What Happens to Donated Clothes After Collection?
Once the van pulls away from your door, your clothes start a journey that ends with someone else wearing them. Here is what happens to donated clothes after we collect them, stage by stage, with photos from our own operation.
- Sorted by hand
- Sent where they’ll be worn
- Worn-out pieces recycled
The journey
From your doorstep to a new owner
Back to our warehouse
Our drivers collect from homes all day, then bring everything back to our warehouse, where the day’s donations are unloaded together.
Nothing is sold straight off the van. Every bag goes through the same checks first.
Sorted by hand
Every bag is opened and every item is checked by hand. Our team sorts the clothes into grades by type, size, season and condition: men’s winter coats, children’s summer clothes, women’s knitwear, and hundreds more. It’s skilled, careful work, and it’s what makes sure each piece goes somewhere it will actually be worn.
Anything that can’t be worn again is separated out at this stage. You can read what happens to those clothes in stage 5.
Packed and baled
Once graded, the clothes are packed into large 200kg bags and pressed into tight bales. Baling means a lorry can carry far more in one trip, so less fuel is used for every item moved.
Sent where they’ll be worn
Some of the best clothes are sold here in the UK. Much of the rest goes to second-hand markets abroad, matched to the season and the climate: warm winter coats to colder countries such as Ukraine, and lighter summer clothes to markets in Africa.
The traders who buy them order the grades their own customers want, so clothes go where there is real demand for them. On the market stalls they are sold at prices local families can afford, which is often far less than new clothes would cost.
The clothes that can’t be worn again
Because we only ask for clean, wearable clothes, most of what we collect goes on to be worn. The pieces that are too worn, torn or stained are not thrown away. They are made into industrial wiping cloths, the cloths used every day in garages, workshops and factories.
That is why the list of what clothes we can and can’t take matters: the more of each bag that can be worn again, the more it raises.
The money goes to charity
Selling the clothes pays for the collection, the sorting and the transport, and a large percentage of the proceeds goes to the charity you chose when you booked. You can read more on who do my clothes help? and meet the charities on our charities page.
Why this journey matters. Every piece worn again is a piece that didn’t need to be made new, and didn’t end up in a bin. We explain what that saves on how donating clothes helps the planet, and what happens to clothes that are thrown away on why old clothes shouldn’t go in the bin.
Anglo Recycling, the company behind Anglo Doorstep Collections, was named Best Clothes Recycling Enterprise 2023 in the Southern Enterprise Awards.
Ready to donate your clothes?
It’s free, you don’t need to be at home, and you choose the charity your donation supports.