How to give away or donate old clothes in India

Make three piles: good to wear, needs a small repair, and worn out. Only the first two are worth giving to people.

• Wash and dry everything before giving it away.
• Group by size and type — "boys' clothes, age 6–8" is far more useful than a mixed bag.
• Check pockets for money, cards and papers.
• Keep pairs together — shoes, socks, gloves.

• Winter clothes and blankets — sweaters, jackets, shawls and quilts, especially in north India from November to February.
• Children's clothes and school uniforms — children outgrow them long before they wear out.
• Work clothes — formal shirts, trousers and sarees in good condition help people going to interviews or starting a job.
• New or almost-new items — clothes with tags still on, gifts that did not fit.

To neighbours: post the clothes as one listing per bundle (for example "Girls' winter clothes, 5–6 years, 8 pieces") with a photo of the items laid out. People nearby who need exactly that size will ask.

To your circle: if your housing society or office has a circle on GiveAway, you can share the bundle only with its members.

To NGOs: several national and local organisations collect clothes and pass them on to families in need — for example through collection centres or donation drives in your city. On GiveAway, verified partner NGOs near you appear on the partners page and can collect directly.

Clothes with holes or stains are not useful to give away, but they need not be thrown away either: use them as cleaning cloths, ask local tailors (they sometimes use fabric scraps), or look for textile-recycling collection points in your city. Many NGOs that recycle fabric into mats and bags also accept worn-out cotton.