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Local thrift stores still desire these clothes. Having volunteered at a thrift store though, they are not a dumping ground for all of your dead relatives clothe
by frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
Local thrift stores still desire these clothes. Having volunteered at a thrift store though, they are not a dumping ground for all of your dead relatives clothes and they are not a trashcan for all the clothes you've put holes in. If you have clothing which you could still wear but don't want/don't fit in anymore then consider donating. Especially consider it if you are a non-standard (American) size ie. not big and tall. Petite/short can be good for kids and adults, slim-fitting clothes are always in want, manual labor has a tendency to eat up shoes so decent shoes are always good and anything which was in fashion just a year or two ago is especially nice.
- neap24 9y agoHaving toured a Goodwill facility once, I was pretty impressed with the process for dealing with "garbage". They seem to have a fantastic process for squeezing every bit of value out of it before sending it to the landfill. Obviously, this won't be the case for smaller thrift stores.
- maxxxxx 9y agoMy girlfriend goes shopping at a thrift store and she finds top-notch women's clothing there which looks it has been used only a few times, if at all. Unfortunately men seem to wear their stuff longer so I have never found anything good in the men's section.
- ghaff 9y agoTo grossly overgeneralize, most men aren't as inclined as many women to get rid of clothing just because they're tired of it after wearing it a few times. Sure, I buy things that I decide aren't as comfortable or look as good as I thought they would be--and I'll donate them. And then there are the copious piles of giveaways I seem to end up with in spite of my best efforts. But by and large, I'm probably fairly typical in that I keep most things until they're stained or worn out. (And sometimes even then if I really like them :-))
- JTon 9y agoIn my part of the world men's clothing always seems to be several times the cost of comparable women's clothing. This may also have something to do with it.
- madengr 9y agoYou can get Kirkland brand men’s khakis at Costco for $20. Decent polos can be had for < $10 from JC Penny. Anyway, that’s what I wear, and they are good until the wife complains about the holes, and then some. I keep telling her I’ll someday fit into that favorite heavy metal T-shirt from high school; don’t throw it out.
- dvanduzer 9y agoSeriously? What part of the world is this? Are you talking about formal wear?
- jopsen 9y agoFashionable looking clothes for men in I would say Northern Europe is relatively expensive... because people buy brand names. Jeans, t-shirts the likes... 200-300 USD for a pair of jeans is quite common (above also exists). You can get dirty cheap, but men are stupid (me included) -- and to be fair the quality is pretty decent. I don't really shop in the US, because quality sucks.
- dvanduzer 9y agoSo what does a pair of high quality women's jeans cost in Northern Europe? I looked very hard for the article I read recently about a woman (in US) who just straight up stopped buying clothes gendered for women because they fell apart immediately. I am extremely curious whether there is a similar cost/construction problem in Europe.
- jopsen 9y agoCan't say I know much about womens clothing, but there a wider selection of less expensive fashionable clothes.. Like H&M, which I'm sure also compromises on quality. Obviously, women can also get highend, quality stuff. But for men it's either highend or the supermarket, there's few things in between. In the US my experience is that high-end stuff is being VERY high-end, and low end is becoming very low end... likely as a result of incoming inequality.
- wcunning 9y agoI've switched to exclusively wearing Brooks Brothers shirts from my local thrift store. They seem to survive to donation, being somewhat higher quality. I also find good winter dress coats and decent suits on a regular basis. It's there, though I'll grant that I might end up digging a little more to find it.
- DoubleCribble 9y agoFor those who question the value of rummaging through the riff raff at their local thrift shop, I refer them to this: https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/found-vintage-lecoultre-deep-sea-alarm-worth-over-35000-for-599-at-phoenix-goodwill https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/found-vintage-lecoultre-de...
- knieveltech 9y agoJeans and shirts are pretty much a lost cause. Every now and again you can get really lucky on formal wear. Example: Last spring I found a ~$1000 cashmere overcoat in my size at one of the local thrift stores for $20.
- maxxxxx 9y agoI don't have the skills to distinguish a 1000 dollar coat form a 20 dollar coat so even if I found one I wouldn't recognize it :(
- knieveltech 9y agoNeither do I. I saw the coat, liked it, confirmed it was my size, and bought it. On a whim I googled the brand when I got home. Point is, you typically have a better chance of scoring dressier stuff at the thrift store because it doesn't get beat to hell.
- Balgair 9y agoI'll second this. If you live next to a 'nice area' like in West LA, the Richmond, Walnut Creek, etc. then the local Good Will is a Goldmine for good quality women's clothes. It will all be a season out of date, but the clothes have been worn maybe once or twice by some super-rich person and they are easily 99.9% off. For best results, go the week after a Fashion Week in Milan or NYC, when 'last season' is now official.
- no_flags 9y agoGood luck finding any men's clothing if you wear size small or even medium. It seems to be 99% L and XL. Same holds true even for stores like TJ Maxx.
- distances 9y agoNot true in Europe at least, I seem to observe all sizes on racks
- smt88 9y agoIf the clothes are good enough to be used by a for-profit thrift store, they can be used by a non-profit. The problem is the clothes that no one wants and end up in the landfill, and thrift stores don't fix it.
- DrPhish 9y agoThere is always a place that will take old clothes, even if they are worn out. They are "binned" somewhat like CPUs. The ultimate destination for the lowest quality textiles is places that sanitize them and sell them to institutions and such as rags for cleaning.
- ben_bai 9y agoIf all else fails they are shredded and made into painter mats, industrial rags or even sound proofing panels.
- basseq 9y ago> They are not a dumping ground... They kind of are, and it's a role they seem to have embraced. In other words, a good % (50%+?) of the intake volume of clothes is not fit for secondary garment sale, and is instead sold "downstream" (in bulk) to tertiary markets ("poor countries", to use Bloomberg's parlance) and recycles to use as raw material. This is a source of revenue, too. In other words, most thrift stores play an important role in the recycling chain. Otherwise, clothes would go into the garbage. After all, I can't put them in the green recycling bin with my cans, jars, and plastic.
- svachalek 9y agoActually, if they're really ruined, most recyclers will take them with the paper recycling.
- TillE 9y agoReally? Even in Germany where a ton of things go in household recycling bins (including basically all plastics and composites), you'd have to bring ruined clothes to the recycling center separately. Definitely only paper/cardboard in the paper bin.
- dfox 9y agoIn many places in US you don't have separate bins for paper, plastics, glass and what not, but only one (usually green) recycling bin for everything that is somehow recyclable.
- ocdtrekkie 9y agoI actually got all of my "nice" clothes at thrift stores. Since you can get clothes there for $5-6 from brands that cost... well, drastically more than I'm willing to spend on clothes. The nicest clothes I wear are the cheapest clothes I ever bought.
- basseq 9y agoI agree. I have a few used sportcoats and overcoats from high-end manufacturers that I bought for pennies on the dollar. They are good-to-great quality, and thanks to "timeless" men's fashion, are still in style. You have to wade through a lot of crap to find the good stuff, though. Unless the source is an estate sale, donated pants are almost always at the end-of-life and shoes are always a joke.
- Jill_the_Pill 9y agoHere we have Consignment stores which work a little differently. The "donor" and the shop split the proceeds from the sale. Things start at a higher price that is still a good deal, maybe 1/3 of retail, and then the price falls on a weekly schedule. The shops are picky about what they'll take, but the selection is usually great. Also, it might sound weird, but the clothes tend to be of better quality because they're the ones that stood up to a couple of washings (stuff that just falls apart never makes it there).
- uhhhhhhh 9y agoMyself, and pretty much everyone I know buys rags in bulk from thrift stores. They make money off the crappy worn clothes and I get cheap and plentiful rags. Out of style clothes in good shape seems to be the worst issue for thrift stores. Once the crappy clothes are turned into rags and the modern/stylish good clothes are sold, you're left with racks and racks of out of style/out of date clothes no on wants which is why it was donated in the first place.
- sevensor 9y agoWhat are you doing that eats up so many rags? I have a clothing downgrade cycle that goes from work, to yard work, to rags, and it keeps me adequately supplied, especially when supplemented by occasional worn-out linens.
- mitchty 9y agoWork on old engines, the oil, grease, dust, grime, soot, and the rest of stuff that accumulates means lots of rags.
- megaman22 9y agoI used to work at a power plant, and we would go through a pallet-sized box of rags every week or two. Grease, especially, eats them up
- Spooky23 9y agoCleaning. You can replace most uses of paper towels with rags.
- ultrasaurus 9y agoThere's also an argument to be made that people are over-claiming tax deductions for used clothing that becomes scraps for pennies.
- patja 9y agoPoor people don't itemize. Even fewer with the new tax legislation.
- calvano915 9y agoI'll take people getting a few extra bucks back from taxes for scraps vs. religious donations that offer no benefit to general society. Thrift stores offer employment opportunities to the disabled and ex-convicts, and provide an option for those that can't afford to buy new.
- module0000 9y agoI used to buy my work clothes when I was younger from a local thrift shop called 'Savers'. At the time I was working as a welder in a factory, and being able to get used jeans/work-pants for $2-3 a piece really helped out. I'd wear them out after about a week(lots of hot debris burns holes in them), and couldn't afford to buy new clothes constantly.
- alistproducer2 9y agoHaving worked in a couple thrift stores I concur. Only give clothes in good condition. If it's faded, stained, or holey just throw it out because that's what Goodwill is going to do and instead of helping them, you're costing them money (in labor).
- patja 9y agoYour experience with Goodwill is pretty much the opposite of mine. Goodwill (supposedly) provides important job skills training, including for many immigrants and refugees. In Seattle they specifically instruct everyone to give your worn out holey socks and underwear to Goodwill and DO NOT put them in the garbage.
- wefarrell 9y ago"they are not a dumping ground for all of your dead relatives clothes" What's so bad about dead peoples clothes? I used to buy lots of clothes at estate sales and I still have a few overcoats from them. I have a barely worn leather jacket and camel skin coat that I bought for a few dollars each, plus maybe 10-20 for dry cleaning. Women would buy clothes at these sales so dresses and women's coats would be more expensive, but for some reason I was the only one purchasing men's clothes. These coats have lasted me much longer than new coats that I buy from stores because fashion today is so disposable.
- anigbrowl 9y agoSome but not all.
- frgtpsswrdlame 9y agoNothing is wrong with some of them. Frequently though we would get donations where someone had stripped everything off hangers and out of dressers, thrown it in trashbags and hauled it all in. Much of the clothing is unusable due to wear, almost zero of it is still in fashion and sometimes you get stuff no one will ever buy - used grandma underwear, stains and all (you'd be surprised how common it was.) The stuff you bought sounds nice and should be donated, I'm just saying that people should use a little of their own discretion.
- mindslight 9y ago"Discretion" is just not going to happen when it comes to estate donations. People are already feeling a huge loss, and the last thing they want is to feel that the decedent's possessions are also now just trash.
- frgtpsswrdlame 9y agoI'm here to make it happen! (if only in a very small way) I'd say that people feeling a huge loss may want to reconsider whether they want volunteering strangers and probationers looking at their relative's undergarments, judging them by how many of their clothes are moth-eaten, how big their pants are, etc. Having done it I can tell you when my parents pass away, I will be donating a few select articles of clothing and trashing the rest.
- blhack 9y agoI haven't worked in a thrift store, so maybe you can fill me in on something: It seems like there are "scalpers" (can't think of another word for them) who semi-professionally go through thrift stores buying up the good things, and then reselling them on ebay. I've definitely seen this with sports equipment. (My fiance and I like going to thrift stores looking for art project supplies, and I always look over the golf clubs seeing if there is anything interesting in there [I am actually a golfer]).
- s0rce 9y agoSame thing with used book stores. Basically just exploiting arbitrage opportunity in the inefficient used clothing market. Unless you pay people to price things more accurately or can identify the resellers reliably this seems difficult to combat.
- philipkglass 9y agoIf you can price things accurately yourself the resellers won't have arbitrage opportunities and you'll make more money. And if you can't price things accurately yourself you'll gain nothing by excluding arbitraging resellers, so I don't see why they're worth trying to exclude.
- icebraining 9y agoAccurately is a misleading word. It depends on what your goals are. Maybe you prefer to make a bit less profit so that people can read more, as a public service. Or maybe you're just using those books to attract people into the store. Finally, the scanners don't know if you can price "accurately", so if you can, they're just occupying space and blocking ways for no benefit to anyone.
- mseebach 9y agoAll thrift stores I know of and have donated to exist to raise money for a charity. They should be thrilled to move stock. But the vast majority of books are next to worthless, so your "read more" crowd will have plenty of options, and won't care that some rare first edition got picked up for premium pricing. If scanners don't find anything to resell (because you've already scanned and correctly priced, or even listed online yourself), they'll leave soon enough.
- cableshaft 9y agoI don't know, good big & tall clothes are hard to come by, especially for a reasonable price. You don't get too many choices locally (JCPenney, Meijer for shirts, and a specialized Big & Tall shop that charges way more than I'd like is all that I know around me). I appreciated that there were actually clothes my size at thrift stores, but even at thrift stores there isn't a huge selection of them. Do they really not sell that much at thrift stores?
- mschuster91 9y ago> If you have clothing which you could still wear but don't want/don't fit in anymore then consider donating. But please only to local homeless shelters/refugee assistance organizations, and only after checking if they actually accept the kind/size of clothes you want to bring, as most of them only have limited space. This is also valid for stuff like sleeping bags or food. The "donation boxes" you see all over the streets in Germany (or those at charity organizations) are in fact often the worst of the worst - the charity organization may get money, yes, but the price of that money is the total and utter destruction of African textile industry. The "creme" aka first-class clothes goes to second-hand stores, the not-so-fine-anymore goes to Eastern Europe and the rest goes to Africa... and for local dealers it's hard to compete. Of course, the trade creates jobs, but the price of the countries not being able to produce anything locally and making them totally dependent on donations is enormous.
- DLwdTxdU6smHQA 9y agoSounds like a relevant piece of information to me. Have you got any pointers/sources for this?
- mschuster91 9y ago> Have you got any pointers/sources for this? For the African exports, sure - "mitumba" is the African word for "donated" clothing. If you speak German, public TV station ARD has a documentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djXkFedpTrE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djXkFedpTrE (and newspaper Zeit has a short text, based on that documentation: http://web.archive.org/web/20120822083146/www.zeit.de/2011/45/NDR-Reportage-Altkleider-Luege/komplettansicht http://web.archive.org/web/20120822083146/www.zeit.de/2011/4...) For homeless/refugees: at least this is what the Munich organizations regularly state within their calls (and especially during fall of 2015, where people brought in way too much stuff for the refugees and there were severe shortages of space and sorting manpower). Besides, asking someone if he can use donations before getting on the road is always better ;)
- astura 9y agoThe local homeless shelter here doesn't accept coats.
- coss 9y agoIt's also a tax write off :)
- Accacin 9y agoOne of the things I loved about America (at least Sacramento) was the thrift stores! In the UK we have to go to charity stores if we want second hand stuff (usually), and they're mostly quite small. In American the store was huge and sold so many different things, I spent at least an hour or so wandering around!