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Donation centers want clothing that another person can reasonably wear, and not badly stained or torn items that they’ll have to immediately toss in the trash. If you’re working on decluttering your closet, you may wonder what to do with shirts with permanent stains, jeans with large holes, stretched-out socks, and badly worn pajamas. Fortunately, they don’t always need to go straight to the trash.
Here are a few better ways to handle clothes that are past their wearable stage.
Take Them to a Retailer That Accepts Worn Clothing
Some retailers collect damaged clothing for reuse or recycling, making this one of the best ways to declutter your home while keeping your old stuff out of landfills.
H&M accepts clean clothing and textiles from any brand at its stores. Items are sorted by condition, with some resold and others repurposed into products such as cleaning cloths or insulation.
Madewell accepts denim clothing from any brand, including denim that is ripped, stained, or reduced to scraps. The fabric must contain at least 90 percent cotton. Unwearable denim may be repurposed into products such as insulation or food packaging. Plus, they’ll give you a $25 credit off a new (full-priced) pair of jeans. If there are no Madewell stores near you, they also offer a mail-in program.
Retailer programs and participation requirements can change, so check the company’s current rules before making a special trip.
Turn Them Into Cleaning Rags
Old cotton T-shirts, sweatshirts, flannel shirts, and towels make excellent cleaning rags. Cut away zippers, buttons, elastic, and heavily damaged sections, then use the remaining fabric for:
- Dusting furniture
- Washing windows
- Wiping up spills
- Cleaning greasy tools
- Painting and staining projects
Keeping a small basket of washable rags can also reduce your reliance on paper towels.
Repair or Repurpose the Fabric
A missing button, loose seam, or small hole may be easy to fix. Even if you no longer want to wear the clothing in public, it may still work as gardening, painting, cleaning, or sleeping clothes.
Usable pieces of fabric can also become patches, reusable cleaning pads, simple tote bags, quilt squares, craft materials, or stuffing for homemade projects.
Throw Away Contaminated Clothing
Some clothes cannot be safely reused. Throw away items contaminated with mold, gasoline, pesticides, bodily fluids, strong chemicals, or pest infestations. Seal them in a bag first, so they do not contaminate other belongings or spread insects.
Don’t Burden a Donation Center With Your Unwearable Clothes
Donation centers can usually use gently worn clothing, even when it is older or no longer fashionable. However, severely torn, wet, moldy, smelly, or contaminated garments should not be placed in a regular donation pile.
When clothes are no longer wearable, look for textile or retailer recycling first. Repurposing useful fabric and discarding only what cannot be safely reused will help keep your closet clear without passing the cleanup work on to a charity.
