Donate clothing

Clothing donations generate cost efficiencies

The Smith Family is one of Australia's largest charity clothing recyclers with 19 retail stores and hundreds of clothing bins across NSW and the ACT. Our multi-award winning Recycling Operation has collected, sorted and sold new and good quality used clothing, accessories and bedding for more than 50 years.

The proceeds we make from the sale of clothing donations help to keep our administration costs as low as possible. This ensures that the majority of funds raised through donations from supporters can be spent directly on programs for disadvantaged students.

If you live in NSW or the ACT, you can help! Donate your new or good quality clothes and make a positive impact on the environment while supporting disadvantaged children. By donating good quality items of clothing for recycling, you are also saving water, energy and landfill.

Clothing donations bin

Collection Bin

Bin locations Retail stores

The Recycling Journey

Purchasing recycled clothing conserves the environment. The Smith Family prevents more than 7.5 million kilograms of textile waste ending up in landfill each year.

The journey of donated clothing

Our impact

  • Recycle clothing

    Save water, save energy, save landfill.

  • 7.5 million kg of waste diverted from landfill each year

    Purchasing recycled clothing conserves the environment. The Smith Family prevents more than 7.5 million kilograms of textile waste ending up in landfill each year.

  • Supporting programs for disadvantaged students

    Every purchase from The Smith Family Store supports programs to help disadvantaged students.

    How to give to us

    Donating clothes

    We rely on donations of new or good quality clean clothes, accessories and manchester to provide stock for our retail stores and overseas partners. The better quality the donation, the greater the impact. The more good quality products we collect, the wider our range of stock, reducing the waste sent to landfill and increasing the amount of funds we raise for our community programs.

    We accept donations in a variety of ways:

    • Clothing donation bins located throughout NSW and the ACT - Simply drop your clean, wearable clothing items into a Smith Family labelled clothing bin near you.

    • Our retail stores also accept donations of good quality items. Please refer to our list of stores for what items each store stocks and can accept in donations.

    • From your home - Our transport fleet collect donations from houses in Sydney, the Central Coast, Wollongong and the Illawarra region, the Blue Mountains and Canberra in the ACT. To book a pickup from your home, call 1300 737 166 or complete an online collection request.

    • From wholesalers, distributors and retailers - We accept sample or out-of-season stock (clothing, accessories and manchester) from retailers. Complete an online enquiry or contact our team today on 1300 737 166 to find out how you can donate your products and ensure they don't go to landfill.

    • Clothing drives run by schools or businesses. Contact us on 1300 737 166 to find out how you can organise a clothing drive at your school or business.

    What to donate

    We accept good quality new or near-new clean, wearable clothes, accessories and bedding with no rips, stains or tears. Items with original tags or little wear and tear sell at higher prices in our stores, helping us to raise more funds for our community programs. Acceptable products include men's, women's and children's clothes and accessories such as shoes and handbags that you would wear again.

    We are unable to accept broken or damaged items, or clothing with broken zippers or stains. We do not accept white goods, electrical items or mattresses. Donations of furniture and bulky goods (non-electrical items only) can only be accepted in certain regions of NSW.

    Please contact our Customer Service on 1300 737 166 for further details.

    Recycle clothing

    Save Water, Save Energy, Save Landfill

    Our retail stores

    Inside shot of The Smith Family store

    We have 19 retail stores throughout metropolitan and regional NSW and the ACT selling a wide range of affordable women's, children's and men’s clothing, accessories and Manchester or to our overseas partners in regions including Africa, the Pacific Islands and other regions.

    With a large volume of donations, our stock changes from week to week. Before reaching one of our stores, each item is individually checked and sorted by our trained and experienced workers to guarantee quality. Popular items including vintage clothing and designer labels sell fast so visit your local store today.

    Find a store near you

    Clothing recycling in the community

    Our Recycling Operation

    The Smith Family has long been known for our recycled clothing business. The surplus revenue generated from these sales locally and from overseas markets helps to offset our organisational costs, ensuring that more of the funds received from fundraising activities can be spent on programs benefiting our students.

    Established in 1963, today our multi award-winning recycling operation collects, sorts and sells more than 10 million kilograms of good-quality recycled and new clothing, footwear and accessories each year.

    Clothing donations are collected through our extensive network of clothing bins in NSW and the ACT, retailers and collection drives held by schools and businesses. These items are then sold in one of The Smith Family stores in metropolitan and regional NSW and the ACT or to our overseas partners in regions including Africa, the Pacific Islands and other regions.

    Our proven logistics and warehousing procedures ensure the products we sell are of a high quality, with over 75 per cent of donations reused, reducing landfill waste and environmental impact and generating vital funds for our community programs.

    We partner with state and local government, businesses, schools and other not-for-profit organisations, including children's charity, Stewart House, to promote and support recycling initiatives that improve economic, environmental and social outcomes.

    Donating clothes to charity

    Contact us

    Donate clothing

    Awards

    • Business Awards 2014 state winner

      2014 State Winner

    • 2014 Australian Social Enterprise Awards finalist

      2014 Finalist

    • 2014 Export Awards Logo

      Highly Commended

      Join The Smith Family recycling team

      Chertsey Primary School newspix

      Volunteer

      We are grateful to more than 300 volunteers each year who support the work of our Recycling Operation and retail stores.

      In addition to our valued volunteers, we are proud to have more than 100 paid team members working across our retail stores and factory who are responsible for logistics, sorting and grading collected items and the processing and selling of finished goods.

      Our Recycling Operation team members bring their unique skills to The Smith Family in a variety of roles outside of the traditional community sector roles, inspired by our vision of a better future for young Australians in need. The Recycling Operation team contributes much needed funding to the administrative costs of The Smith Family which allows us to give more back to the families, children and communities we support.

      To be part of this amazing team, view our current employment opportunities or to see what our team members say about The Smith Family Employment Promise.

      Enquiry form

      Thank you for getting in contact

      Thank you for your enquiry with The Smith Family Recycling Operation. A member of our team will contact you within the next business day.

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