UPDATE: Some of the places below may not be currently doing free pickups or accepting donations due to the pandemic. Kindly call to confirm. If they are accepting but not doing pickups, I recommend sending the items yourself via Lalamove or Transportify. Another option for fabric scraps or clothing that is no longer in good condition is to post them for free in BUHAY ZERO WASTE PRELOVED, an online dumpster diving platform.
Did you think it was harmless to keep all those clothes for years and years in your closet??? Hoarding clothes has real consequences to our daily lives, health and happiness.
Yes it’s true! Whenever I open my closet and I see things that make me feel sad or guilty, I ask myself this:
WHY SHOULD I LET GO OF CLOTHES THAT DON’T SPARK JOY?
1. REDUCE MENTAL LOAD
Yes every time you see something that you haven’t used or worn, you feel a little bit bad each time. Imagine if you had donated those items… now there will be no more reminder everyday about the mistakenly purchased product.
2. REDUCE HEALTH RISKS
The clothes you don’t wear literally gather dust. And then molds and mildew. Imagine all that dust and fungi growing inside your closets and how that affects your breathing and your skin. Especially if you have asthma or skin asthma.
3. REDUCE HOUSEHOLD CHORES.
Less stuff means less to clean. I remember, before I Kon Mari-ed my closet, I always had a few shirts that were stuck in the bottom, and by the time I wanted to wear them they were super dirty and needed to be washed. Then the bottom of the closet needed to be wiped and disinfected.
HOW TO LET GO?
Choose to keep only what sparks joy by doing the #KonMariMethod. Then for the rest fo the clothes left on the pile, silently say
Thank you clothes for
…. teaching me that this style doesn’t suit my taste
…. helping me get to know my body and what isn’t flattering on me
…. teaching me a lesson on thoughtful consumption
…. for giving joy to whomever gets to use these clothes next.
Once you thank the clothes you are letting go ot, it doesn’t seem like such a waste that you didn’t use them.
GENTLE REMINDER:
- Please always wash or sanitize clothese before donating. Those who are in need of donations, don’t have time nor resources to wash clothes. Let’s donate mindfully to give respect to basic human dignity. I love my Samsung Air wash function for this. It’s like dry cleaning without harmful chemicals.
- There are clothes that aren’t fit for donation. Victims of calamity, will have no use for dressier items like gowns, stiletto heels, jewelry, minis, tube tops, etc. For these items, I sell them for half of retail price on Declutter MNL and other FB buy and sell groups.
MY FAVORITE PLACES TO DONATE CLOTHES
My favorite places to donate clothes are Tzu Chi Foundation and H&M Foundation. For me they are the most convenient and you will see why below.
1. Tzu Chi Foundation
Tzu Chi Foundation picks up for free, if it’s A LOT of items to donate. Aside from clothes that are in good usable condition, they also accept the following.
For clothes make sure to donate climate appropriate clothes that can help the poor or victims of calamity. Please do not send winter-wear or dressy items like ball gowns or stilettos. For these type of items, better to donate them to Segunda Mana below.
You can bring them to a Tzu Chi Recycling Center. Or you can get in touch with their office to ask them when they can pick up in your area. This is for if you are donating large items like broken home appliances and lots of recyclables like these.
(632) 7141188 • 7142288 • 7141188 • 7142288 • 7320001
2. H&M Foundation
I usually bring clothing items for recycling to H&M. They are trying to Close the Loop by receiving items that are either 1) usable for donation to people in need, or 2) any fabric/textile that needs to be recycled, so clothes or towels or beddings with holes, or even bikinis and underwear, etc.
Drop off clothes and textiles from ANY brand, in ANY condition in ANY of their stores
And the bonus is getting a 15% discount voucher for each bag donated. This is not why I donate to H&M though, but just a small bonus that they give. Read more about what happens to their textile donations here.
These are just two of my favorite places to donate clothes, but there are so many more. Here is a great guide for more places to donate clothes in Metro Manila:
3. UNIQLO stores
For Uniqlo branded items in any condition – usable or not – they also have drop off points in all their shops. Please inform their staff that you are donating something. Their drop off points look like this:
4. SEGUNDA MANA
For usable clothes that are in great condition and can still be resold, but are maybe not appropriate for donations i.e. ballgowns, etc then Segunda Mana is your best bet. They pick up for free, or you have drop off donations like the one pictured below by the basketball court of Baranggay Bel-air in Makati.
They don’t just accept clothes, but any other item that has value to be resold, like home items and furniture. 100% of their sales proceeds go to educating 5000 Filipino youths around the country, especially those in areas of calamity. So you can feel good knowing that your items will get a second life in the new
Segunda Mana also accepts
- OLD ITEMS that can still be used
- USED ITEMS that still have value
- NEW ITEMS
- OLD STOCKS and NON-MOVING INVENTORIES
- Home items and furniture
- Broken items that can still be repaired because they also have a program that teaches people to repair stuff to give them a livelihood.
- Segunda mana also has a tie-up with junk shops, so you can also send them recyclables as long as you ask them beforehand (send pics) and the recyclables must be properly segregated.
For inquiries and for scheduling of pick up of the items you want to donate, you may call us at (632) 564-0205 to 562-0020 to 25 or email them at segunda_mana@yahoo.com.
These are just the ones that I use most because of convenience but there are so many other places to donate used (or unused) clothing + Recyclables in Manila:
10 Places To Donate Clothes In Manila
Where to Conveniently Donate Used & Recyclable Items in ANY condition
If you found this post helpful, please do share it with your friends on Social Media or Pin it! Thank you so much!
Would you know if these places also accept shoes in good condition?
<3 Jenn
Hi Jenn, shoes in good condition will be accepted by Segunda Mana. They have a drop off bin in Baranggay Bel-air basketball court, where you can have your driver drop off your usable shoes. I just updated the post for the details of Segunda Mana. =)
hi where to donate bulk clothes that is not needed pls help
Hi Have you tried Segunda Mana? I am in touch with H&M Foundation directly and can ask them for you. A few questions:
1) how many bags would you say you need to donate?
2) Are they clean and good to use? or do they need cleaning?
3) How long have they been in storage?
is the h&m foundation still ongoing? what branches are they accepted in?
Yes definitely. It’s a worldwide thing so each H&M store has a donation bin. Just ask any branch and the staff will direct you. =)
Do you know any place in Metro Manila were we can “sell” our second hand items? Not the on social media or selling platform, but literally a stop were accepting second hand items. Thank you.
Hi Ken, yes if you have a lot of preloved items and in various conditions you can set an appointment with Aling Puring, the Clutter Diva, and she will buy them off you in one go. Here landling is 241 6565 and you can usually reach her there during office hours. You can read about her here and here.
Hi, does H&M have restrictions on the clothes we can donate? Thank you!
None. All condition of clothing so you can even send underwear, expired towels or clothing with holes.
Hello! I would just like to ask, which branch of H&M can we donate old clothes? thanks!
Hi Jannel, all branches have. Just ask the staff where the drop-off box is. =)
Hi miss i have 5 BOXES OF BALIK BAYAN TO BE SENT TO THE PHILIPINNES
I RESIDE IN CANADA AND WILL SEND THROUGH COURRIER
CAN YOU GIVE ME THE ADDRESS
IN FULL N THEIR PHONE NUMBER PLEASE
THANK YOU
ABDOOLA BADALOO
You can bring your clothing to any H&M store there in the USA, instead of sending it all the way in the Philippines. There are many charities in the USA, that you can donate to. You have so many options in the USA: https://www.moneycrashers.com/where-donate-clothes-charity/
Hi jannel
I am presently in canada
I do have 5 boxes @ 150 lbs
Of Used clothing in good condition with handbags towl curtain n wat not Ready to be sHipped to manilla or the philipinnes.
WIll appreciate your take on this
My tel [removed for privacy/security]
Hi Jannel, if you are sending them to the Philippines to give to relatives, I would take pictures of the items first to make sure that they really do want to receive the items. However, I would make sure that they are not receiving it out of “sayang” or “hiya” only for relatives in the Philippines to add to the clutter in their home, which they won’t be using either.
I personally would not spend the money to ship it to the Philippines – think of the carbon footprint spent for used items that have only minimal value – I think instead I would recommend donating it to a charity where you live locally, any H&M store would take the clothes or if they are quite fashionable, selling it for a small amount to a local thrift store. This way you are not burdening relatives in the Philippines with clutter, and you aren’t also spending more money on your clutter.
Our long time maid has finally retired and, while cleaning out Her room to repurpose it, we discovered a mountain of our old clothes, CURTAINS, slip covers, pillow cases and other textiles.
Would you know if H&M will accept these? I like what they’re doing WITH Unusable textiles and i’d GLADLy bring all these to them if they will help FACILITATE bringing them into the mall. The nearest branch to me is SM Southmall.
I APPRECIATE any help you can give me to dispose all these.
I have a bunch of useable clothes THAT I’ll be getting in touch with segunda mana about. Thanks for THE info in your blog.
Yes even if they don’t like something they will accept it because they feel like they don’t have a choice in the matter. That’s why I always tell my helpers I will not be offended if they say no. And most of the time they will even volunteer to pay me even if it’s 20 pesos and I let them because paying for something even super minimal makes them value the items more and then I know if they really want something. I also tell them that they must take the items home on their first day off. They aren’t allowed to stock it up in their room. H&M will accept it but you will definitely have to bring it to their branch in the mall.
Hi. Do i need to donate to h&m in plastic bags or they accept boxes? Also, do they accept old bags? The bags are not in good condition anymore. If Not, where can i donate old bags and shoes that are not in Good condition anymore? Not in good condition meaning the leather or the skin is peeling off. But minimal lang pero halata kasi. Thank you!
I always donate in paperbags and try not to put plastic back in circulation. They only accept fabric items so no to peeling bags and shoes. For those you can try giving it away in the FB group Buhay Zero Waste Preloved.Happy decluttering!
Hello everyone, hope you are all safe. may i ask where can i send my old clothes nowadays? 1 have 2 big bags of old clothes. i can deliver it via lalamove if ever. Thank you in advance
Hi Len, you can get in touch with Segunda Mana or Tzu Chi foundation directly too coordinate!
HI! Would you know if h&m is still accepting old CLOTHES? We are planning to have our old clothes donated somewhere but some of them are white clothes which became yellowish, or with molds or mildew in them. Do THEY accept THOSE? Thanks in ADVANCE!
They have bins permanently in all their store locations. So if the store is open, then you can definitely drop of your clothes IN ANY CONDITION. They recycle those for insulation.
Just an update. When i asked one of the staff in h&m southmall they said that the garment collection program is currently on hold due to the pandemic. I might look for other alternatives instead. Thanks for CONFIRMING!
Hi Ar, many things are currently on hold because of the pandemic. Try giving the clothes away in buhay zero waste, in case someone there needs cloth to be recycled or upcycled.
Good day. I have boxes of Old/Used clothes to donate. I reside in marikina. I tried calling some institutions a few weeks aGo but they are on hold in accepting goods. Would you know of an institution which Will accept And pick tjese boxes from my place as i have no means to bring them? Can you please givE also the contact number? Thank you
Hi Belinda, you can try Segunda Mana Renz Satumba (0918) 604 3015. I don’t think any body will pick up at this time so I recommend that you send your clothes via Lalamove (by motorcycle) or Transportify (if it’s a lot and you need a car). Just download the apps and pay them by cash. It’s much safer than bringing it yourself. Don’t forget to tip generously since the drivers risk their lives to help bring our goods so we can declutter safely.