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Spring is just around the corner, and if you’re like most people, you’re looking to do a bit of spring cleaning. This most likely means cleaning out your closet and refreshing your wardrobe. This usually requires and deserves serious thought and time.
Whether we know it or not, we often form emotional attachments to our clothing. You got this piece when you were thinner, you got that one for Christmas, and so on. This can make it much harder to part with old clothes, even those that are out of style, don’t fit, or you don’t even like anymore.
While we can’t take away the difficulty of deciding what to get rid of, we can help you with how. We’ve gone over the best ways to declutter your closet, but what do you do with those clothes you don’t wear anymore?
The simplest answer is to just throw them away. However, in 2018, 11,300,000 tons of textile waste was dumped into US landfills. That’s a lot of clothes going to waste, and there are better options for you, the environment, and your community.
The first option to get rid of the clothes you don’t wear any more is to donate them. We have nine places we recommend to donate clothes, but here are some other options if those don’t work for you.
One Warm Coat is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that specializes in getting gently used coats to people in need across the country. They accept women’s, men’s, and children’s coats that are wearable and clean, and it’s easy to donate with their non-profit locator map. Whether you moved from a cold climate to a warm one, your kids have outgrown their coats, or you have coats you just don’t wear anymore, One Warm Coat is a great option for donation.
Two things make Planet Aid different from other drop-box donation organizations. First, they accept virtually any textiles you want to give them. Sheets, shoes, ripped shirts or pants, they will take it. Just make sure it’s clean, and if its damaged, Planet Aid will repurpose it into something usable.
Second, they don’t just give the clothing away. Clothing donations can seem like a positive thing to us in America, but they can actually be highly destructive to local economies in developing regions. Planet Aid instead sells the clothing to keep local textile industries competitive while still helping their communities. Planet Aid drop boxes can be located using their find a bin page, or if you don’t have one nearby, you can mail your clothes in.
Easydonationpickup.com does exactly what it says on the tin. Box or bag your clothes (or, in fact, anything you want to donate that a single person could pick up), mark them NVF for National Veterans Association. Then, just schedule a pick-up. Put your boxes and bags outside your door the day of, and go about your day. You don’t need to be home for your items to be picked up, and when they’re done, they leave your tax receipt on your door. Your donations go to help support crisis management, outreach services, and essential resources for veterans, so you know you’re doing good while cleaning out your wardrobe.
Something that’s become both trendy and accessible in the last ten years is reselling your old clothes. Far simpler and more glamourous than dropping your clothes off at a consignment store, many online retailers for secondhand clothes have carved out a niche in the market. Here are some examples that you might be interested in using.
Specializing in brand named clothing like Lululemon and Nike, Poshmark conveniently breaks its inventory down by brands, categories, and collections. It’s easy to sign up and start listing items quickly. You only need to post a picture, a description, and a price! When someone buys your items, Poshmark sends you a prepaid and preaddressed label. All you have to do is package your clothes and put the label on, and you’re ready to go! The best part is, you keep most of the asking price. Poshmark only takes a 20% commission off anything you sell.
Tradesy’s mission statement is to make fashion resale simple, safe, affordable, and accessible. They succeed in large part through their app, from which you can sell your clothes in a similar fashion to Poshmark. You list the items yourself and set the price. If you aren’t sure of the value of a specific item, Tradesy has smart tools to calculate one for you. Like Poshmark, you ship your items as they’re sold.
If you don’t want to go through the trouble of listing every item yourself, thredUP might be the option for you. thredUP sends you a Clean Out Kit which you fill with your name-brand women’s clothes you want to get rid of. A thredUP team-member will evaluate what you send in and you’ll receive your payout straight from them. Keep in mind that not all clothes you send will be accepted (about 40% are). Those that aren’t accepted will be donated or recycled. thredUP even has a Payout Estimator that can tell you about how much to expect beforehand.
Getting rid of women’s designer clothes? Style Alert is the place for you. They work similarly to thredUP: request a Trade-In Kit, fill it with your luxury clothes, bags, and shoes, and send it off. They’ll send you back an itemized offer for your clothes. Those that Style Alert won’t take you can have returned to you, or you can choose to have them donated.
EBay is a great option for selling used clothes if you have the time to put into it. You can set a flat price for your clothes, or if you have something particularly interesting, you can use the bidding function to help get more for your rare items. You’re likely familiar with the site, so you know you can sell virtually anything there. If your spring cleaning involves more than just your wardrobe, eBay may be right for you.
This spring cleaning season, consider your options for your old clothes. There are lots of places that accept donations, and with reselling old clothes becoming the hot new thing, you have more options now than ever before.
If you decide you don’t want to get rid of those clothes you just don’t have space for, consider other storage options, or think about contacting Closet Factory to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation to help your storage dreams come true.
Each of our custom closets is completely personalized and begins with a complimentary design appointment.
Schedule a ConsultDuring the consultation, you and the designer will discuss your decorative style, wish list, and project budget, with the aim of designing a closet organization system that will:
