Donating used clothes to thrift stores feels like a great way to reduce waste and give back to the community. Now, people can buy your unwanted items and the proceeds can go to a good cause. All is well, right?
Oftentimes, this is not the case. Thrift stores receive many damaged clothes that are either too stained or torn to be resold. This ends up wasting the time of the employees—usually volunteers—who are stuck sifting through what is actually salvageable, and the clothes that aren’t end up in landfills anyway.
Many of us, myself included, end up in a buy-and-declutter cycle. We see a new style we like, buy more clothes to fit the new look, discard the old ones, and change our minds a month or two later when a new style inspires us. This strains our wallets, our mental health, and the environment.
Shopping sprees have gotten even easier with cheap fast-fashion sites like Shein and Cider offering new chic clothes for a fraction of the price that they would be in store. It’s become so easy to buy a new wardrobe for a few hundred dollars, but where do all those clothes end up when we decide that we are done with them? Thrift stores.
Thrift stores are a great, sustainable place to shop for clothes and other used items, but so many are full of cheap, barely usable fast-fashion items that are two washes away from falling apart. They bear the brunt of our closet purges and get stuck with the task of rooting through our garbage. And no one wants to buy a used Shein dress when they can buy a new one for essentially the same price.
It’s the same principle as food banks: you wouldn’t donate expired food, right? Yet, some people do, and it wastes the time of their volunteers. And that’s the point. Donating unwanted items, be it clothing or food, should not be getting rid of trash with extra steps; yet so often, stained and torn clothes are donated to thrift stores because it feels better than just throwing them in a garbage dump.
There are so many better ways to go about this. First, try to repurpose what you already own. Tear up that old shirt into rags or sew some old jeans into a skirt. Find a friend of yours who might want what you plan on getting rid of. If you’re going to donate anything, make sure it’s in working condition first. Look for any holes or stains, and ask yourself if you would buy it in its current condition. Also, wash the items beforehand; most stores don’t have the resources to wash their donated items. Lastly, look for other places to donate. Thrift stores are everyone’s first choice, but keep an eye out for local shelters or foundations in need of items.
Trying to live and shop sustainably feels impossible these days, but making a few small changes can lead to a huge difference in the long run. It’s up to all of us to do our part in making the world a little better.