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Resale Stores 101

September 11, 2020

Nearly a year ago, we shared a blog about where recycled textiles go once they have been donated to a bin, or to a resale store. From sorting to consolidating to grading to their final destination, recycled textiles can go on to have a lengthy second life after you choose to donate them.

So what happens when your donations are placed in the store for resale? Are they simply resold as is, in the same condition you dropped them off? What do resale stores do with the money from sales? And do all salvageable items go on the floor?

Behind the Scenes

The behind the scenes look at local and chain resale stores is quite fascinating. Many stores go the extra mile to repair or clean salvageable donations with minor problems before placing them on the sales floor. Skilled craftsmen are employed in addition to those on the sales floor to repair these minor fixes.

“Upholstery is cleaned, and couches are shampooed, cleaned and sanitized. Electronics are plugged in to make sure they work. Donated mattresses are taken apart and rebuilt by a company before being resold at the store…In the woodshop, workers go through pieces of furniture. ‘If it’s salvageable, they’ll clean it up, make minor repairs if they can,’ Burleigh said.” (Read more here)

However, not all donations are salvageable. So what do resale stores do with these items?

“Furniture and other items that aren’t fit for sale in the Salvation Army store because they’re stained or defective are taken to the As-Is warehouse behind the processing center to await public auctions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Store merchandise not sold within three weeks also gets auctioned.”

This is why in our previous posts we have pointed out that it is important to make sure your donated items like electronics are in working condition. A working toaster or cd player is going to bring in more money for the resale store than a broken one, which may not bring in any. The sale of these items puts money back into the community and supports charitable causes.

Partner Programs

In addition to the two options of sales floor or auction, resale stores have partnership programs with local and/or national businesses and organizations:

“Goodwill participates in the Dell Reconnect program, in which computers that can’t be refurbished are recycled, and Dell pays Goodwill for the materials. Another partnership is with the nonprofit Shared Knowledge Literacy Foundation, which looks for unsold books with high-value titles that can be sold online.”

Many other resale stores also find local programs that can offer mutually beneficial partnerships, such as a thrift store in Virginia that donates books to “The Up Center for literacy programs.”

Partnership programs is where Chicago Textile Recycling fits in with resale stores. We have a partnership program with over 40 local Chicagoland resale stores to help them raise funds from their unsaleable clothing, purses, shoes and belts. Acting as a consolidator for these stores, we partner with them so that they too can raise money for local charities just like the bigger name resale stores.

Where Does the Money Go?

The next question you may be wondering is what do resale stores do with the money made from your donations? Of course some of the money has to go back into paying the store’s rent and utilities and paying employees, but the remaining profit oftentimes goes back into community programs and local charities. “All the money made in local Goodwill stores goes back to community programs – job training and career development for people with disabilities or obstacles such as homelessness.”

Resale stores have a variety of programs they support with the money made from sales:

“All proceeds raised by local stores go toward the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, which houses 114 men for six months to a year as they fight drug and alcohol addictions. To feed them three meals a day costs $20,000 a month, Burleigh said, in addition to expenses such as heat, water and electricity.”

Local (non-chain) resale stores typically have other community programs and charitable causes they work with. Many stores in our own Chicagoland area support homeless shelters, low-income families, and other programs.

This is why here at CTR we believe so strongly in what we do. Many of our recyclers previously gave their excess to the big guys – and then weren’t able to raise funds for their own critical programs. We stepped in and began consolidating all their unsaleable items with those from other local small business resale stores. The money they make from our purchase of those items goes back into our city supporting many great and vital programs in the community. We love supporting the people in our city and local small businesses while also caring for our planet.

Donations to Sales Floor or Somewhere Else?

After your donations have been sorted, there are many options as to where they can eventually wind up. As stated earlier and in previous blog posts, some donations go to auction, some to other countries, some to make rags or insulation, and some to the sales floor or local shelters.

“At the Union Mission Ministries store in Norfolk, in-house use is the top priority. ‘The first thing we do when we get items donated like clothing, we see where we can use it in our shelters,’ said Linda Jones, the mission’s public relations director. The approximately 350 people in the shelters get free clothing, and if they move into apartments, they are given household items. The next priority: poor people in the community, who receive vouchers and can pick out items from the store for free.

Whatever’s left after that is open for sale to the public, Jones said.”

Another resale store owner shared about a similar end for donations,

“Clothing that doesn’t sell is given to shelters for people in need, and linens that are stained or otherwise can’t be sold are donated to local animal shelters and animal hospitals, said Frances Ross, the Norfolk store’s assistant manager.”

Where We Fit In

Here at Chicago Textile Recycling, we support small resale stores so that they can turn around and give to local shelters and other charitable organizations. Many cannot generate the volume of larger stores, so we purchase clothing items that are unsaleable and typically send them to a business who specializes in sorting and processing. We specifically serve as a consolidator and help fill full truckloads of baled unsaleable textiles (43,000 lbs at a time). This allows small resale stores to raise funds the same way the bigger name resale stores do and support their local nonprofits.

This is one big reason thrift or resale stores are so vital in our communities. They work to provide thousands of people with clothing and other household goods.

Why Choose Resale

Here are some of the many ways resale stores are important for our economy and the health of our planet:

They “employ tens of thousands of people”
“Generates at least $18 billion in annual revenue”
“Keeps an enormous amount of used stuff out of landfills”
“Contributes billions each year to social-service and job-training programs that are crucial to communities nationwide”

(Statistics found here)

After understanding the myriad of ways resale stores benefit our communities and planet, where CTR fits in as a partner to resale stores, and knowing the problems fast fashion potentially create, why not choose resale for all of your shopping needs?

Textile Recycling During Covid-19

July 16, 2020July 14, 2020

As resale stores and our own textile recycling bins reopen around the Chicagoland area, you might be wondering:

“Is this safe?”

“Can and should I donate?”

“What new protocols are in place to keep employees, donation providers and customers safe from catching coronavirus?”

In this blog, we hope to educate our recyclers about what has changed in textile recycling during Covid-19 and how to stay healthy during our ongoing pursuit of keeping textiles out of landfills and taking care of our Earth.

Is This Safe?

The biggest question about recycling textiles and buying secondhand during the coronavirus pandemic is “Is this safe?”

Recently, the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles association (S.M.A.R.T.) posted about this very question. They wrote,

“Worried about visiting your local donation center, charity, or thrift store? Have no fear! As they reopen, we have heard from many entities that they are taking social distancing restrictions and enhanced sanitation policies seriously. This means you can donate in confidence, while knowing that you are making a significant difference for our environment.”

As a personal consumer of secondhand items, I have already witnessed this statement at work shopping at my local thrift store as well as attending a children’s consignment sale.

At the thrift store, aisles had been spread wider to encourage social distancing, markers were placed on the floor at the check-out lines, sanitizer was right inside the door and all employees and shoppers were wearing masks as required.

At the consignment sale, there were two employees behind plastic windows with masks on, hand sanitizer and masks upon entry as well as a thermometer checking customers’ temperatures. While shopping, there was only one other shopper who entered the entire hour I was there. And of course when I returned home, all items immediately went into the laundry or were sprayed down to disinfect.

In addition to reassuring those who shop and donate at secondhand stores in their blog post, S.M.A.R.T. issued a statement months prior addressing the Used Clothing Ban that many countries have adopted during Covid-19. In it, they assure importers the safety of continuing to buy and receive secondhand items, which also can reassure patrons of thrift stores. They stated,

“Numerous studies including those published in the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet have shown that COVID-19 may be detectable on hard, non-porous surfaces like plastics and metals for hours and potentially up to 2 to 3 days. The virus, however, is far less likely to survive on soft, porous surfaces like textiles including rugs, carpets and clothing, new or used. As recently issued guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on COVID-19 notes, mitigating whatever small risk might be present on soft, porous surfaces like textiles is easily addressed by laundering the textile/garment according to manufacturer instructions in warm water. This advice is supported by the fact that countless hospitals and other medical facilities are utilizing reusable linens and personal protective equipment/hospital apparel to protect healthcare workers that are treating patients infected with COVID-19. Notably, the CDC has not made any changes to existing guidance on how these textiles should be handled and processed since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States.” (read more here)

Another member of S.M.A.R.T., Bank and Vogue, agrees,

“From way before the COVID-19 outbreak, thrift stores have taken measures to keep a clean and healthy environment in their facilities. During this pandemic, these procedures have just heightened. As thrift stores begin to open up around the world, they have implemented new protocols to ensure the virus is not transmitted to any of their stakeholders. For instance, the clothes collected from bins usually stay 72 hours in trailers before getting into the warehouse. Also, thrift stores disinfect the workplace several times a day, all the employees use protective masks and gloves, and they assure social distancing by establishing a maximum capacity inside their facilities.”

It is ultimately up to you and how comfortable you feel leaving home right now, and what protective measures you are currently following when being around others. However, rest assured that donation centers and thrift stores are taking every measure on their end to ensure that coronavirus is not spreading at their facilities and that they are striving to keep employees safe and healthy.

Can and Should I Donate?

Can I?

The simple answer to the second question is a resounding yes. Thrift stores are reopening. Our textile recycling bins are slowly opening back up also, with the bin located by our warehouse already available 24/7. Donation centers are open again with stacks upon stacks of boxes and bags and furniture donations. What has everyone done at home during the quarantine? Clean out their closets…and homes apparently. Thrift stores and donation centers are currently overwhelmed by donations. A friend online recently posted a picture of our local Goodwill store with donations stacked from the donation door all the way to the front door. It has become a problem across the country. Are your donations still desired by secondhand stores? Yes. But maybe not right now.

The overwhelming donations have become such an issue that the media has begun reporting about it. In a recent piece by Adam Minter, author of “Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale”, he stated,

“A drop-off in demand plus a surge in supply is creating a storage problem, with thrift stores across the country now looking for additional space or even suspending donations. That, in turn, has led to a rush of well-intentioned spring cleaners dumping their used goods at the doors of closed thrift shops. These informal “donations” don’t help anyone: They create health and safety risks, force thrifts to pay disposal costs for stuff that might otherwise have been a source of revenue, and increase the likelihood that perfectly good products will end up in landfills.”

Keeping this in mind, Minter and executives of charity shops he spoke with encourage those who want to donate to simply hold onto their donations for a while longer until donations start to slow down. In addition, Minter shared advice to those desiring to donate:

“If you’re looking to donate, you should also make sure your stuff is labeled and take care that it’s actually usable. A broken toaster isn’t a gift to Goodwill, it’s a cost. Most thrifts maintain lists of acceptable items that are worth consulting before dropping anything off. Whatever you do, don’t ‘donate’ when the thrift store is closed. More likely than not, your stuff will be pilfered or ruined by the elements before it gets through the door.”

During the first few months of coronavirus, we were stuck at home with nowhere to go surrounded by all of our stuff, so we cleaned. Chicago Textile Recycling made posts about now being the time to clean out those closets and dressers and more. As we cleaned out our homes, we had no choice but to store it somewhere until donation centers and recycling bins reopened. Here is the advice that Minter, thrift and charity shop owners, and CTR wants to pass along…keep it there, for now. Simply wait a little while longer to donate so that these stores and charities are not overwhelmed or burdened by your donations, but waiting eagerly for them again.

Should I?

As stated in the first quote above by the S.M.A.R.T. association, “you can donate in confidence, while knowing that you are making a significant difference for our environment”. Should you continue to donate old textiles instead of throwing them in the trash? Absolutely. In the same post, S.M.A.R.T. says,

“If you have taken the time to go through your old clothes, shoes and other unused or unwanted textiles while navigating quarantine, we hope you opted not to toss them in the trash. Why? Because when they find their way to landfills, they have many negative environmental impacts, including contributing to greenhouse gas emissions!”

Can you donate? Yes. Should you donate? Yes. But hold on to your donations just a few months more. Thrift stores and charity shops want your donations. The health of our planet needs your donations to stay out of landfills. This involves not throwing your old textiles away AND waiting until those businesses are ready and able to handle your donations in a way that benefits our planet and continues to help them in their missions to help others through your donations:

“The thrift industry is more important than most Americans realize. Largely out of sight, it employs tens of thousands of people and generates at least $18 billion in annual revenue. It keeps an enormous amount of used stuff out of landfills, and contributes billions each year to social-service and job-training programs that are crucial to communities nationwide.”

Minter continues later in the article, describing consequences of overwhelming resale stores right now,

“The consequences should be a concern for all Americans, whether or not they shop in thrift stores. In 2018, Goodwill alone funded $5.3 billion in charitable services, including education assistance, job training and work placements. Smaller donation-based charities, such as the arc Thrift Stores in Colorado, spend millions each year employing people with disabilities. As the pandemic’s economic impact spreads, those contributions will necessarily shrink. Already, Goodwill is facing thousands of layoffs nationwide.”

Let’s take care of our planet and the people on our planet by waiting a little while longer.

What new protocols are in place to keep employees, donation providers and customers safe from catching coronavirus?

As stated above under “Is it safe?,” many thrift stores and charity shops have adopted new or increased existing disinfection protocols in their stores. In addition, they have implemented creative solutions to ensure social distancing and other ways to decrease the chances of spreading coronavirus in store. Some of these new protocols include:

clothes collected from bins usually stay 72 hours in trailers before getting into the warehouse
thrift stores disinfect the workplace several times a day
all the employees use protective masks and gloves
they assure social distancing by establishing a maximum capacity inside their facilities
aisles spread wider to encourage social distancing
markers placed on the floor at check-out lines to maintain six foot rule
sanitizer placed inside front door
shoppers requirement to wear masks being enforced
reduced hours to have more time for cleaning and disinfecting

With these protocols set in place, you can rest easy returning to your local resale stores.

Moving Forward

As we are all learning new ways of doing things during this time of coronavirus, it is still so important to continue to prioritize the health of our planet. Recycling textiles is one big way we can do this. Now that businesses and bins are reopening, remember to save your textile donations and gradually bring them in when your local resale stores are no longer overwhelmed. Remember also to prioritize the health of yourself and others by wearing a mask and social distancing.

Orange, Black and Green: Choose Environmentally Conscious this Halloween

October 24, 2019January 10, 2020

One week from today those who celebrate the holiday will be out in their neighborhood (or a favorite spooky neighborhood) walking from door to door, ringing doorbells and shouting “Trick or Treat!” Kids will be excited and on sugar highs already, houses will be decorated, and children will be unrecognizable in donned costumes and alternative personas for one haunted evening of fun.

Where does Chicago Textile Recycling fit in this post about Halloween festivity? In our pursuit of encouraging each of you to recycle textiles, we also want to provide eco-friendly ideas whenever you need to purchase a new outfit, even if it is one to embrace your inner witch. Or ghost. Or superhero.

Shopping Creatively: Resale Stores and Your Closet

Shop Resale Stores

Resale stores are a great place to shop for Halloween inspiration. Our local Goodwill not only resells previously worn costumes for kids and adults, they also set up spots in their aisles with costume ideas that can be found in the regular clothes’ sections of their stores. In these spots, employees have pulled together items in the store to complete the look.

For instance, one spot had the idea of “Scarecrow,” gave simple directions on what to buy to to create the scarecrow costume, and had already pulled flannel shirts and overalls under the sign to look through and purchase. Add a straw hat, a few pieces of hay and some scarecrow looking makeup, and you are ready for Halloween!

Over the last six years, I have only purchased new costumes once or twice for my children, choosing instead to pull ideas from pinterest or buy secondhand from kids’ consignment and resale stores. By choosing to buy used, you are keeping perfectly good costumes out of the waste stream in landfills. Children’s costumes are the most prevalent option in resale stores, but there are adult costumes also, as well as ideas for pulling together costumes from what you already own or from the clothes’ racks of resale stores. An added bonus is that this option is always cheaper too!

Shop Your Closet

Your own closet is another great place to look for Halloween inspiration. It doesn’t take much to pull off a witch. When hosting a Halloween party with roommates a decade ago, I pulled a black dress, some orange and black striped socks, black tights and black boots together, borrowed an orange autumnal scarf from a classmate, and was left with only a witch hat to buy, which I found secondhand. Voila!

As noted above, there are other costume ideas that could be pulled from an already filled closet. A scarecrow would be simple with a flannel shirt and overalls. A zombie equally easy to create with some tattered dark clothes, or old clothes you could tatter yourself. Frankenstein would need a solid t-shirt, sports jacket, and a pair of slacks. With a small dose of creativity, and possibly a little pinterest inspiration, you can easily pull off many Halloween looks in the comfort of your own home.

Costume Ideas

Spider

Last year my son went as a spider for Halloween. I really couldn’t find many good premade spider costumes on the internet, so decided to check out pinterest and make one myself. I consider myself somewhat crafty but am definitely no sewing goddess, so this is not a hard one to make. It was simply a matter of looking for the pieces to make the whole.

He wanted to be a brown wolf spider, or something similar based on a Halloween decoration I purchased from our local Goodwill. Shopping around local thrift stores, I found a brown sweatshirt with an orange truck I was able to turn inside out, a pair of brown corduroy pants and a brown knitted hat. At the nearby craft store, I purchased an 8 pack of medium sized googly eyes and some brown ribbon. I then purchased two pairs of brown socks and a pair of brown gloves at our local Dollar Tree.

Following a look I found on Pinterest, I filled the two pairs of socks with plastic grocery bags, sewed them closed and onto the sides of the sweatshirt, and then hot glued ribbon to connect his two long sleeved arms to two socks on either side, with his legs creating eight legs total for the spider. A hot glue gun also helped with adhering the googly eyes to the front top of his knit hat, and he was an adorable spider that Halloween.

Farmer/Scarecrow

A farmer or scarecrow would be fairly similar in style. With a plaid flannel long-sleeved shirt, a pair of overalls and a straw hat, your basic look would be set. A pair of work boots could complete the look for a farmer, and some straw and makeup would turn you into a scarecrow.

Pirate

For a pirate, you will need a white shirt, black pants or cut offs, a red sash which could be an old t-shirt or pair of leggings and a sash or kerchief for your head. Or instead of a kerchief, a secondhand pirate hat or similar black hat would work well. A pirate sword could also be picked up secondhand, and you can choose to complete the look with an eyepatch. A black piece of felt with ribbon could suffice, or you can attempt to find an inexpensive one at a costume shop. Lastly, you can always add details like a parrot, or a vest made from an old shirt or sports coat.

Robot

If you have an excess of boxes lying around, and some dryer flex hose, a robot would be a fun and creative project to make for Halloween. Some paint is all you would need to add to make it your own.

Vampire

Do you already own a tuxedo? There is no better reason to pull it out of the depths of your closet than an evening of impersonating a vampire. Add a black cape made from an old sheet, or one found secondhand, some black hair spray (if your hair isn’t black), and the only new thing you really need is a pair of pointy teeth. I do not suggest buying those secondhand.

If you do not currently own a tux, a button down white shirt with black trousers would do the trick. And earn yourself a treat!

Many More Ideas

For inspiration, seek out your local resale store or type in “diy halloween costumes” on google or pinterest. There are so many easy and creative costumes you can make from already owned textiles and items in your home, and if you are feeling absolutely zero creativity in the craftiness department, there are many, many costumes and costume ideas at resale stores that involve simply reusing someone else’s costume from last year. Either way, you are doing your part in reducing waste, increasing the longevity of textiles, and recycling one person’s old costume (would be trash) into your new costume treasure.

Happy Halloween!

Recycled Textiles: Where Do They Go? Part 2 –…

September 24, 2019December 19, 2024

Two weeks ago, CTR posted about what happens to your textiles when you donate to one of our bins. (READ ABOUT IT HERE) This week we are focusing on the journey your textiles take when donated to a resale store, such as Goodwill, Salvation Army or your local resale shop. What happens after you drive up and drop off your bags? How much is kept and resold in store, and what happens to the rest? Where do they wind up next? This post will tell you more about where recycled textiles go once they leave your home.

First Stop – Resale Store

Just like with donating at a bin, it starts with you, the recycler. Marie Kondo or the season of Spring or just the overwhelming clutter has finally inspired you to go through your house and clean out the closets and dressers, your linens and shoes. You bag all of it up, and put it in your car, and breathe a sigh of relief that you have purged the excess. Next up is a short drive to your nearest resale store where you can unload the stress of too much stuff and feel good about your textiles living another life in someone else’s closet and home. As you drive away, you may wonder where does it all go?

Workers at resale stores first divide items into clothes, toys, housewares, etc. The next group of workers then goes through each donated item and checks for stains, rips, and odors. Clothes that are wet or have mildew are tossed into the trash to head for the local landfill as they are unusable.Stained or torn items as well as those that are out of fashion are bundled for recycling. Items are then assessed by what the store would likely resell and prepared for the store floor. Elizabeth Cline, author of “The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good” states that “on average, most resale stores and thrift shops only sell 20 to 25% of the donations they receive, and the rest is sent onward to exporters or recyclers.” .

Sometimes items are even chosen for the sales floor but after a few weeks of not selling, are then taken off the floor and sent onward. Each store has their own timeline for turning inventory, but all of them try to have something new to offer for customers.

From here – the journey is the same as those items donated to a textile donation bin. We’ve outlined the process here, but you can read about it in full detail in our last blog post – “Recycled Textiles: Where Do They Go? Part 1 – Bins”.

Second Stop – Consolidating Warehouse

Next stop is a consolidating warehouse, such as the one we have at Chicago Textile Recycling. For more information, visit our website.

Third Stop – Sort and Grade

The textiles then move onto graders to be sorted for their final stop.

Fourth and Final Stop (Option 1) – Reuse

Whether the resale store deems it sellable or it is sent to other countries to resell, almost half of donated textiles are resold to enjoy a second life with someone else.

Fourth and Final Stop (Option 2) – Wiping Rags

Our parent company, Wipeco, Inc. uses recycled textiles to cut into wiping rags and resell to buyers.

Fourth and Final Stop (Option 3) – Reprocessing

Many textiles are broken down for insulation, etc.

Fourth and Final Stop (Option 4) – Landfill

A few textiles are at their end of life and have no other possible stops but a landfill.

Taking Care of our Earth

Finally, Chicago Textile Recycling often receives the question, “What should I do with my items that are not good enough to donate to a resale store?” In every case, it is best to donate it anyway, even if you are unsure. Resale store employees are trained to assess if an item should go to the sales floor or on to a recycler and most recyclers purchase those items that don’t make the cut. Although these items sell at a lower rate than pristine conditioned resalable items, many resale stores are non-profits who rely greatly on any additional funds they can generate for the causes they initiate. Rarely will they refuse a donation. If you are interested in finding a resale store near you that recycles, please CONTACT US and we’d be happy to point you to one of our partner stores in your area.

Elizabeth Cline quotes taken from this article