Op Shops Don’t Want Your Crap Clothes

Photo: Courtesy of Hunter Markets

Australia’s op shops are struggling under the weight of poor-quality donations. Here's what to do with your unwanted garments instead.

If the average Australian is buying 53 new items of clothing a year, what’s happening to all our unwanted garments?

Last year in Australia, 732 million items of clothing were recycled or reused. But 924 million garments – more than 200,000 tonnes – were sent to landfill. It’s hard to wrap our heads around just how colossal these numbers are. According to Seamless, Australia’s clothing product stewardship scheme, and its National Clothing Benchmark, we’re recycling our clothes more than ever. But garments are still more likely to be thrown out than reused, passed on, donated, upcycled or recycled.

For a long time, op shops have shouldered the responsibility of dealing with our unwanted clobber. They keep clothes in rotation, financially support charities and provide a more affordable alternative to new clothes. But they’re struggling under the weight of it all. Fashion overproduction and overconsumption have led to high volumes of low-quality clothes making up the majority of donations.

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A new RMIT study, published in Nature Cities, found we’re exporting a third of our donated clothes. That means our feel-good op shop donations might not be being redistributed within local communities, but are likely sent to the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji or Pakistan. There, offshored clothes often disrupt local economies or end up in landfills (though in some communities, they play an important role).

And because there’s limited financial incentive to handle donations locally in Melbourne, charities sometimes handpick high-quality clothes (particularly vintage pieces) for resale in Europe. So not only are a chunk of our low-quality donated clothes being sent overseas, some of our premium donations are also being sold abroad.

How did we get here? “Charities traditionally work by taking donated textiles and sorting them. This can only work to a certain point,” Dr Yassie Samie, the study’s co-author and a postdoctoral researcher at RMIT School of Fashion and Textiles, tells Broadsheet. The study calls it an “invisible” problem. The issue of textile waste is hidden from consumers, handled in the backrooms of op shops and at shipping ports. “How can we have better control over that and reduce the volume of textiles that are just offloaded on other countries? Can we save these resources and create local jobs?” Samie asks.

Apart from op shops, the onus falls largely on companies and individuals to deal with the problem. Most local governments in cities don’t go beyond providing public donation bins and commercial resellers. Samie wishes governments would “provide more financial support for charities” because their knowledge, long-standing experience and public trust in the space is invaluable.

Australia’s slow fashion scene is growing. Samie points to names like Reborn by Homie and Into Carry as good examples in the redesign space. Chop Shoppe is a prime repair and upcycling service. And Circular Sourcing is a key marketplace for surplus textiles. Brunswick’s Sydney Road has a secondhand clothing directory. They’re all examples of what municipalities should be doing.

But these projects are still “small [and] aren’t mainstream” according to Samie. Less than 0.5 per cent of unwanted textiles are recycled back into fibres and clothes. Our current take-back schemes and recycling are only scraping the tip of the iceberg when it comes to textile waste.

So what should people do when they no longer want their wearable clothes? Steer clear of the rubbish bin, Sustainability Victoria’s Investment Advisor, Ira Malhi, tells Broadsheet. 51 per cent of Australians throw worn-out or significantly damaged clothes into their general waste, sending them straight to landfill.

“Donate to local charity shops based on a simple rule of thumb – if you can gift it to a friend or family member, then it’s good enough to donate,” Malhi says. Samie recommends mending any small blemishes and washing items before donating to charity.

And if you’re without sewing skills, the Australian Repair Network has an interactive map of around 110 volunteer-run repair groups in Australia, and social enterprises like Second Stitch and The Social Studio can alter, repair or upcycle your pieces. Some fashion brands, like RM Williams and Birkenstock, offer in-house repairs.

To alleviate the load op shops face, Malhi suggests attending clothing swaps or suitcase rummages where “people bring unwanted, wearable items that they don’t want and can swap them for something they would like”. Consignment stores like Goodbyes, Swop and Mutual Muse blend the roles of consumers and consignors, providing options for buying and selling clothes. Markets like Second Life Markets, Hunter Markets and A Plus Market are geared towards style-savvy Australians looking for preloved clothes.

When clothes are beyond wear or repair, Malhi recommends checking how to best dispose of textiles with your local council, or head to Planet Ark’s reuse and recycling database for more options. And Upparel, Rcycl and Textile Recyclers Australia are all local enterprises dedicated to textile waste recycling.

We’re spoilt with options, but we’re still drowning in excess. The best thing to do is to refuse or rethink your next purchase so you don’t end up with unwanted clothes in the first place.

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