Saturday, January 24, 2015

Why Buying Charity Clothing Is A Great Idea

By Janine Hughes


In today's fashion-conscious world, it's often a challenge to look good without breaking your budget. Unique clothes are expensive and if you opt for something cheaper, you'll end up looking like everybody else. Besides, cheap clothes are often of poor quality too. However, buying charity clothing is a great idea, for several reasons.

One of the greatest reasons to buy your clothes from charity stores is that it helps to improve the lives of others. Whether it's a local non-profit organization in Hanover, PA or an international one such as Oxfam, charities rely on every penny to make ends meet. The money you spend on a few T-shirts or a dress from the local goodwill store can go towards feeding someone, giving a child an education or giving an animal a home.

Of course buying from goodwill stores will do wonders for your budget too. Here you'll find good-quality clothes at a fraction of the cost. The money that you save can be used for something else, such as a meal at a restaurant, a good book or to go into your savings account for that overseas vacation you'd like to take.

Chain stores that sell affordable clothes often import items made in developing countries. While it's great to support developing economies, the problem is that cheap clothes are often made in sweatshop conditions. Workers are paid a pittance for working long hours in unsafe conditions. In fact, some of the deadliest factory fires occurred in clothing factories where emergency exits were locked and workers were trapped. Some factories also use child labor.

In a world where consumerism threatens to destroy the environment, shopping at goodwill stores is the green thing to do as well. It takes a lot of water and other resources to produce cotton or wool, for instance. Industrial dyes and other chemicals used in the garment manufacturing process do incredible harm too but you can help contain the damage by wearing what is essentially recycled clothes.

From a purely sartorial point of view, it also makes sense to shop at goodwill stores. Instead of finding hundreds of pieces that all look the same, you'll get to choose from pieces that are completely unique. Many of them are of exceptional quality and it's not unheard of to find something almost brand new made by a top designer.

A fun aspect of buying second-hand clothes is that it helps unleash your creativity. Some items can be worn as they are but others may need a little bit of updating. All you need is a pair of scissors, a needle and some thread. A bunch of ties can be turned into a colorful skirt. A pair of denim shorts can become a miniskirt. An oversized T-shirt can be turned into a dress. You'll quickly learn how to spot the potential of that ugly power suit from the Eighties. You may even resell the clothes that you give a new lease on life and start your own business.

There are charity stores in most cities and large towns. To find one in your area, simply look online. In fact, you will even find online stores that sell second-hand clothes to support different charities.




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