people who need them, but also spares the workers sifting through donations from having to throw away or find another home for the stuff that doesn’t align with the company's mission.
According to Katie Brumfield, who at the time of our interview was a development associate for Dress for Success—a not-for-profit that provides professional attire for financially insecure women rejoining the workforce—70% of items the organization receives during clothing drives are unusable because they’re damaged or unsuitable as business attire.
Our experts also said it’s best to steer clear of donating garments that aren’t appropriate for the weather in the donation destination. For example, a down coat isn’t the right fit for a relief organization based in a warm climate.
If you have seasonal items to donate, it’s best to hold on to them, if possible, until the time of year when they’ll be usable. So if you have extra winter coats, consider waiting until late fall to offload them. And save short-sleeved and lighter-weight formal-wear drops for springtime, when they might help stock local prom drives.
Wondering which organization is the best choice for your haul? National organizations like Goodwill and The Salvation Army have the most visibility, but they can often be overwhelmed with donations during the holidays and spring-cleaning season. Local nonprofits and affinity organizations, such as places of worship, Mutual Aid branches, Housing Works, the Native American Heritage Association, and United Way of Greater Houston’s Project Undercover, do similar work, and your donations may go farther with them. There are also local thrift shops that take donations—Out of the Closet and Savers are two examples that have philanthropic affiliations, with multiple locations across the country.
If you’re letting go of any particularly desirable items—that is, stuff you’re confident other people would be willing to pay for—more specialized organizations that redistribute items for resale may be the way to go. Soles4Souls’s 4Opportunity is one such program that provides donated clothing and shoes to entrepreneurs in developing countries so that they can make money to fund their businesses by reselling the items in their communities. The goal is to empower small-business owners while keeping items out of landfills for longer. “The better [the] quality [of the] item, the more income our entrepreneurs can make,” said Soles4Souls president and CEO Buddy Teaster.
Another option is the Buy Nothing Project, for people who want to focus on giving within their communities. Think of it as a gift economy: Folks create posts about stuff from the deep recesses of their closets, offering it up for free in hopes that their neighbors will breathe new life into it. As a multi-year veteran of my local Buy Nothing group, I can attest to its benefits.
Buy Nothing groups originated on Facebook—and you can still find them there (the global directory of Facebook groups can be found on the Buy Nothing Project’s website), but now there’s a standalone app as well. (Note: Multiple reviews complain that the app can be slow and tends to crash.)
If you’d like to recoup some cash, or if your favorite charity is overwhelmed with donations, consider consigning or reselling your clothes yourself. Aja Barber, author of Consumed, told us that she supports local consignment stores because you can inquire in person about how much of the store’s inventory is later donated or destroyed, and how they treat their workers. “When it comes to sustainability and ethics, small business is definitely the way,” she said.
Reselling locally reduces your shipping-associated carbon footprint, so it might be considered a slightly more sustainable choice. Online platforms such as Craigslist and OfferUp allow you to list items for local pickup; using the forum is free. (The exception is if you’re a dealer on Craigslist, and OfferUp has optional paid features.)
You can also post your wares on social media like the highly popular Facebook Marketplace or Instagram; Facebook requires a 5% transaction fee if you operate as a business. Just keep in mind that completing these types of transactions usually requires an in-person meeting, which raises concerns about security measures and payment protocols. We recommend following the individual platforms’ safety and security guidelines, while also taking your own precautions.
Of course, online reselling may be more profitable if you don’t just limit yourself to local buyers. Sites like eBay, Depop, and Poshmark allow you to reach a wider audience via an established selling platform. You photograph your items and write descriptions—ideally with some flourish—then eventually package and ship them yourself. Diligent shoppers expect a lot of detail in such listings, so it’s smart to take measurements of the garment or link to size charts when possible.
Be aware that these sites take a percentage of the sales price or charge fees. eBay gets a 15% cut on sales of clothing, shoes, and accessories for items that go for $2,000 or less; it gets 9% for items over $2,000. Depop takes a 10% cut (regardless of sales price) and also charges a standard transaction fee by PayPal or Depop Payments of around 3.3%. (The transaction fees vary by location.) Poshmark’s policy is to charge a flat fee of about $3 for sales under $15, but for any amounts over $15, Poshmark gets 20% of the sales price.
If you would prefer a reselling method that lightens your lift, consignment shops—whether brick-and-mortar or online—require less effort from the seller, since they handle merchandising, sales, and shipping (if applicable). But they’re often quite selective about what they accept, and they take a steep cut of the action—from 97% for the lowest-priced items and up to 20% for higher-priced goods. Of the online sites, our experts recommended The RealReal and ThredUp in particular for their transparency and easy seller-setup processes.
The RealReal specializes in high-end contemporary designer clothes and jewelry, as well as art and home goods, and gives sellers a commission ranging from 20% to 70%, depending on the price of your sale.
ThredUp takes both designer and midlevel clothing (think Gucci to J.Crew), but the commissions that sellers earn are relatively low—from 3% to 15% for items less than $20 and 80% for items costing $200 or more—and there’s a limit on how long listings can remain live. As of 2022, its item acceptance rate was 61%. ThredUp also has a number of ways to facilitate the donation and recycling of accepted pieces that don’t sell. According to a company rep, items that don’t meet the company's criteria can either go into Rescue Boxes—discounted grab-bag style assortments sold on the site—or “responsibly reused and recycled through a vetted network of partners, including domestic thrift stores, international brokers, and domestic graders/sorters.”
Damaged items—garments with missing buttons, jammed zippers, or holes—often end up in a landfill somewhere in the donation cycle. Many of those could be salvaged with a bit of home mending and sewing. “We lack the mindset and the skillset. Most people can’t even put a button back on their shirt, let alone tailor something,” said Liz Ricketts of the Ghana- and US-based not-for-profit The Or Foundation, which advocates for fashion sustainability. Even steaming or pressing your garment might breathe a little life into something you might have once thought to cast off.
Luckily, you don’t need one of Wirecutter’s sewing machine picks to take on minor repairs. With guidance from online tutorials, this Singer sewing repair kit can do the trick for small tasks ranging from replacing shirt buttons to patching denim.
When you’re ready to up your game, you can snag our entry-level sewing machine pick, the Brother CS7000X, and take classes in person or online. Wirecutter staffers are fans of the subscription services Craftsy and Sew It Academy, which offer virtual sewing classes for all skill levels. You can also browse #SewingTikTok for inspiration to create something new.
Unsurprisingly, the internet is brimming with creative uses for retired gear. You can weave old sweaters (video) into pet beds and turn fleece or other tops made from sturdy fabric into snuffle mats for dogs. Or pull out some craft supplies and transform cotton T-shirts and tanks into food-storage beeswax wraps, reusable makeup-remover pads, a tank-top dress (video), or colorful pillowcases (video).
If crafting and sewing don’t appeal to you, a quick option is to cut up old textiles and turn them into bar mops and reusable “paper towels” for your home. And animal shelters and rescues are often in need of gently used towels to use for pet bedding and to clean up never-ending messes.
A growing number of retailers now offer clothing-recycling programs. Some, like Eileen Fisher's Renew, accept only their own label’s products. Others, like Madewell Forever, take all types of clothing from any brand via mail, as well as any-label denim in Madewell stores. DSW and Nike will recycle any brand of shoe that you give them, but while DSW accepts all shoe types, Nike accepts only athletic sneakers. Multiple stores—including fast-fashion companies like H&M—offer reward points, discounts, or vouchers in return for the old articles.
Depending on the program, shoppers either drop off items in store (you’ll often find big bins near the checkout line) or mail in the pieces, which the companies then sort for resale or recycling, often working with a third party or an industrial-recycling program. (For example, Madewell partners with ThredUp, and DSW partners with Soles4Soles.)
Donating through one of these programs is a low-effort way to ditch unwanted clothes, but the programs are not all created equal. Many experts we consulted were reluctant to make specific recommendations, as the retailers tend to be somewhat opaque about the recycled clothing’s ultimate outcome. However, FIT’s Pearson told us that the recycling programs from Eileen Fisher, Madewell, and Patagonia are reliable options. (Disclosure: FIT regularly invites fashion brands to speak in classrooms and at sustainability summits or to participate in student-led design workshops.)
Ideally, a big-brand recycling program should offer tangible and transparent information about its efforts. “Look for direct language; don’t look for a grandiose plan for the future,” advised Barber, author of Consumed. For example, a company that specifies how much clothing it recycles annually is a better bet than one that promises to make recycling "a priority" moving forward.
No matter how pure the intentions seem—or how good the program sounds—if part of the strategy is to ship donated items to secondhand resale markets abroad, the reality is that the garments will likely end up as trash discarded in a towering landfill or on beaches in Africa and other places abroad, said Ricketts of The Or Foundation. While there isn’t a perfect solution, Ricketts said that brands with take-back programs need to do more to support the communities they’re flooding with discarded garments. She advocates for companies to redistribute the profits they earn from recycling programs back into the supply chain. For example, they could donate the proceeds to garment workers who make the brands’ clothes or train secondhand sellers in clothing repair.
Utilizing these programs does make sense, on multiple levels. After all, big fashion brands account for more textile waste than a single shopper ever could. “Shoving [your clothes] in the bin at one of these places is taking the burden off of the taxpayer and putting it on these fashion brands to deal with,” noted Alden Wicker, a sustainability journalist and founder of EcoCult.
Inevitably, you’ll need to get rid of some items that not even your local dog shelter will take. For a quick and easy solution, look into textile-recycling options with your local sanitation department and at farmers markets. There are also nationwide options, such as industrial recycler TerraCycle (“industrial recycling” refers to recycling industrial waste, the garbage produced by manufacturers and industrial processes) and clothing recycler Trashie.
Trashie’s Take Back Bag recycling program is particularly user-friendly. The Trashie website offers its Take Back Bags—large, pre-addressed mailers—in either singles or multipacks; a $20 bag holds up to 15 pounds. You fill the bag with your clothes, linens, shoes, and accessories, and return it to Trashie. (The items will ultimately be resold, recycled, or downcycled into rags and insulation; any remaining items are garbage.) After Trashie has received your shipment, you receive $30 in TrashieCash, which can be used to purchase gift cards and rewards through a Trashie account.
According to a Trashie spokesperson, 70% to 75% of what people send in the Take Back Bags goes to reuse and around 20% gets recycled or downcycled. The remaining 5% to 10% of the items that cannot be recycled safely end up as garbage. In 2023, Trashie diverted 5.8 million items (weighing 2.9 million pounds) from landfills, which translates to saving over 32 million pounds in CO2 emissions and over 340 million gallons of water.
Meanwhile, industrial recycler TerraCycle recycles everything from garments to old VHS tapes to chewing gum—but taking advantage of that service will cost you. For a fee starting at $149 for clothing and $156 for shoes, the company will send you a box with a prepaid shipping label that you can stuff full of unwanted items and ship back. Warning: The $156 box for shoes can typically fit only two or three pairs. It’s an expensive service, but we wanted to include an industrial-recycling option.
Note: Some large textile brands have established free recycling partnerships with TerraCycle, including Parade underwear’s program (which allows you to send in any brand of underwear) and the Carter’s program (which accepts any brand of kids clothes).
Third-party programs provide details about their recycling efforts, even if their impact is not always clear or measurable. In 2022, TerraCycle was accused of greenwashing and partnering with top plastic-polluting companies (PDF) that haven’t made meaningful progress. This isn’t to say that you should dismiss TerraCycle as an option; rather, it underscores that the fashion industry and other sectors have more progress to make to work toward a sustainable future.
Our experts agree that if you find yourself needing to donate large quantities of clothing every year, it may be time to think about changing your shopping habits. “A lot of people care about this issue,” noted Ricketts of The Or Foundation. “But they have the luxury of forgetting about [it].”
There’s only so much you can do to recycle used clothes, but you can reduce your own consumption by buying less, shopping local, and investing in quality clothing that you’ll wear for years to come. Wirecutter has recommendations for quality cashmere sweaters, black dresses, men’s and women’s jeans, white sneakers, and more.
Unfortunately, there’s no perfect, uncomplicated solution for discarding unwanted clothing. Whether you’re donating through charities, big brands’ programs, or industrial programs, the donations could end up going to resale markets abroad. An EcoCult investigation into circular fashion found that 45% of the garments donated to the large textile recycler Trans-Americas make their way to secondhand markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. And up to a quarter may not be sellable, so they could end up in an overseas landfill.
The people who work in resale markets have to sift through literally tons of junk, have a hard time turning a profit, and face real danger. Ricketts, whose work with The Or Foundation aims to bring the plights of resale workers to light (video) as well as to expose how fast-fashion brands are generating a lot of the waste that ends up in these markets, noted that 15 million donated garments pass through one of the largest secondhand markets in the world, Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, every week. Whatever becomes trash either gets burned or ends up on beaches. Over the past decade, several fires have torn through the landfills and the markets themselves.
Everyone can do their individual part by being considerate about what they buy and how they dispose of it. If you’re eager to do more, you can push for fashion corporations and governments to take fashion sustainability seriously, said Barber, author of Consumed. You can be strategic with your donations, and you can choose organizations that fight against agricultural runoff and offer debt-relief programs for garment resellers in low-income countries. You can call your local representatives and ask them to support bills like New York’s Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act. You can volunteer at a local donation center or help your community establish a textile-recycling program if it doesn’t have one already. “If you don’t see the resources you need,” said Barber, “perhaps you can be the one to advocate for them.”
Sri Rain Stewart contributed reporting. This article was edited by Catherine Kast, Ingela Ratledge Amundson, and Jennifer Hunter.
Aja Barber, author of Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism, phone interview, March 2, 2022
Katie Brumfield, development associate at Dress for Success, email interview, March 17, 2022
Pippa Cowburn, spokesperson for Burberry, email interview, March 1, 2022
Carmen Gama, director of circular design at Eileen Fisher, email interview, March 2, 2022
Karen Pearson, chair of the Fashion Institute of Technology Sustainability Council, email interview, March 1, 2022
Liz Ricketts, co-founder of The Or Foundation, Zoom interview, March 3, 2022
Buddy Teaster, president and CEO of Soles4Souls, email interview, March 2, 2022
Paul Turner, spokesperson for ASOS, email interview, March 2, 2022
Alden Wicker, sustainable fashion journalist and founder of EcoCult, phone interview, March 4, 2022
Kaitlyn Wells is a senior staff writer who advocates for greater work flexibility by showing you how to work smarter remotely without losing yourself. Previously, she covered pets and style for Wirecutter. She's never met a pet she didn’t like, although she can’t say the same thing about productivity apps. Her first picture book, A Family Looks Like Love, follows a pup who learns that love, rather than how you look, is what makes a family.
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