Anna Hartz
From Donation Bin to Store Shelf: What Happens to Your Clothes
In cities around the world, you can find big containers where charities like the Red Cross collect clothes.
People drop off clothes they no longer wear. Sometimes the clothes don’t fit anymore.
Other times, they just want something new. It’s a simple way to clear out your closet and help others at the same time.
Usually, we put clothes in those bins and don’t think about them again. But German influencer Moe.Ha got curious about where donated clothes actually go, reports El Economista,
So he did an experiment. He put a pair of sneakers in one of these donation bins. Inside the sneakers, he hid a small GPS tracker, like an AirTag, so he could follow them on his phone.
What happened next surprised him.
Flew Down to Inspect His Donated Shoes
The sneakers moved fast. In just a few days, they traveled through Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia.
Finally, they stopped in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moe.Ha wondered how his shoes had ended up there. Since they hadn’t moved for several days, he flew to that location to see for himself.
When he arrived, he found a secondhand clothing store. To his surprise, the sneakers were for sale. He bought them for 10 euros.
When he asked the store workers where the shoes came from, they said they were from Germany. But no one mentioned they had been donated.
Viral on TikTok
The story quickly spread on TikTok. Many people were upset. They felt angry that donated clothes ended up for sale in other countries. But the Red Cross explained what really happens with donations.
Every year, the Red Cross gets between 70,000 and 80,000 tons of clothes. Only 10% go straight to people in need.
About half are recycled for raw materials. The rest, around 40%, are sold to secondhand shops. The money made supports Red Cross projects around the world.
If clothes aren’t good enough to give directly, selling them helps raise funds for important humanitarian work.
The Red Cross is one of the biggest aid organizations. They help people during disasters and wars.
This system might feel strange, but it’s part of how they keep helping millions of people who need it most. Without it, many would be worse off.
