How the Habitat Store is turning old clothes into new homes
When you donate your old clothes to the Habitat Store, you’re doing so much more than helping Habitat build new homes in Whatcom County: you’re also keeping perfectly good items out of the landfill, helping us fight fast-fashion, and providing material that can be recycled into something new.
When clothing gets donated to the Habitat Store, whether through a free pick-up from our team or drop-off at our back dock, volunteers and staff carefully sort through the donations to determine what happens next.
Clothing in good condition will be put on the sales floor to be sold to the community at an affordable price. Every dollar earned from purchases of these items goes directly to supporting Habitat’s mission of building homes and hope in Whatcom County – not to mention all of the environmental benefits of buying clothes secondhand and keeping these items out of the landfill.
But what happens to the clothing we can’t sell? Thanks to the help of some amazing community partners, we can recycle these textiles into something new.
Last year, we upgraded our bailer – the machine we use to compress clothing and other materials into stackable, pallet-size cubes for easier transportation. Our backroom employees and volunteers load clothing into the bailer, and then move the full pallets into a semi trailer.
Once the trailer is full, our friends at NW Shippers kindly drive it across the state to Global Neighborhood in Spokane.
NW Shippers, which is based in Ferndale, has been supporting Habitat Whatcom since the early 1990’s – a tradition started by the original owner that continues on through his son and current owner, Eric Wiesen. Their quarterly donation of this 363 mile drive is an incredible gift to us, and a huge reason why we are able to keep this program going.
Global Neighborhood is a nonprofit Thrift and Vintage store with a passion for keeping clothes out of the landfill and helping connect refugees to employment opportunities and resources.
“When you donate textiles to Habitat for Humanity, they make their way to Spokane and provide refugees with job training, skill development and paychecks,” says Julie Kimball-Bryant, Global Neighborhood’s General Manager.
“What is unique about our process is that we pull items traditional thrift stores would pass over. We find value in clothing that shows signs of wear and tear. Garments that have been loved and lived in.”
According to Julie, the best way to recycle fibers and textiles is to keep them in circulation in the secondhand and upcycling market. Through our partnership, Global Neighborhood and Habitat for Humanity have been able to divert 90,000lb of textiles from the landfill in the 2024 calendar year alone.
Photo from Global Neighborhood
“You can feel great about recycling your old clothes and discovering new finds at the Habitat Store!” Says store director, Courtney Bartley. “Every piece you donate or choose gives the clothing a new story while helping the planet and your community thrive.”
So, if you’ve got a pile of old clothes stacking up in your closet that you’ve been meaning to donate, bring them to the Store that Builds Homes! Our team of employees and dedicated volunteers work hard to make sure each donation leads to a positive impact in our community.
