Cash for clothing businesses making a difference

Textile waste in the U.S. is a twelve and a half million pound problem. That’s right, ten million pounds (or 6250 tons) of textile waste in the form of unwanted clothes is generated in the U.S. every year. Currently, only 20% of that is recycled, meaning that the rest is heading toward the landfill and contributing to the problem of material waste handling and environmental impact.

However, there are enterprising people that have seen this need, and have begun to provide viable alternatives to all this ending up in the county dump. The most obvious are the second hand and vintage clothing stores that now dot the landscape. While they can provide cash for clothing, due to their business model, they have a limited scope and impact. Vintage clothing store especially are looking for old clothing that is in good condition to resell. Second hand clothing stores tend to focus on children’s clothing as it tends to get outgrown before it gets worn out.

Most churches and non charitable organizations accept donation of clothing, as these can either be used to sell in thrift stores or given to directly to those that are in dire need of clothes. But if they are going to resell or give clothes away, they need to be in usable condition. And, eventually, all clothing will either wear out or get physically damaged and no longer be fully usable.

At first glance, you may feel like tossing these clothes out, but don’t!, Charities can still get cash for clothing from even the most worn out, ripped up, and stained clothing you can send them. How is this possible? Glad you asked! There are businesses that will buy up bulk used clothing in any condition for “rags”. In turn, these rags are sorted by material, and then sold to clothing manufacturers to be remade into new clothing.

Fleece is a perfect example. Just because it’s soft and supple to the touch, warm, and comfortable, it’s still at its most basic composition like plastic. Thus, when a fleece jacket has been torn up, stained, or otherwise not really usable, it can be recycled into raw material, and made into new jackets. And if not for the “less desirable” donations that churches receive, the clothing brokers have nothing to sell to the manufacturers, or any cash for clothing to the church.

So in closing, no matter what condition an article of clothing appears to be in, in most likelihood, it will get a new lease on life as new clothing, cleaning rags, or raw material. In any instance, this will keep the textile waste from going into landfills. And in making the donation, the church or charitable organization will get cash for clothing that will enable them to continue to provide services for those in need.