Clothes Banks ?

For the first (and hopefully last) time ever, I had to throw away teen clothes, uniform and shoes, some never worn.

I couldn't give them away to anyone!

have you contacted local food bank, they often collect them, or know who does.
try salvation army. refugee centres. etc.

In Scotland we have School Clothes Banks and Baby Banks as well. I feel so sad that people need these , along with food banks, in an affluent country. Do we need better benefits, education or what?

I often put things on our local Facebook page if they’re going to be thrown out. Amazing how many people ask for them. Also Buy, Swap, Sell pages and local Gumtree. These are good local outlets and advertise free things as well as those available to buy. I buy from them as well!

Make age appropriate bundles and advertise them free on your local facebook or gumtree pages some one will be glad of them,charity shops don't have the space at the minute as loads of people have had massive sortouts over the past few months

We need control of our own financed Jayt we get less than half of what we raise back from Westminster while they pocket the rest and then borrow and tell us we owe them the money they sent on things like London Sewers ,London crossrail ,HS2 etc etc etc .If we have control over our own income we can have a much fairer society ,we're making strides as it is with the SNP mitigating tory policies but we need full control to make the changes we must for the sake of future generations

I’d never throw good clothes to landfill. There are so many people in need of them wherever you live and so many ways of getting donations to them, most of them already mentioned in the thread.

In my neighbourhood we also have a baby bank, school uniform exchanges, women’s refuges, a group who help the local homeless, all in need of donations. And permanent collection points in supermarket car parks where you can post clothes and shoes to be sorted and donated or sold on in aid of various charities. Local schools will also take outgrown uniform to pass on to pupils who need it.

Our Council collects clothes and shoes that aren’t fit to be passed on for recycling. If they were seen in general waste the bin wouldn’t be emptied.

The charity shops are finding it difficult to store donated clothes at the moment, as they can’t be sorted for 72 hours and there isn’t enough space. There are recycling bins and centres where clothes/shoes are collected and distributed to those in need. Also, as others have suggested advertise locally. I use nextdoor.com and freecycle. I hate waste, and prefer to find a home for clothes that I no longer need.

There is a place on Tyneside that takes clothes. Mostly children's, but they have some stock of adults stuff too.

They also offer everything for babies and toddlers. Cots, pushchairs, highchairs etc. All donated.

Mine have been on ebay, freecycle and gumtree.
We have huge bins outside charity shops, but they're taped up with signs on saying "no more donations", and I've been in touch with two food banks.
I don't drive, am working, and moving the bags from place to place around my flat was getting me down.

we have online websites on facebook such as free to you scotland, people offer or ask for anything from clothes, shoes and furniture, maybe see if they have something in you area, they would come and collect, it is a good way of giving for free to people who really need the items

There is a charity called Sals Shoes which does good work collecting and distributing outgrown (not worn out) shoes. You need to clean them first. Any size kind kids to adults any style slippers, footie boots, ballet shoes, flip flops as well as everyday wear.

Lots of places have clothing banks. The Salvation Army have them everywhere, including in the carpark of our small local co-op. The Tesco in my nearest town has one, while for worn out clothes, my local tip has a textile recycling bin.

If you have a good bundle of children or babies clothes - or even adult's clothes you could Freecycle or Freegle them. Charity shops are not the only place to take unwanted clothes.

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the trouble to reply. I was really thinking of a place where people could come and choose clothes that would be useful to them ie people who really need them. I have tried Freecycle before but felt that the people who came for the clothes did not actually need them ( one was a local councillor )but were going to sell them on. Some were very choosy about what they took.I tried again last week with a pair of new football boots but there were no takers.

I was really disappointed not to get any response, anywhere..

Our local pre school and primary school do the " bags for schools" thing. I believe they are paid by weight, but there are restrictions on what they won't take, for example pillows, cushions, embroidered work was etc.

I find it very useful when having a clear out.

I guess your experience is much the same as yours MissAdventure. I think what I am looking for is something like Maggiemaybe suggests: a group that helps the local homeless.

Also, our local supermarket has a Salvation Army collection bin type thing.

my experience

My local Waitrose has two bins- one is for food for the local food bank, the other is for clothes, books etc. for a local RSPCA. Both do very well. For me it is a boon, I just pop the plastic bag in the RSPCA bin and because it is there 7 days a week, I do not overfill the bin.

You could try Freecycle but some of them aren't working during the lockdown.
I collect used clothes at my local church in Blackburn to take to a place where they are weighed in and we divide the money raised in this way between 2 charities.

I recently had a letter from Age UK, as I have donated to their local shop in the past, saying they are in need of all donations that they can sell, and as soon as their shops re-open after lockdown they will let me know. I see they are also selling lots of things online at the moment as well, a lot of it new.

Our usual charity shops are closed and the bags have stopped coming through the letterbox. Just before lockdown I took some jeans, joggers, coats and jumpers to the Car Wash where I go regularly. It is young European men and girls who are the staff. Some of the men have brought girlfriends here with them too, and they were very happy to accept the clothes (I checked with the Boss man first). In both lockdowns the hand car washes have been forced to close. I wonder how they have managed for money. I’ll be there with my car as soon as it’s up and running again.

What a lovely idea Puzzler. That is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to find.I must look a bit farther afield.