Selecting the best way to dispose of clothing and how to educate

customers on how to go about disposing of their clothes:

A Recommendation Report
Prepared for: Goodwill headquarters
Prepared by: Katie Maxwell, Retail Associate
October 21, 2016

Purpose
The true cost of your clothing is very different from the price you pay in the store, if you
account for the whole process of making the garment, shipping, and lastly when you get
rid of your garment. Since our economy has pushed for more consumption, the amount of
waste we create has grown. This is a problem for our environment and a waste of good
resources. If more people were informed of the effects of throwing away old clothes, and
knew how to recycle them, they would be less likely to throw their clothes away.
Summary
In order to determine the best way to incorporate the option of recycling material at
Goodwill and educate customers about the new change, I conducted primary and
secondary research that gave me the views on recycling clothes from the everyday
consumer. This allowed me to understand the customers view on recycling and how to
incorporate their preferences into Goodwill.
Currently, Goodwill does not have any form of education for its customers on what they
plan to do with their donated clothes. Most customers assume that their clothes will be
sold in the store, but some donations cannot be sold because they are too worn. Many
people do not think about what happens to their clothes after they drop them off, but I
feel it would be beneficial to give the customers this information and create a greener
business model to appeal to todays society. By taking additional steps to ensure
customers that their clothes will benefit a greater cause and have a better effect on the
environment, people will be more likely to donate to Goodwill.
To carry out this study, I completed the tasks described in my proposal on October 5,
2016. I conducted a survey with 34 individuals that shop regularly, and used information
from my secondary research that I then analyzed and wrote my report.
My main finding is that the people who responded to my survey did not know what
happens to their unwanted clothes if Goodwill cannot sell them, and they would do what
is necessary to recycle their clothes. I have concluded that it is up to Goodwill to make
recycling available to everyone. They also need to include information about how clothes
are recycled, so that people are aware of what is happening to their clothes after they
donate them.
I recommend that Goodwill consider what is convenient to the customer such as
recycling drop boxes around the city. At each drop box location they need to give
information on where the clothes will go. I believe by allowing recycling to be

conveniently located, Goodwill will receive more donations and will be able to make
more money once they sell the material to the manufacturers.
Introduction
For the past 3 years, I have worked at many retail stores and I recently noticed a trend
they all seem to have in common, that is that fashion trends are changing faster than ever.
In past generations, a new clothing line was produced for spring, summer, fall, and
winter. Todays trend is known as Fast Fashion, where there is something new every few
weeks and prices are driven to an all time low to allow for more consumption. There is a
lot to be said about consumption, but my recommendation will focus on is the effects
after consumption. Since fashion is always changing, you have to clean out your closet
every now and then, to make room for your new clothes. At this stage people make one of
three decisions. They could throw them away, donate them, or sell them to a consignment
store.
I was curious about what is being done with these unwanted clothes, I researched the
different methods of disposing of clothes and was shocked to find out that people actually
throw away clothes. I learned that materials could be recycled and used to keep fast
fashion more sustainable. One day I had a pair of jeans with a hole in them and I did not
want to throw them away because that would be wasteful, so I searched for a place that I
could take them to and ensure they would be recycled. I found there is one company in
New York that leaves drop boxes around the city for old clothes, and this company sells
these clothes to manufacturers so that the material can be recycled. Beyond this company,
I could not find anywhere to take my jeans. Since Goodwill is in most cities, I found it
would be beneficial if these recycling boxes were incorporated into their business (Cline).
Not only would Goodwill benefit from this by attracting environmentally friendly
customers, but also our environment.
Currently, Goodwill does not have any form of education for its customers on what they
plan to do with their donated clothes. Most customers assume that their clothes will be
sold in the store, but some donations cannot be sold because they are too worn. Many
people do not think about what happens to their clothes after they drop them off, but I
feel it would be beneficial to give the customers this information and create a greener
business model to appeal to todays society. By taking additional steps to ensure
customers that their clothes will benefit a greater cause and have a better effect on the
environment, people will be more likely to donate to Goodwill.

Research Methods

I began my research by conducting primary research to see what the everyday consumer
knows about disposing their clothes. With this information I was able to tell where there
were holes in the education about where our disposed clothes go. From the responses I
was able to determine what my main focuses needed to be in regards to answer the best
method of disposing clothes and what we need to educate customers on during this
process.
To preform the analysis, I broke the project into four tasks:
1. Acquire a basic understanding of what people do with their unwanted clothes and their
knowledge of where their clothes go beyond that
2. Assess all possible ways to dispose of clothes and which one is more prevalent
3. Determine the best way to educate customers on a green business model
4. Analyze my data and prepare a recommendation report
In the following, you will find a discussion of how I preformed each task, and the
reasoning that guided my research.
In the following I will discuss how I preformed each task, and what guided my research.
Task 1. Acquire a basic understanding of what people do with their unwanted
clothes and their knowledge of where their clothes go beyond that
I conducted primary research to gain a basic understanding of what people currently do
with their unwanted clothes and their knowledge of where they go after they get rid of
them. I asked them the following questions:
How many times do you shop a month?
How often do you get rid of clothes?
Where do you take your used clothes?
What do you think goodwill does with the clothes they are unable to sell?
If you knew there was a way to recycle your clothes, would you take the steps
necessary to recycle them?
As I expected, I received many different responses to each question but their was a
response to each question that held an answer that the majority agreed on.
I also conducted secondary research on the average persons basic understanding of where
their unwanted clothes go. They conducted a survey on how Ontario residents manage
their unwanted clothing. These results are based on a sample of 410 people from across
the province (Weber). They looked at the following:
Of all the participants that donate, how many found it inconvenient?
How many people reuse and repurpose their clothes?
How much of their clothing do they donate?
How many people put their torn clothes in the trash?
How many people think reselling the clothes back to manufacturers is a good
idea?
How many people swap clothes?
Are there barriers to donating clothes throughout the city?

The responses from both my primary research and secondary research tell me the basic
understanding of what people do with their unwanted clothes and what they know about
what happens after they donate them or trash them.
Task 2. Assess all possible ways to dispose of clothes and which one is more
prevalent
In The afterlife of clothes, it gives every possible way to dispose of clothes and where
they go when they are dropped off at a donation center. This information led me to
research more on certain steps of this process. I also researched what Goodwill does with
the clothes they are unable to sell. And did some additional research on how clothing
material is recycled and the different ways the recycled material can be used.
Task 3. Determine the best way to educate customers on a green business model
In order to find the best method of how to inform customers that Goodwill is going to
offer a choice to recycle the clothes you donate, I looked to other companies that are
currently recycling donated clothes. A company in New York has drop box locations
around the city to be convenient to every customer. The company also makes a big profit
by selling these clothes to manufacturers for recycling (Cline).
Task 4. Analyze my data and prepare a recommendation report
I have drafted this report and will report in to the CEO of Goodwill. My colleagues have
reviewed this report and I have incorporated their suggestions and then send the final
draft to the CEO of Goodwill.
Results
Task 1. Acquire a basic understanding of what people do with their unwanted
clothes and their knowledge of where their clothes go beyond that
My primary research consisted of 34 individuals all of who were random and not
informed of any of this information. Here are the results of each question:
How many times do you shop a month? 65.6% shop once a month, 15.6% shop
twice a month, and 18.8% shop three or more times a month.
How often do you get rid of clothes? 5.9% once a month, 29.4% once every
season, 38.2% once a year, 17.6% never get rid of clothes, 8.8% other
Where do you take your used clothes? 39.4% Goodwill, 21.2% Platos Closet,
36.4% other donation center, 3% throw them away
What do you think goodwill does with the clothes they are unable to sell? I got
many different responses on this question, here were the results: throw them
away, do not know, donate them to the poor, and Use them as rags. However, the
majority of the responses were to throw them away or donate them.

If you knew there was a way to recycle your clothes, would you take the steps
necessary to recycle them? 58.8% said they would, and 41.2% said they might
recycle their clothes if they knew how.

From this information I was able to tell that many people get rid of clothes, the majority
being once a year followed by once every season. Though many do not throw their
clothes away, they do think that the donation center throws away the clothes they are
unable to sell. This leads to a large amount of waste in landfills that can be recycled.
In the Afterlife of Clothes, One of the questions they asked in their survey was How
many people put their torn clothes in the trash? the response was 34% of people threw
away clothes they thought were unusable, and 70% of people thought it was a good idea
to sell material back to manufacturers.
Both surveys give the same result, that people want to recycle their clothes but are not
educated on how to recycle them. This shows that we should allow customers to have the
choice to have their clothes sold to manufacturing for recycling.
Task 2. Assess all possible ways to dispose of clothes and which one is more
prevalent
The Afterlife of clothes says the two ways for a consumer to get rid of clothes is
through disposal to a landfill or incineration, or through swapping for reuse. Swapping
clothes for reuse goes through a big cycle of donating for reuse, resell for reuse, and
resell to used-clothing industries.
When I looked at what Goodwill currently do with their clothes I found that they
currently sell clothes in their retail store, outlets, auctions, sell them to retail recyclers,
and throw away a small percentage of clothes that are unusable (Strutner).
I also researched how materials are recycled and the different ways the recycled material
can be used. This information would be good to tell the customers, so they know where
their donated clothes are going next. The process of recycling materials is also very
fascinating and many people would like to have this information about the process their
clothes will go through.
Task 3. Determine the best way to educate customers on a green business model
From looking at other businesses that currently recycle clothes, I have determined that
one way to let customers know that they can recycle their clothes and have a convenient
location is to do drop boxes like the company in New York (Cline). If the boxes were
decorated in a way that people knew they were recycling their clothing by putting them in
the drop box then it would be very beneficial to both Goodwill and the customer.
Conclusions

In this section you will find my conclusion based on my research related to the three tasks
I was asked to answer.
What people do with their unwanted clothes and their knowledge of where their
clothes go beyond their donation
From the research I conducted, I found that that people want to recycle their clothes but
are not educated on how to recycle them. This shows that we should allow customers to
have the choice to have their clothes sold to manufacturing for recycling.
All possible ways to dispose of clothes and which one is more prevalent
There are many different ways to get rid of unwanted clothes, those being: disposal to a
landfill or incineration, or through swapping for reuse. Currently the most prevalent is
swapping for reuse, but eventually these clothes will make it to the landfill, so it is
important to recycle material when it is too worn for use.
The best way to educate customers on a green business model
Drop boxes or something of its sort, provides a convenient way for customers to donate
clothes. Also, if the boxes were decorated in a way that people knew they were recycling
their clothing by putting them in the drop box then it would be very beneficial to both
Goodwill and the customer.
Recommendation
I recommend that Goodwill consider what is convenient to the customer such as
recycling drop boxes around the city. At each drop box location they need to give
information on where the clothes will go. I believe by allowing recycling to be
conveniently located, Goodwill will receive more donations and will be able to make
more money once they sell the material to the manufacturers. Each drop box should be
decorated to allow customers to know where their clothes are going and have information
on what Goodwill is doing with them after they pick them up from that location. Let the
customer know the impact they are having on helping the environment and they will
more than likely come back when they have worn out clothes.
References
Conklin, Christina. "How Textiles Are Saving The World." Surface Design Journal 37.3
(2013): 42-47.OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 8 Oct. 2016.
Cline, Elizabeth. Where Does Discarded Clothing Go? The Atlantic.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/where-does-discardedclothing-go/374613/ Accessed 8 Oct. 2016.
Strutner, Suzy. Heres What Goodwill Actually Does With Your Donated Clothes.
Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-does-goodwill-do-withyour-clothes_us_57e06b96e4b0071a6e092352? Accessed 8 Oct. 2016.

Weber, Sabine. "The Afterlife Of Clothes." Alternatives Journal (A\J) - Canada's

Environmental Voice41.3 (2015): 26-29. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson).
Web. 8 Oct. 2016.