9 Places To Recycle Clothes For Money & More

Pros & Cons Of Clothing Take-Back Programs

Take-back schemes are an essential component of a circular fashion system—and let’s be clear, circular, zero waste fashion is where we need to head if we want fashion to be truly sustainable.

Impressive amounts of textiles are being diverted from landfills into these schemes and that’s a significant first step. According to WRAP, 620,000 tons of textiles were collected in the UK alone for re-use and recycling. Clearly, the willingness is there.

Unfortunately, it’s still a drop in the ocean, especially considering only about 1% of what’s collected is actually used to make new clothing—not that that means it isn’t still being recycled into something else, mind you.

To understand potential problems and solutions to the recycled fashions industry, it’s important to first understand how it works. Typically a participating fashion brand will be the point of collection for used clothing, which they then will sort and either:

• Resell as is.
• Repurpose into new garments or smaller items (like scrunchies).
• Donate the items to charity—many of whom are already experiencing record clothing donation levels and can’t possibly find homes for everything, meaning they get sent to landfill anyway.
• Pass the items to third-party recyclers who will usually shred the clothing and recycle, often into industrial items like carpeting or insulation. This is common because modern textile blends make it tricky to recycle more fabrics into new yarn. 

Plus, we’re seeing more and more fast fashion brands using garment recycling programs to greenwash rather than take meaningful steps toward more conscious clothing consumption. In the same vein, awarding store credit for returning unwanted clothing can encourage further unnecessary consumerism, which is exactly what we’re trying to avoid. 

All in all, companies that recycle clothes (nor the process as a whole) just aren’t as effective in the face of the mountain textile waste problem that we need them to be. 

But let’s be clear: we’re not telling you to stop trying. Please, continue your recycling efforts! It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing. But just be conscious about with whom you choose to recycle old clothes. Opt for all-around sustainably minded brands rather than fast fashion ones who might not actually recycle at all.

And your first choices should still be not to buy anything you don’t need and to buy second hand if you can. A lot of the brands on this list offer second hand gear that others have returned. Start there if you need to spend your store credit. 

If you have to buy new, buy new items with end-of-life outcomes in mind, like natural sustainable fabrics that can be composted (nature’s ultimate recycling process) or those in pure blends ensuring they can actually be recycled, not just shredded down.

Now that we have all that out of the way, let’s move on to places we recommend for where to take old clothes for money.

1. thredUP

thredUP is one of the few true clothing to cash recycling programs out there.

While most brands offer store credit in exchange, with thredUP, you can either spend your earnings—minus a $14.99 service fee (which you don’t need to pay if your sent items don’t total that)—on their own online second hand store, at a participating brand partner, donate to a select rotating charity, OR simply cash out by Stripe or PayPal.

This app/website combo works similar to a consignment shop to pay you for all of the gently used clothes that you no longer use. Just order a Closet Cleanout Kit (which is free if you use your own box or costs $2.99 for one of their bags—we obviously recommend the former), they’ll list the items on their site, and you’ll get paid a percentage of the selling price; 

We personally use this service anytime we find our closet getting a bit too cluttered, because we love that they do literally ALL the work. No need to open your own thrift store, photograph your items, or deal with all the hassle of filling out listing details.

Literally just send in your clothes and wait to earn a little extra cash.

Anything that doesn’t sell or doesn’t meet their standards is subject to their free textile recycling service. You can pay to reclaim the items or let them just recycle for you. We recommend only sending items to thredUP that you don’t really care if you get back.

SHOP THREDUP

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2. Subset

Subset is one of the most helpful platforms to recycle your clothes for money because it’s one of the few that will actually take old underwear. Seriously.

Through this Subset (formerly Knickey) recycling program, more than 500,000 bras, undies, tights, and socks of any brand have been responsibly turned into new materials like carpet padding, furniture batting, and insulation. 

While they don’t give you money outright, you get $25 off your next Subset order. Money and underwear don’t grow on trees—but we always need both—so they’re practically the same thing, right?

When we replaced a lot of our old, toxic synthetic panties with organic ones from Subset, we sent those old ones back to the brand and can confirm their prepaid shipping label made it super easy.

SHOP SUBSET

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3. Girlfriend Collective

Once your Girlfriend Collective leggings, bike shorts, bras, or other sustainable yoga clothes can no longer be worn—at least without showing the yogis behind you a little too much—send them back via their SuperCircle powered circularity program.

The best part is you don’t just have to send back GFC brand items. While you do get more money for them—$10 per as opposed to $5 for other brands—there’s absolutely no requirements as to what brands you’re allowed to send.

Items can be in ANY condition (even stained and ripped) but they do ask that you wash everything before sending them in.

The process for how to recycle clothes for money with GFC is simple. Just start a GFC SuperCircle account, add your Girlfriend Collective items to your closet or add any brand items to your cart, print an immediately generated prepaid shipping label, and get your credit payout once you ship via a SuperCircle code to use upon checkout. 

Via your recycling portal, you can even track how much you recycle and your impact over time.

Once received, they’ll sort through your submitted items. Girlfriend COllective pieces are usually broken down and respun into yarn for new ones, while other mixed fabric garments are turned intp furniture batting, insulation, & padding—and they claim they’re “sending nothing to landfill”.

SHOP GIRLFRIEND COLLECTIVE

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4. Reformation

For over a decade, Reformation’s RefRecycling program has accepted all Reformation brand clothing and transformed them into new garments or, in the case of shoes and some mixed material garments, into building materials, parking bumpers, and flooring mats. 

Simply drop off clean garments, shoes, and handbags in-store or print a free shipping label online and wait for them to receive them for your $10 per item reward in the form of a Reformation store credit code.

Once they know these items can be properly recycled through their partner SuperCircle (pst… you can use the same account as you did for Girlfriend Collective), they’ll add new items to the list and hope to soon accept those from different brands.

SHOP REFORMATION

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5. Trashie

Trashie offers a unique and versatile way to recycle used clothes anyone can take advantage of. Just order a Take Back Bag for $20 (or discounted bundles of multiple bags), fill it up with all kinds of clothes, and receive $30 of TrashieCash™ back once received.

The colorful bags themselves are made of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic and will be recycled once sent back to Trashie.

TrashieCash™ can then be redeemed for gift cards and rewards from all kinds of different brands like Sephora, Pact, and Thrive Market.

Thanks to best-in-class detailed grading system of 253 grades based on quality, category, seasonality, and material, they maximize recycling efficiency and ensure clothes are matched to the best end-of-life outcome possible, whether that means finding a new home for those still in form, recycling into new garments, or downgrading into industrial rags, insulation, carpet padding, pet bed filling, and more.

SHOP TRASHIE

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6. Patagonia

Thanks to their Worn Wear program, Patagonia makes it easy to recycle your clothes for cash to spend on new sustainable outdoor clothing. They accept any of their own items for men, women, kids, and babies, as well as Patagonia branded backpacks and gear. 

For higher-priced items like luggage and jackets, you can get $60 or even $100 in store credit for recycling your clothes. 

Items must be in gently-used, still-wearable condition and of select (typically newer) styles. You can still mail in old garments or items that are beyond wear or repair, but these will be responsibly recycled or repurposed. In this case, there is no compensation, but case-dependent, you may receive a replacement product instead, as per Patagonia’s IronClad Guarantee.

SHOP PATAGONIA

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7. Outerknown

Outerknown believes in long-lasting garments and a circular economy. They’ve been working to take things even slower, so they launched the Outerworn Program in 2021, allowing customers to recycle clothes for store credit by way of reselling them

The easy-to-use online marketplace allows you to list pre-loved Outerknown garments—including sustainable men’s swimwear tees, sweaters, jeans, flannels, coats, organic sweatpants, and accessories—all in good condition with minimal wear. 

All you have to do is select the item from your order history, answer a few prompts, and list it online. Print out the prepaid shipping label, drop the item off at your local post office, and boom—you’ve contributed helped someone buy high-quality, sustainable garments at affordable prices. 

Our Outerknown stuff is still a prized go-to in our closet, so we haven’t had to take advantage of this program yet, but will update you if we do.

SHOP OUTERKNOWN

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8. REI

The cool thing about Re/Supply by REI is that you can not only recycle used clothes for REI credit, but all manner of eco-friendly camping gear, like hiking boots, sleeping bags, tents, kids bikes, and backpacks.

But there are a few guidelines you have to follow. Items can’t be broken or damaged, must be less than six years old (or three years, for kids bikes), and must not be any kind of safety equipment (like rock climbing harnesses). If you’re not sure if something qualifies, you can easily look up your item’s eligibility and trade-in value on the website. 

Just round up your outdoor clothing and gear, drop it off at any REI store or purchase a shipping label for $6, and say goodbye. Once the trade-in is complete, you’ll receive an REI gift card by email.

SHOP REI

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9. UPPAREL

Certified B Corp from the land down under, UPPAREL is a real up-and-coming recycling service for Australians, to date,having recycled nearly 14 million items, preventing over 2 million tons of textile waste.

There is a $35AUD recycling fee to help offset collection costs, which allows you to send in up to 10kg of textiles in a box, but depending on what you’re recycling, you may earn back more than this.

The tricky thing is that in order to receive a reward in return, you MUST purchase your collection box through one of their dedicated partner reward pages, NOT through the UPPAREL website. Rewards vary from $25–$50AUD by brand. 

One big pro to this service is that you can recycle all manner of textiles, including clothing, shoes, shoes, and even some home linens—just not things like duvets and pillows. If you’re unsure, their homepage includes a complete list of what they will and will not accept.

These garments are either donated to charitable partners (like Save The Children, Sacred Heart Mission, and Ready Set Australia), repurposed by one of their many partners, or recycled into new and innovative products like clothing and even furniture.

SHOP UPPAREL

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