How to Donate Damaged Clothing

Your old, holey jeans can be donated instead of thrown away.

Donating clothing is one way to be more environmentally friendly, as throwing clothes away means that they end up directly in a landfill. Many organizations do not accept damaged clothing as they have to be fixed in order to be sold or given away, which slows down the process. It is important to fully inspect the clothing that you are planning to donate to assess the damage and separate them into categories of fixable or not fixable.

Things You'll Need

• Sewing kit

Instructions

1. Repair any clothing items that are damaged in a minor way. This includes sewing on missing buttons, making small patches in ripped clothing and repairing hems that are falling out. Use a small sewing kit for these repairs.

2. Look for an organization in your area that accepts clothing with minor damage. Call to find out what is reasonable to be donated. Place acceptable items in a bag and drop it off at the organization.

3. Donate clothing that is badly damaged to a textile recycling company. These companies make sure that the clothing does not end up in a landfill by re-using the materials the clothes were made out of. These clothing items become cleaning rags, paper or otherwise re-purposed fibers. Locate the recycling center closest to you by checking with your county's Department of Solid Waste.

Tips & Warnings

• You could also take damaged clothing to a person or business who does alterations and minor repairs if you are willing to spend money having the items fixed.

References

• Solid Waste District: Textiles
• Planet Green: 9 Essential Clothing Repair Skills