Thrift shops keeping clothes in circulation

3rd October 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Susan Buchanan
Contributing Writer

In a rush to get organized at home, you may have tossed some old clothes in the garbage, only for them to end up in landfill. If those threads had been donated to a thrift shop or charity, someone else might be wearing them now, or they could have been made into other products. And proceeds from their sale at a thrift shop might have helped finance community projects.

Non-profit Bridge House Corp. uses its two thrift stores — one on Camp St. and a bigger one on Airline Drive — to raise funds for programs that treat drug and alcohol abuse. Nearly a quarter of Bridge House’s budget comes from its shops, which sell household items in addition to clothes. Another 20 percent comes from its used car lot. Michel Ferrera, Bridge’s thrift stores director, said clothing sales are brisk.

Ferrera explained that thrift shops do the best they can with the apparel they receive. “At our processing center in the city, bags of clothing — donated mostly by individuals — are opened, and between 20 and 80 percent of the contents are in good shape and sent to the floors of our stores.”

When clothes arrive at the processing center, “they’re sorted, and items that are stained, too worn or have a broken zipper are bundled into huge bales, along with anything that hasn’t sold on the floor,” he said. Like many thrift-store operators, Bridge House sells these bales to dealers at between five and 15 cent a pound. “We get calls from dealers daily and work with the reliable ones, particularly those who pay by overnight check,” he said. Any shoes, handbags and other leather goods that aren’t marketable in the stores are also sold in bulk.

Ande Pena, vice president of United Textile, Inc., a 75-year-old “converter” company in San Leandro, Ca., said prices the industry pays thrift shops for bales of clothes depend in part on seasonal factors. “A lot of clothes are donated to U.S. charities at the year-end holidays and during spring cleaning, so prices paid decline at those times,” she said. United Textile grades up to 20 million pounds of material a year, and sells recycled clothing, towels, wiping products and rags, floor matting, and absorbents used for boom and oil spills.

Exporting used garments, most of which come from charities and thrift shops, is big business. Last year, the U.S. sent nearly $464 million worth of worn clothes to other countries, up from $375 million in 2009, according to the U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel. Shipments in the first seven months of this year totaled $354 million versus $244 million in the same 2010 span.

The top U.S. markets for used clothes last year were Canada, Chile, Mexico, Guatemala and India but they weren’t necessarily final destinations. Old clothes are sent to facilities in Canada, for example, where they’re sorted and graded and then exported. African, Asian and Central American nations and the former Soviet republics all purchase plenty of worn apparel.

Pena said charities that want jobs to stay in the U.S. should send their surplus clothes to companies that grade them in this nation. Some nonprofits ship donated clothes directly to foreign dealers, and in that case grading is done overseas.

Meanwhile on Freret St , clothing sales at Bloomin’ Deals Thrift Shop — run by the Junior League of New Orleans — have been strong. JLNO President Dee McCloskey said “in our fiscal year that began in June, our sales, including clothes and household items, are up 10 to 12 percent over last year.” Increased traffic on Freret St. and efforts to promote the store have helped, she said. Bloomin’ Deals moved to Freret in 1960 from the French Quarter, and after being flooding in Katrina was one of the first of the corridor’s businesses to reopen.

On its floor, Bloomin’ Deals offers clothing that JLNO members would consider for their family or friends, McCloskey said. Clothes move quickly and are restocked daily. “Women and men can find career clothes, including gently used, name-brand suits for $14,” she said. “We sell adult uniforms, such as medical scrubs, chef’s pants and even tuxedos–which are worn in the restaurant industry.” The store carries kids’ clothes and some school uniforms, though many schools now have their own swaps and hand-me-down programs, she said.

“Clothing that isn’t in gently-used or new condition is donated to the Volunteers of America,” McCloskey said.

“Twice a year — in early October and March — Bloomin’ Deals has a one-day, Bag Day sale, where customers can fill a 33-gallon trash bag with as much as they can push, pull or carry for only $9,” McCloskey said. “A line forms out front that morning, and all our merchandise is cleared out by midday.” After a light cleaning, the store is restocked for the new season. This year’s fall sale was held on Saturday, October 1.

Bloomin’ Deals is the JLNO’s top revenue earner, and it funds literacy, career awareness, child nutrition, elderly, housing renovation and other programs. “The store is also where we partner with Neighborhood Housing Services and Freret Neighborhood Center on community outreach initiatives,” McCloskey said.

As for the Salvation Army, proceeds from its thrift store on Jefferson Highway go directly to adult rehabilitation centers, according to the organization’s Major Charles Stewart. In addition to serving customers, the thrift shop honors vouchers given to those in need by the Salvation Army.

At Pelican Thrift and Furniture at So. Carrollton and Tulane, saleswoman Yvette Chapotel said “we’ve been here two years, and in that time we’ve had a lot of repeat customers. We have half off for seniors on Tuesday, and they come in to buy, chat and hang out.” A section of the store is devoted to school uniforms.

Chapotel said “students from nearby Jesuit High come in for denim jackets, tee shirts and faddish clothes. Girls buy prom dresses. Our costume rack is swamped before Halloween.”

Because of the city’s masking tradition, New Orleanians aren’t shy about entering thrift shops. At Bloomin’ Deals, members of the JLNO–all 2,200 of whom volunteer in the store — are also the shop’s best customers, McCloskey said.

And because of the slow economy and the green movement, recycled clothes have caught on nationwide. Hollywood celebrities wear used cloths, but tend to call their outfits “vintage” when dishing about them to reporters at the Academy Awards.

Nonetheless, too many clothes wind up in municipal waste. When asked if garments thrown in New Orleans trash cans head to landfill, Ryan Berni, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s press secretary, said “Yes, they do.”

In an alarming trend, textiles entering landfills nationwide grew sevenfold from 1960 to 2009, according to the U.S. Environmental Pro­tection Agency. In the EPA’s most recent data, 12.73 million tons of textiles were sent to municipal solid waste in the U.S. in 2009, but of that nearly 15 percent was recycled. Overall, the U.S. generated 243 million tons of municipal solid waste in 2009, with nearly 34 percent of it recycled or composted. EPA expects to release 2010 numbers late this year or early next year.

As many taxpayers know, one benefit of donating clothes is the ability to claim a deduction on your federal return. Ask for a receipt when dropping donations off at a thrift shop, and take a look at last year’s “Internal Revenue Service Publication 526: Charitable Contributions,” before filing your claim.

The city’s thrift shops operators have a request: They need any plus sizes that you’d like to discard. “We seem to have a lot of smaller ladies donating and bigger ladies as customers,” Ferrera said. He also said “about 85 to 90 percent of the apparel donated to Bridge House are women’s items. That’s because men tend to wear their clothes out.”

This article was originally published in the October 3, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper