What to do with my outgrown children's clothing?

For all of you wondering what to do with the piles of outgrown children’s clothing accumulating around your home, this is the article for you.

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to responsibly pass those items along. We’ve rounded them up for you here and sorted them based on a few key variables so you can find the option that suits your budget, schedule and personal preferences.

We're including multiple options local to our homebase in New York City and have national and online options as well.

What is “responsible”?

First, a few more words on what it means in our perspective to responsibly pass along used children’s clothing. 

At Carousel, we are dedicated to keeping textiles out of the landfill, so we will highlight paths that keep clothing in circulation as long as it is in suitable condition for wear, and to an organization that can recycle it after that. 

Social impact is also very important to us, and we will highlight organizations we believe have a net positive impact on the community in other ways as well.

First option: Sell or Trade

We’ve put this as the first option intentionally, because we believe that to most broadly address the environmental issues caused by apparel manufacturing and current consumption patterns, circular shopping habits need to be much more widely adopted. Additionally, it's worth noting that many charities are overwhelmed with donations and this is not the blanket solution to the aforementioned issues that many hope or believe it to be. 

Note that to trade and sell items, they generally need to be in pretty good condition, ideally with no major signs of wear, like prominent stains, rips or excessive pilling.

Mostly premium brands

If you have mostly items from premium brands and some time to dedicate, you should be able to sell or consign some of them at local children’s second hand shops. Park Slope Parents has listed some great shops here.

• Upside: make the most of the trip and shop while they sort through your items, a fully circular choice which supports a small local business!
• Downside: not all items will be accepted, sometimes very few 

If you prefer to handle this project or don’t have a one of these shops near you, you can go to one of the big resale platforms like Poshmark, Mercari or brand-specific Facebook Buy-Sell-Trade groups (yep, it’s a thing!) 

• Upside: you can get cash for your items 
• Downside: it's a lot of work, and you still might not sell everything

Mix of everyday and premium brands

If you have a mix of everyday and premium brands or you don’t have time to sell in store or online, there are lots of options for you too.

We're one of them! Carousel was founded to create circularity for more of the adorable items in your kids' closets. You'll get a discount if we accept ten or more items which you can get to us via our Mail In bag or Local Pickup service.

• Upside: because we're mission driven, choosing Carousel means choosing the most sustainable path for your little one's outgrown items. And you get a discount on your next order, which makes it easy to go circular.
• Downside: you get a discount versus a (potential) payout.

ThredUp also now has multiple selling options, allowing sellers to mail everything in for them to handle and earn less, or handle the selling themselves for the opportunity to earn a higher percentage of item sales.

• Upside: you can sell items from other categories and size groups, like shoes, accessories and adult clothing sizes
• Downside: acceptance rates and payouts are both low for everyday items

Second option: Donate or Pass Along

Obviously, this is also a wonderful next step for your child's outgrown clothing. Friendly reminder that these items should be in good, lightly worn condition, just like the items you would sell. 

Donate

Donating your gently used baby and children's items is also a great choice. To avoid scams and ensure your donation is being put to good use, we also recommend using Charity Navigator. We love to support organizations that pass along items directly to local families in need, like Room to Grow and Little Essentials.

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/donate/site/

• Upside: the wonderful feeling that you can make a difference in the lives of families near you, plus a tax deductible receipt!
• Downside: there's no downside to doing good, but we'll note that you should take the time to make sure you are donating items that the organization needs, in good condition.

Pass along

This is one of our favorite options and in our perfect world, every family would pass along (and receive) at least some clothes for their children. This can be done among friends, via community clothing swaps and local parent and mom groups. 

• Upside: the more broad advantages of connecting to a community of parents
• Downside: it can be challenging to find a family in need of items in just the right size, season and gender or style, and even more so to find a full loop system that involves you receiving clothes for your little(s) too!

Third option: Recycle (ish)

We recommend this option if you have mostly items that are no longer suitable for use. 

Fascinatingly (for us anyway), there is a whole new type of organization that has evolved in recent decades in response to the high volume of items discarded in the era of hyper-consumerism. These entities, including both non profit and for profit organizations, take in and sort items people no longer want and derive the most value possible based on their type, quality and condition. Items that have some resale value may be sold at thrift outlets or in bulk and those that aren't are broken down and recycled and repurposed, if possible.

IRL

In New York City, there's definitely a place to drop these items near you, and finding it is easy with this fabulous interactive map on the New York City Department of Sanitation's website. It includes options from DSNY as well as third party options like the Wearable Collections drop off sites at NYC Greenmarkets and even thrift stores and retail chains with take back programs.

Online

For a relatively small fee, you can also mail in your items to recycle with companies like Trashie and Re/Told.

• Upside: most of these companies accept a more broad range of items including footwear, accessories and adult sizes, which is helpful for those doing a more broad cleanout.
• Downside: for items that are truly end of life, there is no con from our perspective; this is the best possible next step for your things. 

We hope this article has helped you find one or more solutions that work for you!

If you have information we may want to add to the article, we'd love to hear it. Please send us a note here.