Cash for Clothes business?

bigneacy

I see these springing up all over- how are they making money.

I get that the buy the clothes at x, sell them at y and y-x=profit. But where are they selling them?

I would be interested in setting this kind of business up, but I can't find the places that take the clothes off you, and the ones I can speak to are really cagey about giving out any prices of what they pay.

I wouldn't be taking out of the mouths of charities, I'd actually want to tie it in with a local well deserving charity. Giving them a percentage and trading on that basis.

Any help or knowledge would be appreciated.

Glenbhoy

bigneacy wrote: »

I see these springing up all over- how are they making money.

I get that the buy the clothes at x, sell them at y and y-x=profit. But where are they selling them?

I would be interested in setting this kind of business up, but I can't find the places that take the clothes off you, and the ones I can speak to are really cagey about giving out any prices of what they pay.

I wouldn't be taking out of the mouths of charities, I'd actually want to tie it in with a local well deserving charity. Giving them a percentage and trading on that basis.

Any help or knowledge would be appreciated.

I don't know how much money there is in this business, but I'd presume that it'd better if you had contacts in the areas you plan to sell the clothes in - therefore I don't think this would be a runner for most Irish people.

As for where the clothes go to:

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2011/06/18/the-gaa-is-the-illuminati-file-grows/

flower tattoo

Just a personal note - I took bags in to one and wouldn't do so again.
You only get a (very) small amount of money for them & I just felt really mean doing it :-(
Gave the next load into the school - felt better altogether!

Bandara

Clothes get shipped to eastern Europe for sale

All known brands get very good money even second hand there

highlandseoghan

There is huge money to be made in this business but you need contacts. At present they are negotiating low rents on units landlords are happy to get money in.

They purchase the clothes at between €5 - €8 per black bag (approx 10kg)

They sell the clothes to eastern europe ( poland is getting a huge percentage of the clothing at the moment ) Price on buying 10kg of clothing is ranging from €60 - €74 at the moment.

As you can see there is a lot of money to be made in this business.

sandin

Hammertime wrote: »

Clothes get shipped to eastern Europe for sale

All known brands get very good money even second hand there

I assure you, eastern europeans like their clobber as much as we do and whilst there's a second hand market like there is here, its not huge.

Price of raw material has increased greatly. Most of these clothes are ground down and recycled into new material that makes blankets and other items.

All the charity shops use the same system - the good stuff is sold in their store and the crap sent off and is shredded, washed and remade into new items

bigneacy

sandin wrote: »

Hammertime wrote: »

Clothes get shipped to eastern Europe for sale

All known brands get very good money even second hand there

I assure you, eastern europeans like their clobber as much as we do and whilst there's a second hand market like there is here, its not huge.

Price of raw material has increased greatly. Most of these clothes are ground down and recycled into new material that makes blankets and other items.

All the charity shops use the same system - the good stuff is sold in their store and the crap sent off and is shredded, washed and remade into new items

Do you know how much the 'for recycle only' stuff gets per kilo?

fasttalkerchat

I saw a place in Paris that sold the stuff. Was in a really rough area where people grabbed what they wanted and paid and the exit to a few Asian fellas then the bags were tossed into a lorry and it drove off again. Strange setup!

Bandara

sandin wrote: »

Hammertime wrote: »

Clothes get shipped to eastern Europe for sale

All known brands get very good money even second hand there

I assure you, eastern europeans like their clobber as much as we do and whilst there's a second hand market like there is here, its not huge.

Price of raw material has increased greatly. Most of these clothes are ground down and recycled into new material that makes blankets and other items.

All the charity shops use the same system - the good stuff is sold in their store and the crap sent off and is shredded, washed and remade into new items

I spend a good bit of time over there as my missus is Polish, the young people earn nothing close to be able to buy brands new (in most cases the products are actually retailing more expensively than here).

Second hand is pretty huge imho, they have fixed structure markets where you have various popup style stores with multiple locations and the majority of the 16-25 years shop there for everything. Buying in a concession in a dept store isn't close to being an option.

You get a second hand branded hoody over there and they'd pay way over the normal odds for it.

You get the clothes and I'll sort the rest, 50/50

sandin

I think Oxfam said in a recent TV programme that about 30% can be sold on in their stores and the rest is shredded. Considering the amount that is disposed of, 30% still is quite a lot of clothing.

Nice to see that its more "honest" these days. - I've no problem if someone else makes a few bob from my junk and if someone else also gets a decent shirt (with dirty collar) for a couple of quid.

As for the OP - key "Clothes recycling" into google and a page of companies come up.