What do you do with old clothes?

[Rosyrain]

I try not to throw any old clothes away if I can help it. This saves unneded waste from going to the landfill. I donate the items that can be worn still by another who sees value in my used clothing. When the item is too tattered I make rags out of the clothes or cut pieces for sewing crafts. What do you do with your old clothes?

[Lennox]

In the first place, I'm not a large fan of the feeling of poly-blends against my skin. Once it's been worn enough to get worn down, I can trust that it would decompose properly wherever it ends up (hoping that the dyes and colorings aren't toxic). If I still had a garden, I would compost them if they were really that far gone.

 

Otherwise, though, I do the same thing as you do: if outgrown or stretched out of shape but otherwise are whole, then they get donated to disaster relief or poverty relief programs. If they're too damaged for a quick patch-up, then they become get kept as scraps to make quilts out of or some other sewing project, or re-used for cleaning rags.

[Rosyrain]

Glad to hear that I am not the only one who makes projects out of old clothes. Some people look at me like I am crazy or just plain cheap. I hate living in such a consumer based society!

[forextraspecialstuff]

I never throw my clothes out and choose to either donate them or make them into something else. Just about all of my clothes are donated to a women's shelter that I know turns around and gives them to people who really need them, I like this because I dislike charities that try to sell donations--unless they explicitly say they do. The clothes that are not in great shape are turned into rags for cleaning.

[Dee]

I donate a lot of them to friends. Right now I'm buying all of my clothes from thrift shops because I have dropped a lot of weight in the last year. Other than that, I tend to wear clothes until they're completely worn out. After that, they're cleaning or craft supplies.

[redochre]

I cut the pants and turn these into shorts for my kids. Kids grow up so fast that they outgrow the length faster than the waistline. When these no longer fit, I remove the buttons and fasteners and place these in a jar for future crafts. These worn out clothes will be used as rags. Sometimes I also turn them into woven rugs. There are excellent instructions found on Youtube for these types of projects.  

[shilpa]

I rarely throw away my clothes, only when I am not able to find a better use for them. When the clothes become too worn out and I am unable to wear them, I use the cotton clothes to dust away the items in my house. I donate some of the clothes which are quite expensive and usually synthetic to the people on the streets. However, I also wish there would be a method to recycle clothes just as we recycle paper. Recycling clothes would be a huge benefit to the environment and prevent many people from throwing away their old clothes into garbage cans.

[Rosyrain]

My daughter just went through her closet to get rid of a bunch of clothes that no longer fit her.  some of them are still fairly new.  I am going to cut them up and make handbag pouches and make up pouches out of them.  Should be a fun project, and if they turn out nice, I am going to try and sell them online.