What Shoes Can I Donate? What We Take and What We Can’t

Welcome in your bags

Shoes we collect

We take men’s, women’s and children’s footwear of every kind, as long as it’s in good, wearable condition and ready for a new home. That includes:

• Trainers
• Boots: Chelsea boots, UGGs, knee-high and walking boots
• Sandals
• Flip-flops
• High heels and wedges
• Smart shoes
• Wellies and wellington boots
• Comfy slippers
• Adult and children’s shoes and trainers

Children’s feet are always growing, so many of the pairs we collect have hardly been worn. A pair of school shoes outgrown in a term, or wellies worn twice, can go straight on to another child.

Shoes don’t need a collection of their own, either. They can go out on the same day as clothes and the other things we take. The full list is on what we collect.

Please leave out

Shoes we can’t take, and why

There are only a few, and each has a reason. We only collect things another person can use, because anything that can’t be reused costs money to get rid of, and that money should be going to charity.

Single shoes

Nobody can wear one shoe. A shoe on its own, or a pair that comes apart in the bag, is very hard to match up again once it reaches our warehouse.

Instead: hold on to it for a while in case the other one turns up, then donate the two together. If it never does, take it to your local recycling centre.

Badly damaged shoes

Soles hanging off, holes right through, snapped heels or split uppers mean nobody can walk in them safely.

Instead: a shoe repairer can often fix a heel or sole. If they are past saving, many council textile banks and recycling centres take shoes for recycling. Check your council’s website.

Wet, muddy or mouldy shoes

Damp shoes go mouldy in a closed bag, and they spoil everything packed with them.

Instead: brush off the mud, let them dry, then donate them. Shoes with mould inside are best taken to your local recycling centre.

Socks

We never collect socks, even clean new ones. They can’t be passed on second-hand, so please take them out of your shoes before you bag up.

Instead: worn-out ones can go in a council textile bank to be recycled.

The full list of everything we can and can’t collect is on what we collect.

Before you bag up

Are they good enough to donate?

Shoes don’t need to look new. Scuffed toes, creased leather and worn-in insoles are all normal, and it doesn’t matter if a pair is slightly worn or out of style. As long as they’re wearable, we’ll take them. Run through these four questions:

Keeping pairs together is the one thing that makes the biggest difference. Tie laces in a firm knot, or put each pair in a small bag of its own, so the two shoes reach our warehouse as a pair. Strappy sandals and heels can be held together with an elastic band.

Then put them in tied bags or boxes a driver can lift, and leave them out by 7am on your collection day. You don’t need to be in.

Unsure about one pair? Leave it out. One wet or mouldy pair can ruin a whole bag of good shoes.

Worn out?

What about shoes that are worn out?

Please don’t put them in your donation bags, but please don’t put them in the bin either. Many council textile banks and household recycling centres take worn-out shoes and send them for recycling. Your council’s website will tell you what your nearest one accepts. Why thrown-away shoes are such a waste is on why old shoes shouldn’t go in the bin, and why wearing a pair again beats making a new one is on how donating shoes helps the planet.

The pairs you do donate are sorted by hand at our warehouse, and we pass on what can be worn again. You can follow that journey on what happens to my shoes?

Ready to bag up? Our step-by-step guide, how do I donate my shoes?, covers booking, packing and the day itself.