If you’re someone from Northeast India who’s passionate about buying branded second-hand clothing, so much so that you’ve turned on notifications for every thrift shop Instagram page you follow, just to snag items the moment they drop, what can only be called the “real OG deal” at just 5–10% of the original price, have you ever stopped to wonder where those clothes actually come from?
Beyond just being a lifestyle choice, the super affordable second-hand clothes you can buy online today have become part of your daily “what to wear, what not to wear” wardrobe routine.
From expensive Nike or Adidas shoes to high-end Louis Vuitton and Chanel bags, or mid-range options like Michael Kors and Coach, even jeans and Victoria’s Secret lingerie, the list goes on.
While many buyers and sellers have embraced this trend, sourcing from various domestic and international sellers, especially in Southeast Asian countries, online discussions continue to question how some of these second-hand items originally entered circulation. Many claim they were donated to charities in Western countries.
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One YouTuber even documented an experiment to investigate the truth behind “donated shoes.” To track their journey, he donated a pair of sneakers to a Red Cross donation booth in Germany, placing a hidden GPS tracker inside. Within just five days, the shoes had traveled hundreds of miles and ended up on sale in Bosnia for 10 euros. When he confronted the seller, the staff confirmed the shoes came from Germany but did not mention the Red Cross. The YouTuber bought back his own sneakers—and sparked a larger conversation: where do donated clothes really go?
People on the internet have offered varied explanations about what the truth might actually be.
We leave you with three prominent comments to help you form your own opinion. We’re not claiming whether the allegations are true or false -but we do urge you, the reader, to pause and think the next time you scan a QR code to pay for a “second-hand” item from a seller, or as a seller buying it from your source.
A fair warning: these comments are not definitive proof. But one thing is certain, clothes donated for the poor could very well be siphoned off from charities and funneled into a multi-million dollar business.
Perhaps, we’ll never really know.
Comment 1: “The clothes that are donated in the US are here in the Philippines being sold for $2 to $10, depending on the brand and piece of clothing (jeans sometimes sell for so much more, especially if they have brands like Old Navy or Mossimo). It’s being sold as “ukay-ukay” (meaning “dig up”) and as second hand clothes. Sometimes, they still have price tags. LOL. Don’t believe it when they say your clothes go to charity and being donated to third world countries. That’s BS.“
Comment 2: “Very simple explanation, many of the donated clothing items are sold in large quantities to 2nd hand buyers. The charities use that money to run their operations and their services. The 2nd hand buyers ship the items usually to third world countries where they are sold at Thrifty stores.”
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Comment 3: “I worked for the largest clothing bin donation company in much of the US for 10+ years (i cant say which for reasons). And I can tell you the clothes are taken back to a central location and bailed up. They are loaded onto trucks and sold as bulk for $0.25 lb USD. The buyers change but for most of that time I was told it was being sent to Mexico. They don’t sort the clothes or anything, they just remove any toys/electronics. Clothes and shoes just get all crushed together and shipped. These are 40,000 lb loads meaning about 10k USD a truck and there were many truckfuls shipped each week— the company keeps its “donation” status by becoming a 501c3 and then just writes off operation expenses. This means all the money they make goes to CEO/CFO/Board members and paying the bills. The people in charge pay themselves million dollar salaries and the founder/owner buys properties with the company funds for “business use” and then finds crafty ways to slowly convert them into his private collection.”