3 Ways You Can Get Rid of Last Season's Clothes

Shopping for the trendiest outfits is a lot of fun but once all the clothes pile up; the fun turns into a chore. Clearing a closet full ...

Shopping for the trendiest outfits is a lot of fun but once all the clothes pile up; the fun turns into a chore. Clearing a closet full of last season's clothes is a tedious and unpleasant task, especially when you don’t do it on a regular.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to make closet-cleaning worthwhile and even profitable. It's actually easy to sell your used clothes online, swap them for more interesting pieces or donate them to a worthy cause.

Here are a few tips on how you can sell, exchange or donate last season’s clothes with barely any effort.

Sell your clothes

Selling your used clothes can be done the old-fashioned way via a garage sale. There are also consignment stores or resale shops that will pay for used clothes. However, organizing a garage sale or scouting for a consignment store takes a lot of time and effort.

The easiest way to sell your clothes is to do it online. You can sign up for online apps like ThredUP and TheRealReal which allow you to mail in your clothes in exchange for money. Each service has their own clothing and product niches that they specialize in, so choose the most appropriate platform for your apparel.

If you’re interested in turning this into a used clothing business, there are e-commerce platforms like Shopify that can help you create an online shop for used clothes. It's easy to setup and can be customized and scaled depending on your needs.

Exchange your apparel

Hosting swap parties can be a fun way to exchange your old pieces for “new” or more interesting ones. The party-goers must agree on ground rules beforehand to ensure that the swapping goes as smoothly as possible. Without a proper system to follow, a swap party can easily get out of control and may even lead to fights between the attendees.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of an offline swap party, there's always the online alternative. Swapstyle is an online swap service. It's as simple as using a platform like eBay and Craigslist, except you're only swapping with users, and not purchasing or selling.

Donate to a nonprofit

There are a lot of ways to go about this, as there are plenty of non-profit organizations out there that accept used clothing for donations. Donating your old and unused apparel is a wonderful way to help the less fortunate.

Some charitable organizations can also make use of damaged and worn out clothes, as they can tap on textile recyclers to sell or reuse the materials. If you're planning to give ruined clothes, just make sure they're clean.

The Salvation Army is one of the largest charitable institutions in the world. The foundation runs a multitude of social service programs all over the globe, from homeless shelters to disaster relief operations. You can be sure that the Salvation Army will put your donated clothes to good use.

Wrapping up

There are plenty of ways to clean out your overstuffed closet. You can earn money from doing it, start a decent side gig, connect with other fashionistas who enjoy clothes swapping or do a social service by donating your apparel to charitable institutions.