Lifecycle of a clothing donation

You donate pre-loved clothing to Vinnies

We love receiving quality clothing that is in a good condition. The general rule is that if you’d give it to a mate, it’s good to donate.

Drop off your donations to our staff at Vinnies shops during opening hours or at a Vinnies donation bin in your area.

Find out more about what you can donate.

Staff will sort through your donations

Volunteers and staff in our stores have the opportunity to sort through each donation and put some garments straight onto the shelves, if they think the items will sell in their store.

The rest is taken to a distribution centre

Any surplus is transported to a Vinnies distribution centre (there are six in NSW) by courier.

Garments are sorted into sellable/unsellable stock

Sellable stock is categorised and placed into boxes of similar items (such as ladies dresses, mens shirts, swimwear, jackets, etc.) and is stored in the warehouse.

Unsellable stock is sent off to textile recycling programs or repurposed as rags. We try our best to ensure that as little as possible ends up in landfill.

Stores order stock from the distribution centre

When a store is running low on a particular type of garment, they can order boxes of these from a distribution centre warehouse.

Couriers will collect the boxes and transport them to the stores where they are needed.

Once stock arrives, staff in stores price the garments for sale

Each item is valued according to the brand with adjustments made for the condition of the product.

Garments are placed onto the shelves for sale where they will hopefully make it into someone’s shopping bag for a new lease on life.

If an item doesn't sell within a few months, it gets sent back to the warehouse to be re-sorted and passed on to another store.

Money raised in stores funds our services and programs in the community

Funds raised at Vinnies shops are reinvested into the community through a range of programs and services run by St Vincent de Paul Society NSW.

Every time you make a purchase at a Vinnies store, you can feel good knowing that the money goes towards helping people in need.