One of the biggest deterrents to thrifting is sanitation.
When you buy something secondhand, you don't know who owned it before. You don't know what it's touched in the donation bin. You don't even know if it was washed before it was donated.
So, do thrift stores wash the clothes that they sell?
Short answer: no. Thrift stores do not launder donated clothes before reintroducing them into circulation. But let's delve deeper.
As someone with over 10+ years of experience, thrifting has helped me save so much money, find a unique style, and feel better about my sustainable fashion commitments.
The benefits far outweigh any concerns and as long as you're strategic with what you thrift and how you clean it, you should be just fine. Properly sanitizing your preloved garments will help prevent the spread of disease and make the most of your purchases.
Here's everything you need to know about buying secondhand garments safely and hygienically.
Cleaning Guidelines For Major Thrift Chains
Every thrift store has a different donation and cleaning policy.
Some chains have stricter guidelines than others but in general, you'll find that most in-person consignment shops do not wash their garments.
However, most stores do at least sort through their donations and weed out the soiled and unsellable items. It's just to varying degrees.
Big charities like Goodwill and The Salvation Army receive a lot of donations so they're unable to spend too much time sorting the dirty from the clean. On the other hand, boutique vintage shops that curate their selections are more likely to be picky about quality and cleanliness.
It can be hard to tell which stores clean their clothes before resale, but here's what's outlined for some of the biggest brands.
Goodwill
Goodwill is a national nonprofit that is regionally managed. The company is one of the most popular consignment charities and therefore receives a lot of donations.
Due to logistical constraints they’re unable to clean each item individually, and instead request that their donors inspect and clean the clothes before dropping them off.
According to past employees, the donated items go through a sorting belt where good clothes are sorted from everything else. From there, the garments are priced and placed directly on the sales floor for consumers to bring home.
Double check with the specific store in your town about their policies, but generally speaking, Goodwill does not wash every garment before selling.
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a similarly huge consignment brand with almost 250 stores in the Midwest.
Because they also receive a huge amount of donations, they do not clean their clothes before selling. The policy is similar to Goodwill's in that they request their donors to wash or dry clean donations beforehand. Anything that is put into their bins is sorted through and placed directly on the sales floor.
You can check with specific employees at The Salvation Army closest to you to ask about their specific sanitation policy.
Savers
In comparison to the first two nonprofit consignment chains, Savers is a for-profit thrift store retailer with stores across the U.S., Canada, and Australia. They do partner with nonprofits but are not a charity themselves.
Savers also does not wash their donated clothes before reselling. When buying from this organization, make sure to follow all the proper cleaning procedures outlined below.
Buffalo Exchange
Buffalo Exchange is a trendy secondhand fashion retailer. Their collections focus strictly on clothes and accessories and tend to be a little more curated.
Unfortunately, they also do not wash their clothes before selling. However, because they usually get fewer donations, you can trust that most of the used garments are going to at least be in decent shape.
Here are some of their guidelines for closet clean-outs.
Cleaning Guidelines For Online Thrift Stores
In the past 5 years, online thrifting platforms like Thredup, Poshmark, and Depop have grown in popularity. But in this new and unregulated space, discerning what items are safe to purchase can be challenging. Let's look at how some of these online thrift stores work and what measures they've put in place to guarantee cleanliness.
Thredup
ThredUp is a platform that I have personally used to sell and buy used clothes.
They get most of their donations through "Clean Out Kits" that help people from all around the country declutter their closets. Thredup then sorts through the donated items, prices them, lists them, and stores them in a facility until they're sold.
Thredup, like most physical consignment stores, does not wash their clothes. They're stored in facilities and it's entirely on donors and buyers to clean the garments themselves.
In fact, they have a whole two pages on the contamination liability and how none of it is their responsibility.
Poshmark
Poshmark is an online thrift fashion marketplace where individual sellers can list secondhand goods. It's very community-oriented and almost functions like a social media platform.
Because Poshmark is only a listing website and and does not actually handle any of the used items listed, the cleaning is entirely on the seller.
Most sellers do wash the clothes before selling because it reflects poorly on their business if their goods are dirty. If you're on the fence about thrifting clothes, this can be a good place to begin. You can even sort through "new with tags" offerings or "like new" offerings and ask the seller more detailed questions if you're concerned.
Depop
Depop is one of the most popular online thrifting platforms among young people. They're entirely app-based and designed for easy use.
Similarly to Poshmark, the app only functions as a listing grounds and the company does not handle any of the secondhand garments. Again, most sellers do wash their listings before selling because it reflects on their personal brand.
Browse through some of the top sellers and look through the reviews before making your purchase. To be safe, it's still best practice to wash thrifted clothes before wearing.
How To Wash Thrifted Clothes
The first thing you should do when you get back from thrifting is wash your new haul.
With the rise of bed bugs the United States, technically, the safest thing to do is to immediately run the clothes through several dryer cycles on the highest setting. Once this is done, follow it with normal washing and then complete with another dryer cycle.
However, this might not be the best for your clothes. So here are some tips on how to clean your newly acquired preloved garments:
Machine-Wash Friendly: this is the best case scenario. Follow the steps outlined above and then wash your new clothes with hot water and quality detergent. Ideally, you want the temperature to reach 150 degrees Fahrenheit (65 degrees Celsius) to kill all germs, bed bugs, and eggs.
Dry Clean Only: this option is pretty limiting. Take your garment to the dry cleaners and they'll use a chemical to treat the piece and kill all germs.
Delicates: there's only so much you can do here. Hand-wash your delicates with a gentle detergent mixed with some anti-bacterial hand soap. Option to clean it several times just to be safe.
In order to make your clothes last longer, it's best to wash them as little as possible.
In terms of sanitation, washing them with hot water and then drying them on high heat one time through is suffice to kill all bacteria and bugs. If you're particularly worried about more sensitive garments (underwear, swimsuits, etc), you can consider washing them two or three times before wearing for peace of mind.
A big part of what stops people from thrifting is the stigma associated with it. But with overconsumption at an all time high and our Earth asking desperately for a change, shopping secondhand might just be the solution. While getting over the hurdle of cleanliness can be intimidating at first, once you switch your mindset, you'll find that it's actually no different from shopping new at a conventional store. Get started with these thrift tips from expert bloggers or learn more about the downsides of donating clothes here.
