In Depth
Consumers
Used clothing in Canada
A second life before visiting the firepits of Pedernales
Last updated June 18, 2007
By Sabrina Saccoccio, CBC News
In Canada, giving away used clothing is perceived as an act of charity or as being environmentally friendly.
Clothes dropped off at Goodwill, for example, are sorted by employees and quickly hung on racks. They're sold to fund opportunities for employees facing obstacles, such as new Canadians or the handicapped, explained marketing vice-president Mitzie Hunter.
Sometimes the employees put new garments out on the floor by the hour. Goodwill even receives surplus goods from large corporate retailers, like Umbra and Phantom Hosiery.
Besides clothing and furniture, they take in items such power tools, musical instruments and drywall panels.
But nothing is repaired or dry-cleaned because of the cost — the company is a charity that doesn't have money to spare.
Hunter said many used goods are sold, and there are never "too many donations, because the revenue from the donations fund the core mission of Goodwill."
Soiled, broken or hazardous donations are shipped to another facility, along with unsold clothing.
"We send them to our outlet store, and it's an opportunity for people to purchase the items in greater volumes. If it's finally not sold at that stage, we do sell them in bulk to various buyers," Hunter said.
Throwback to throwaway
One of the bulk buyers that gets its inventory from Goodwill are upscale vintage shops, especially in smaller towns where they haven't been picked over by "retro cool" city people.
In the past decade, retro clothing has become more popular than ever. Stores like Goodwill and the Salvation Army cash in as city shoppers experiment with styles from previous decades.
Toronto's 69 Vintage or Mississauga Ontario's Think Twice buy massive buck-a-bag sacks of old clothing.
Think Twice resells items like a Simon Chang dress for $120 or an Anne Klein trench coat for around $150.
Trend, in Calgary, similarly marks up hand-me-down name brands.
Preloved, a Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver vintage store, is even more creative, sewing new dresses, bags and jackets from donated garments and fabric scraps.
They've salvaged thousands of unwanted old ties, university T-shirts and even bedsheets from the 1980s, turning them into hip new patchwork garments.
- RELATED: Where old clothes go: Pedernales
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