From The Straits Times    |

Growing up in Singapore, you must have owned at least one of the following in your dark past: baggy JNCO jeans, a counterfeit Mambo tshirt you bought at Far East Plaza, a Von Dutch trucker cap or one of those Korean drama-ish cropped cardigans.

We sure hope you managed to get rid of those items, because even homeless people wouldn’t be caught dead in them right now. If you have any other unwanted clothing a little less cringe-worthy, though, you might be able to get rid of it in the following ways.


Image: 123rf.com

Donate

If you can’t be bothered to make a quick buck out of your cast-offs, and just want them out of your house, donating is the easiest and fastest way to deal with the problem, other than just tossing everything down the rubbish chute.

The most well-known place to donate clothes is The Salvation Army, who run several thrift stores. You can just show up at one of their donation-in-kind booths (click here for addresses) and deposit your items there.

But that’s not the only thrift shop you can donate your clothes to. You can also try the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations’ New2U Thrift Shop and the MINDS Shop, amongst others.

Sell your stuff online
You might not be able to get much for those cast-offs from Cotton On and Forever 21, but if you have brand-name clothes and bags, limited edition items or even clothing from high street fashion brands that’s still on-trend, it might be worth the effort to sell them online.

In the past, that meant creating a listing on eBay, which was time consuming and also meant you had to grapple with stuff like shipping charges.

But thanks to Carousell, you can sell stuff locally in a flash—just snap a photo with your smartphone and type a short description, then arrange to meet up with the buyer, probably at an MRT station somewhere.

While it’s true that other sites might work better for certain items (eg. Hardwarezone for electronic items or Singapore Bikes Forum for motorbikes), for fashion and accessories Carousell is probably your best bet.

Repurpose or upcycle the items

Have a pair of those ridiculously clownish JNCO/Fubu/Alien Workshop baggy jeans from the 90s? Well, you now have enough denim to make tiny ass-baring denim shorts for a whole army of Singaporean girls.

You even don’t have to be that crafty to repurpose or upcycle your items, since there are now numerous YouTube videos and IRL workshops to guide you through the process.

Project Upcycle conducts occasional workshops, and there’s also a whole bunch of free videos on YouTube you can use, like this and this.
 
Participate in a clothes swap

So you gained 10 kg over the past 2 years (blame it on all that char kway teow) and now need to get rid of everything in your wardrobe that has a waist. At the same time, you want to replace these items with new ones that actually fit.

A clothes swap event can let you get rid of the redundant items in exchange for someone else’s pre-loved outfits. Clothing swaps have been gaining ground in Singapore, probably because so many people have bursting wardrobes full of stuff they don’t wear.

Check the Fashion Revolution Facebook page for clothes swaps, which started earlier this month. Connected Threads Asia organised a clothes swap a few months ago. There are quite a few other clothes swaps that take place throughout the year—one way to stay informed is to contact the organisers of previous swaps and get them to put you on their mailing lists, like these here.

Those clothes that make you look like you just stepped off a getai runway might make another person look like they stepped off a fashion runway, so do the world a favour and swap your outfit for something that suits you better.

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