Being green means passing the benefits onto others, which is why I recommend TOMS vegan shoes. They help those in need by giving a pair to a child in need for every pair you buy!
I don’t know about you, but I often buy clothes without thinking much about it. I get excited at the prospect of owning yet another skirt or dress, before I quickly come to realize that it really doesn’t go with anything and I’m unlikely to ever even wear it!
Every year there are millions of items of clothing that go straight into landfill. Most of those clothes are still perfectly reusable – at least recyclable, if not re-wearable on somebody else.
If you give clothing donations then you are doing your bit against this needless waste, as well as helping a non-profit organization and becoming an eco-friendly empress!
Misconceptions of those who don’t donate clothes
I have heard quite a few people say they won’t donate their clothes to popular charities like Oxfam because they don’t trust the charity with putting their clothes to good use. I have two things to say to that:
1) If you are only going to throw your clothes away then you have nothing to lose.
2) Clothing donations mean more than sending them all away to poor communities.
It’s true – Oxfam and other charity shops aren’t going to send all your clothes away to be worn by poor people. They are going to sell them for money. But this money isn’t to make a profit – it’s to raise money to help those very same poor people!
What about clothes in poor condition?
Take it from someone who used to volunteer at Oxfam – plenty of people donate clothes that are in absolutely no condition to be worn again. Does that mean they go to waste? No.
If you donate items that can’t be worn then the material will be sent to be recycled. No matter which way your clothing donations are used, you can be sure they will be helping to raise money for the cause and not taking up space in a landfill.
Part II of this series about donating clothes will run in a week, and the final part III a week after then. Check back then, or subscribe to Eco Empress updates for free.
Please leave your thoughts about clothing donations in the comments 
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[...] is Part II in the ‘Donate Clothes’ series of posts. You can read the first post ‘An Introduction to Clothing Donations’, or subscribe to free updates to be informed of when the last post is published in a week. [...]
All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume Fourty Five…
Welcome to the April 6th, 2009 edition of All Things Eco.
Be sure to Stumble the posts you like, or submit them to other social bookmarking services. Let’s promote each other, as well as this blog carnival.
April already! And the weather is craz…
[...] presents An Introduction to Clothing Donations – Donate Clothes Part I of III posted at Eco [...]
[...] convinced about whether to donate clothing then just have a read of Part I – An Introduction to Clothing Donations, and Part II – A Few Clothing Donation Tips to see why it’s so important. I haven’t even [...]
[...] presents An Introduction to Clothing Donations – Donate Clothes Part I of III posted at Eco Empress, saying, “Donating clothes is great for the environment, and your [...]
[...] military jackets, vintage lingerie, bustiers, pajamas, hats, mending your own clothes and making clothing donations. There were also book reviews and interviews. In the personal style and beauty categories are posts [...]
[...] presents An Introduction to Clothing Donations – Donate Clothes Part I of III posted at Eco Friendly Fashion by Eco [...]
I will be moving shortly. Is there a charity that accepts NON-gently used clothing? I’ve got four kids and plenty of ragged clothing as well as unusable sheets and towels. this stuff Is there a charity that can resell these items? I hate to think of all this stuff cluttering up a landfill when it might actually be doing someone some good.
Mary Kate – I can’t speak for all charities, but when I volunteered we used to get a lot of clothes that weren’t in the right state for selling. The good news is that all the unsellable material went into a bag of fabric that would be recycled for other uses, so it didn’t go to waste, it just wasn’t sold as is.