Used Clothing

Consignment shops these days have gotten super picky about things. Many more people are consigning now with the poor economy so they can be more picky and in return sell them for higher prices. I can shop at Walmart, Target and Kmart cheaper than buying used at consignent shops these days!

I would take pics of your stuff and sell on Craig's List or wait for spring for yard sale season. If you want to give them away Goodwill or Salvation Army will take them.

There's also Freecycle to give away locally to specific people who want them.

Go through all your avenues first before donating them though. There are options out there!

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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I volunteer at a "high end" thrift shop. We don't take clothes that are stained, ripped, torn, missing buttons, etc, etc. For adult clothing we want stuff that is relatively recent, or high end labels. So probably similar to consignment.

We take in bags of clothes, and carefully review all items before they go on the floor. Any item that is not good enough for us gets passed down to Goodwill. If it is really trashed, it gets thrown away. Our motto is "would you buy it?" We are not giving clothes to people, we are selling them, and our merchandise has to be clean and nice, or our customers will not come to our store.

When you have clothing you tend to skip over the little imperfections because they are yours. When looking to consign or to donate to a high end thrift shop, step back and pretend you are coming across the item in the same store. Turn it over and look for anything that would cause you to not purchase it. If you find anything small, donate it to a shelter or goodwill/salvation army. If you find anything big, you should probably just throw it away or use it for rags. Even people at a salvation army, or a shelter deserve nice things.

I used to think "gosh we are picky" but I get some really cute things for my three year old at the thrift shop, as do the other volunteers. So now I understand - I'm one of our customers too!

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Most thrift stores such as Goodwill will take anything. You can also donate them to a homeless or domestic violence shelter. Many women come into a domestic violence shelter with only the clothes on their backs.

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The consignment shop probably didn't take your sundress because it's winter. The ones around here will only take what is in season.The worn out jeans wont sell at a consignment shop. The other 5 pants you don't tell us what they are, but if they are khaki's or something then I would understand her not taking them. That's not winter clothes.
Good will would ABSOLUTELY take clothes like that...I see them there all the time.
Unsellable is if the zipper doesn't work, there are obvious holes, they have tons of stains, they are ripped or torn. You wouldn't buy that, right? If you were to yard sale worn jeans I would expect to get .50 for them.
I would not buy a stained up shirt to put my kid in to play, we have plenty of those already!
Laura

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Goodwill and the Salvation Army recycle clothing items that they deem inappropriate for sale (they turn them into industrial cloths or ship them overseas). Your local humane society might be able to use old clothes as bedding material or rags.

I don't mind hand me down or thrift clothes that are a bit worn but I won't purchase anything with holes or major stains. A little staining around the cuffs of a jacket is different than a big old fruit punch stain down the front of a dress.

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Check out threadup.com. I've gotten rid of and bought clothes on this sight and it works out great for me! The beauty of it is you can be totally honest about the clothes ("their for play" "there's a small mustand stain" etc) and that way people make an informed decision about whether they want them or not. There's items from all seasons year round and they take ALL sizes - not to mention toys, books, household stuff, etc. If you can't get rid of them on there then I would donate them to a charity - maybe a church or a women's shelter.

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A consignment shop is a business. It can't afford to take articles it doesn't think it can sell. Consignment prices are just higher enough than thrift stores to make customers very, very picky. If I saw something with the slightest mark on it at a consignment store, I would think it was not worth buying.

On the other hand, at a charity thrift store with the considerably lower prices, I'd think, "Hmmm... would this be good for play clothes? Maybe so."

So see what thrift stores are near you. See if there is a pregnancy center, also; ours is always looking for clothes up to size 4T. Call your coworker and invite her to look through the clothing and take what she thinks she would like to save for her daughter to grow into. (Warning: she'll pass up things that you're sure should have been too cute to pass up. It always happens.) Remember: you bought the clothing for your child to wear, so it's done its job. For someone else to be able to use it is just frosting on the cake, so to speak.

As far as whether the clothing is "too bad" to donate to a charity, toss out the stuff that's really awful - you know what I mean. Give the rest to them and let them sort. They know what to look for, and they would rather look through your things than not have them at all.

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Consignment shops have gotten way too picky for me. I hold two garage sales a year where I put anything that is in decent condition. Whatever doesn't sell, I donate to the local women's shelter.

Why not donate to a church. There are plenty of people that would/need clothes and don't care if there is a tiny stain. Goodwill and the Salvation Army would take them. They resell clothes that are not brand new looking. I also know that most Salvation Army does usually have a woman and children’s shelter so they always have use for them. You could try craigslist or eBay too.

Consignment shops-phooey!
I don't waste my time. ;)
I save most of my stuff...but try to get rid of some.
And stained stuff I put in the Goodwill bag.
I recently went to a Goodwill outlet store where they LITERALLY had TRASH for sale. Empty boxes, a dead plant in a cheap plastic pot, broken toys...
No joke.
Worn jeans sound like treasure to me!

Some resale shops are very picky about the brands and condition of the clothes they take. You can ALWAYS donate to Goodwill, etc.
If in doubt, sell them for $5 or $10 per bag on craigslist as "play clothes".

They are extra picky at consignment shops. It can be something from the current season, with tags still attached and some places will still not taken them perhaps b/c they already have a few similar items that are not moving off the shelves, or their business is pretty slow and they can't afford to take a gamble on taking too many items. Many have daily allotments, as in they can only take in so many items per day, so if you show up on a day they have met their quota, they won't take much.

Aside from that, they sound like perfect, "gently used" condition for a garage sale or donation.

Also, so NOT throw away clothing with stains, unless they are like gas/oil. The reason being, many of those clothes are cut up and used as rags in the industrial company. Many are sent overseas to starving children or during times of war/earthquakes.... Simple stains, worn knees, missing buttons, broken zippers, all fine to donate. People do use and buy them.

After trying to sell to Once Upon a Child once, I gave up on this. I go through the clothes and toss anything that has obvious stains. Anything else goes straight to a charity.

I would just take whatever the consignment store rejected to Goodwill. At our Goodwill you can just drive up to the back and drop stuff off. They do not check it or reject it. They take everything and sort through it later and I'd imagine some of it may go in the trash. Anyway that is how I get rid of clothes I don't want/can't sell (unless they are seriously worn out/stained/whatever - but by that, I mean seriously gross - then I just throw them out).

Please don't put it out with the trash. Go ahead and give most of it to Goodwill. They DO sell these clothes. Pick out the best of what you have and give it to your friend. If she doesn't like it, no biggie. She can give them to Goodwill.

There are people who are SO happy to have your hand-me-downs. Especially in this economy, and Goodwill knows this. You can also go to lower income preschools that are subsidized, and give them some of your child's clothes. They will pass them out to the kids there.

If you have a yardsale, you'll get 50 cents for those used jeans. Too much trouble to go to, in my view. I have no idea about Craigslist - I only donate my stuff.

D.

Salvation army or a homeless shelter would be THRILLED to have those items!!

i love hand me downs. my boys are rough and rugged and thanks to a coworker who supplied me with these hand me downs i have not really had to purchase any clothes for my boys. if your coworker hinted that she might like the clothes then by all means give them to her for later use. i cannot see spending an arm and a leg on clothes for kids,

(my girls are now teens) I never brought items to a consignment shop, but I did purchase many items. I've seen items at a consignment shop between brand new and faded/worn. In general, if it has a stain on it or a hole in it, it's not resellable at consignment or Good Will.

My girlfriend and I frequent yard sales and have had a few of our own. It's a great place to buy play clothes. For your name brand items like Gymbore, Oshkosh, you can get up to $5 for an outfit. Jeans $.50 to $1.00. If you have clothes that are very worn, small stains, very faded, put them in a bin and label them $.25 each or fill a bag for $1.

No, you should not throw away the clothing with stains or holes. Donate them to one of the cloths boxes (in our area we have big white drop off boxes all over). I beleive these organizations reclycle ther cloth or ship them overseas.

I would definitely buy a well-priced shirt with a small mustard stain on the sleeve b/c my kid will get a matching mustard stain on the other sleeve tomorrow at lunch. Ditto for a nice pair of jeans that are worn at the knees. I can put a patch on them and his legs will be covered all winter. However, I understand a business not wanting to sell those item. Donate the rest to Goodwill/similar and use it as a nominal tax-write off.

If I want to be rid of clothes, I typically put it out for the next charity truck or offer it to friends who are looking for play clothes. You can also try freecycle. "Size 12 months boy clothes, some small stains, very useable for play clothes." People take a lot of stuff.

Ask the mom. Maybe she will, maybe she won't. But ask.

I don't try to resale anything anymore, too much work. I donate virtually everything to my church. Even that used washer and dryer. I later found out that they gave it to a family in our chuch that was in need and that makes me happy. I see kids come to church now in clothing I have given to the church and that makes me happy.

Also if they are elemetery kids clothing, giving a few items to the school nurse for when some kid needs a change of clothing for some reason is nice. They don't care about mustard stains so long as it is clean.

I have brought clothes from "The Children's Place" that had been worn like three times (special event type clothes) and they offered nearly nothing for them, so I rather donate them than "make money" off of them.

That's how a lot of the places are here, too. It makes me laugh, because the clothing on their racks often look worn, stained, faded, outdated, etc, and are grossly overpriced.

I would donate them to an emergency family shelter, or something similar. That way they will go to someone who really needs them & you can write it off on your taxes.

Did you ask them specifically why they did not accept the items? I know that one day I was at a local resale shop for children's items and someone in line ahead of me had been trying sell stuff to them. There was quite a bit that they did not accept. When this person asked why, she was told those items weren't needed at that time, as they had plenty in stock. However, they also told her, that she could bring them back another time, maybe they would be able to take it then. They also told her that sometimes it is better to bring stuff in when it is out-of-season.

Ask the friend if she'd like them. I have clothes stored that are 3 years too big for the kids. I keep them put up by size and season and am well prepared. She may be too.