When you drop a bag of clothes at a donation bin or thrift store, it feels like a win-win: you declutter, someone in need gets affordable clothing, and nothing goes to waste… right?
The truth is much more complicated.
Only a Small Portion Is Sold in Local Thrift Stores
Studies suggest that only about 10–30% of donated clothing is actually purchased by shoppers in local thrift stores.Earth Day The rest doesn’t stay on those nicely organized racks for long.
Once items don’t sell, they’re pulled from the floor and moved into the “salvage” stream—where they’re baled and sold by weight to textile recyclers or export traders. Organizations like Goodwill send unsold clothing to outlet stores and then to recyclers, but anything that still can’t be moved eventually becomes trash.Remake+1
A Lot Is Exported Overseas
On a national level, the U.S. generates about 17 million tons of textile waste each year, around 6% of the entire municipal solid waste stream.Green America Of that, roughly 700,000 tons of used clothing are exported overseas annually, and millions of tons are recycled or downcycled.Green America
Those exported bales end up in massive secondhand markets in countries like Ghana, where vendors buy them unopened—and often discover that a large share is unsellable, poor-quality fast fashion.TIME+1
And Yes—A Significant Portion Still Becomes Waste
Even with donation, most textiles still end up landfilled or burned. One analysis found that about 85% of all textiles are ultimately discarded, despite donations and recycling systems.Circular Fashion LA Another estimate suggests that 73% of fibers used in clothing end up in landfills or incinerators, with only 12% recycled—and just 1% closed-loop recycled back into clothing.PMC
So while donating can be better than throwing clothes straight in the trash, it doesn’t guarantee your items get a second life.
Why This Matters for Parents
If you’re a parent staring at piles of outgrown kids’ clothes, it’s easy to assume “donate and done.” But the system is overloaded—especially with low-cost, low-quality fast fashion—and a big chunk of what we donate becomes someone else’s waste problem.
That’s why keeping clothes in use, parent-to-parent, is so powerful. When you know your child’s clothes are going directly to another family—without passing through this overloaded donation stream—you’re making a more reliable, truly circular choice.
Join a Different Kind of Loop
If you want your kids’ outgrown clothes to actually be worn again, not just hoped into a second life, The Little Loop is for you.
