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how to re-purpose your discarded piles of clothes

The Art of Re-Purposing: Feel Good About your Discarded Pile of Clothes

With the change of seasons comes a great opportunity to clean out your closet. Now is the time to sort through those clothes you won’t wear again until next spring or summer. It’s also a chance to pull out your winter wear and assess how your current wardrobe is really looking. Maybe you need to do a closet edit and create your capsule wardrobe. Perhaps it’s also time to replace a few older items that just aren’t working for you anymore.

Whatever the case, you’ve ended up with a large pile of clothing that can’t all be thrown out.

How to Feel Good About Your Discarded Piles of Clothes

First of all, separate the pile into three groups; for sale, donating, and recycling. This requires some attention to detail, and a fair assessment of each item.

Sell:

So let’s start with sale pile; sift through and select what you feel are the best pieces. Anything that is undamaged and is of good quality can be put into this pile. These pieces should have some appeal, either classic styling or still on trend, and you know there’s a market for this item to sell. Make sure the items in this pile are not damaged (unless you can do a quick fix to sew on a button or repair a minor tear) and don’t have any pilling or staining. Hang or fold these pieces and put them aside.

Donate:

The second pile will be for donation. You can’t give away your garbage so make sure the pieces are in good condition but not sellable. They may have some pilling or fading, or perhaps are just no longer in style. Or, they may have some light staining, as long as it’s not too noticeable. In general these items should be in fairly good condition. Remember, you’re donating these with the good intention of providing them for someone who can’t afford to buy brand new clothes. Their new owner will still need to wear them to work or outside the home, so the pieces need to be of decent quality.

In Vancouver, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre is a great place to help the needy. Just check their website before you head over to drop off your goodies, as they post their most required items –especially around the holiday season. Worldwide, Dress for Success is a wonderful charity that helps empower women to get prepared for job interviews and new careers, so any professional and work-casual office attire is needed.

Recycle:

The third pile is the recycling pile. Cut up what you need into rags for cleaning. Towels and pillow cases make great rags, but so do soft faded T-shirts. Anything deemed unwearable should be placed in this pile — like serious staining or major damage — and bagged up to go to recycling. H&M has a textile recycling program, where you can drop your unwearable items at their stores’ drop boxes and receive $5 vouchers for each bag you donate. The materials are turned into recycled fibers that are then used in new textile production.

Recoup Your Costs & Feel Good About Your Discarded Pile of Clothes

Now back to that first pile: the items you have in sell-able condition can be used to recoup some of the money you’ve invested in your wardrobe. By joining myWardrobe Online, you are connecting with a community of like-minded, fashion savvy shoppers looking to make a change. Posting them on the myWardrobe Online app allows you to exchange the items for their full value for some current pieces you will wear now! Simply create a post and upload a few photos of each item. You’ll get rewards for posting…without even selling anything! That means you’ll have Kudos to spend on fresh items for your new wardrobe!

Download the app for free today: App Store myWardrobe Online or Google Play myWardrobe Online

Cleaning out your closet never felt so good!! Have you noticed you didn’t need to throw anything into the garbage?! You’ve just done your part to reduce the 12 million tons of clothing that goes into landfills every year! Thank you!!

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