Clothes

Donate to charity

Donate items to charity and re-use organisations in-store or using bags that come through the door. The Charity Retail website will help you to find your nearest charity shop.

Free home collections

Some charities offer free home collections, picking up unwanted clothes direct from your door. Check with your local charity shop or visit Traid to see if you’re a fit.

Recycle with the council

Check to see if your local council collects clothes to be recycled – the details are normally on their website. Find your nearest textile bank using the Recycling Locator tool.

The Fire Fighters Charity

Textile banks at fire stations, community sites and supermarkets across the UK. Find your nearest recycling bank. Socks, coats, underwear, paired shoes, handbags and linens are accepted.

Swap your clothes

If you prefer the idea of a wardrobe refresh without spending any more money, then consider attending – or even hosting – a swapping event. Clothes swapping, known as ‘swishing’, involves everyone bringing their old items to trade for new clothes.

Give them to high street shops

Struggling to find a local charity shop? Plenty of high street retailers such as H&M, & Other Stories and Marks & Spencer, host ‘shwop’ boxes to put your donations in. These garments are then dealt with in one of three ways: sold as second hand, reused to turn into other items, or recycled.

H&M has been offering a garment recycling service since 2013, with every item donated being recycled, reused or re-worn. They collect clothes or textiles in all H&M stores worldwide, and if you drop in a bag of clothes to be recycled, the company will give you a £5 voucher to spend in-store as a thank you.

You can swap your unwanted clothes, textiles and beauty packaging in & Other Stories stores in exchange for a 10% ‘recycling treat’ voucher.

Since launching their Shwopping initiative with Oxfam in 2008, Marks and Spencer has received over 20 million items of clothing. You can leave your unwanted clothing and soft furnishings in your local store’s ‘Shwop Drop’ box, and these are then passed onto Oxfam to be resold, reused or recycled.

Levi's clothes recycling initiative in the UK offers customers a 10% discount on Levi's products, in return for leaving a bag of any brand of clean, dry clothes or shoes at their collection boxes in store.

Zara began installing collection bins in its stores across Europe in 2016, and currently has containers spread across countries including the UK, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. All clothing collected is donated in aid of non-profit organisations.

Intimissimi stores have I:CO containers for your unwanted clothes: when you take 5 pieces of unwanted clothing in, you will receive a voucher of £10.

Underwear

As well as most clothing items, Oxfam take old bras. If Oxfam shops in the UK can't sell them, they are sent to Oxfam's sorting facility in Huddersfield. Some will be sent to Frip Ethique, an Oxfam-run social enterprise in Senegal which enables the women (and a few men) who work there to build their own livelihoods.

Bras

Bravissimo run a bra recycling scheme in their shops and for every kg they receive they make a donation to the mental health charity Mind. All you need to do is bring your old bras in to one of their shops and put them in one of their recycling bins.

Coats

Every November in various London underground stations, Wrap Up London collect your old, unwanted coats and giving them to charities that support the homeless, refugees, children living in poverty and people fleeing domestic violence. Other locations include Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newport and Lancashire.

Love your Clothes Campaign

The Love Your Clothes website provides excellent advice on how we can care for our clothes for long lasting use. Topics include washing, drying & ironing, repair & alterations and stain removal.