21 Places to Donate Clothes in Columbus, Ohio (Besides Goodwill!)

When you donate clothes, you want them to go to good use, and help people in your local community. I’m a sustainable fashion advocate from Columbus, and I’ve rounded up some organizations where you can give away your clothing and contribute to a great mission, from an org that gives out free prom dresses to a youth emergency shelter.

I’ve personally cleaned out my closet by giving to several of these organizations or community groups, and if you want to see what that looked like, check out my YouTube video.

This post contains affiliate links to some mail-in clothing recycling programs for when local orgs can’t cover what you want to donate. If you make a purchase through those links, I earn a small commission on at extra cost to you.

FAQs About Donating Clothes in Columbus

What’s wrong with donating to Goodwill?

Some Goodwills are doing great work, but the organization does have its controversies (especially with underpaying disabled workers), and your clothes may not actually go to good use.

Only 20% of clothes donated to thrift stores is actually resold. The rest is trashed or dumped in the Global South, where it pollutes their land and water, and disrupts their local textile economy. Ghana’s Kantamanto market is a prime example of this.

That’s why I recommend giving directly to people or donating to smaller organizations when possible.

What do I do with clothing in bad condition/rags?

You shouldn’t donate clothing in bad condition unless you know the organization has textile recycling. Otherwise, the org has to spend money/resources getting rid of your trash. I was unable to find local textile recycling in Columbus, so I personally used the For Days take back bag and Thousand Fell x Supercircle recycling program. These programs let you mail in clothing to be recycled.

I can’t drive anywhere—do any orgs in Columbus do pickups?

Definitely! I would recommend the Freecycle Facebook group as your items will go directly to someone who wants them and will come pick them up. It’s just a little more coordination as you have to post about your items and message the people interested.

Otherwise, Alicia’s Closet and National Kidney Services do donation pickups.

Local Places to Donate Clothes

Here are some places near you where your donations can directly help someone else in the Columbus community.

1. Freecycle Columbus, Ohio

Freecycle is a Facebook group where you can give and get things for free. Giving things away directly to people is one of the best ways to ensure it gets used, as people are going out of their way to pick the items up.

I have actually been able to get rid of a bag of 20+ cotton t-shirts in the same day by posting in this group. The woman who picked them up said she cuts them into rags to use for waxing antiques that she sells.

This group is the largest of its kind in the Columbus area, but you can also search for groups closer to you, as there are also ones for Westerville, Clintonville, New Albany, Gahanna, and more. Just look up “freecycle columbus” and you’ll see tons of options.

2. Buy Nothing/Pay Nothing Columbus Ohio

This Buy Nothing group is another place you can give things away. Buy Nothing also has an app you can use if you’re not on Facebook.

3. United Methodist Free Store

You read that right—the United Methodist Free Store is a place where everything is free. They accept donations of clothing for all ages and sizes, as well as household items.

Dropoff times are from Monday to Saturday in the morning and early afternoons.

4. Bloom Free Store

Bloom is another free store, but specifically to aid families with young children. You can drop off donations anytime at the Worthington location.

5. Star House

Star House is a youth emergency shelter accepting donations during the weekdays. They’re located not far from the Short North.

Their high-priority needs include:

• seasonal clothing
• new underwear and socks
• sleeping bags
• bikes
• backpacks

There are many other items they’re requesting, so be sure to check out their donation page.

6. Dress for Success

Dress for Success provides women’s professional clothing for those who are interviewing and can’t otherwise afford these pricey pieces.

They accept donations on weekdays in the Short North, and there are also partner locations in Upper Arlington, Dublin, and Newark. If you go to their Short North location, make sure to call when you arrive as they need to track each donation and have you sign in (otherwise, they can’t accept the clothing).

They ask that the items are seasonal, no more than 5 years old, and show little to no wear.

7. Out of the Closet

Out of the Closet is a national thrift store chain founded in 1990 to help raise money for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. 96 cents of every dollar made goes to HIV prevention and treatment. They also offer HIV testing services at all of their locations.

The Columbus location is between OSU campus and the Short North, and it’s open daily. You can bring in donations or schedule a pickup for larger items like furniture.

8. Fairy Goodmothers (formal dresses)

Fairy Goodmothers gives free prom dresses to high school students. It’s a fantastic initiative, especially since formal dresses are so expensive and usually only worn once (and may not ultimately get sold in a thrift store).

You can donate directly to their warehouse in Worthington Malls when they have donation days a few times a year (follow their Facebook page), or you can bring your dresses to Penzone salons in Dublin, Gahanna/New Albany, German Village, Polaris, and Short North anytime they’re open.

Fairy Goodmothers accepts formal dresses (long and short), wraps, costume jewelry, and purses.

9. The Open Shelter

The Open Shelter is a 24-hour emergency shelter in downtown Columbus. They state that they’re always in need of: shirts, blouses, shorts (in season, preferably), dress pants and jeans, coats, hats, scarves, gloves, belts, socks, and underwear. They’ll take used clothing in good condition, other than underwear, which needs to be new.

They also accept hygiene and medical supplies.

10. LSS Choices (new clothes only)

LSS Choices is a domestic violence center that accepts new clothing donations only. Currently, their most needed items are men’s sweats, coats, hats/gloves, and underwear, as well as baby care items.

The donation center is in downtown Columbus and open Mondays, Fridays, and second Saturdays of the month. You can also make donation appointments.

11. One Warm Coat

One Warm Coat collects coats around the country and distributes them to people in need. You can use their coat drive map to find a current drop-off location near you.

12. Alicia’s Closet

Alicia’s Closet provides free items to the foster care community. You can donate infant to young adult clothing, as well as baby items, sports gear, car seats, and more.

Make sure to call or email to arrange a drop-off or pickup.

13. Kaleidescope Youth Center (new clothes only)

Kaleidescope Youth Center is an LGBTQ+ center offering free programming, housing, and support services. They accept seasonal clothing donations and particularly need larger and plus sized pieces. The clothing must be new, however.

The youth center also accepts personal care and household items. Drop-off hours are Tuesday-Fridays.

14. Volunteers of America

Volunteers of America has several locations in Central Ohio, and their mission is to support homeless veterans families and children.

While this is a more traditional thrift store, the many locations and store hours make it worth mentioning for the convenience. Plus, it still has a good mission.

15. National Kidney Services

National Kidney Services will pick up donations of clothing and household items, and proceeds go towards the National Kidney Foundation, whose goal is to end preventable kidney disease.

It’s unclear what exactly happens to this clothing, but it appears that it’s sold to secondhand markets, which could be domestic or international. Because of this lack of transparency, I would only recommend this if you need a pickup service and can’t donate to other orgs.

16. DSW/Soles4Souls

At any DSW store, you can drop off new or gently-worn shoes, and they’ll be donated to Soles4Souls. Soles4Soles takes the shoes and trains people in poverty to run their own business reselling the shoes. The goal is empower them with the skills and resources to provide for themselves and increase their living standards.

If it’s easier for you to ship your donation, you can print a free label via Zappos.

17. GotSneakers

GotSneakers sends you a free pre-paid bag for your old athletic shoes. They resell or recycle them, and you can even get a small check from them depending on the quality of the shoes you send in (I got $6 last time, so don’t expect too much!).

If you want to do local dropoff, Nike has an athletic shoe recycling program, turning them into sports surfaces like basketball courts and tracks.

I only recommend this for super worn-out shoes, as there’s not a lot of transparency into what percentage of the shoes are recycled, and since Nike isn’t sustainable, it could be a ploy to get people into their stores and buy stuff.

Also, be sure to call ahead to make sure your local store is participating. I’ve previously dropped off athletic shoes that were falling apart at the Nike Easton store, and had no problem, but things can always change.

18. Franklin County Dog Shelter

This isn’t for clothing per se, but if you have large bath and beach towels, or blankets/comforters, the Franklin County Dog Shelter will take them for their dogs.

Mail-In Programs to Donate/Recycle Clothes

Sometimes local programs won’t cover everything you’re trying to clean out, especially if you have clothing in bad condition. Here are some helpful programs I’ve used in the past, or plan to use for textile recycling.

19. Trashie take back bag

As I mentioned earlier, the Trashie take back bag is probably the easiest way to get rid of ratty clothing. The bag costs $20 and holds up to 15 pounds of clothing. In return, you get a small reward credit to spend on gift cards or coupons.

They take all textiles in any condition, including including socks, underwear, sheets, pillow cases, towels, linens, shoes, and handbags. 45% of the items are resold, 50% are downcycled into things like insulation, and 5% are sadly just trash.

When you’re ready to send the bag, scan the QR code on it, and get a code to scan at USPS or print out your label.

20. Retold Recycling bags

Retold Recycling has a similar style of take back bag to Trashie, but they also offer a subscription.

They take all clean and dry household textiles and clothes, including underwear. They don’t take shoes, however, unless they’re gently-used and could be resold in a thrift store (and not pointy as they could puncture the bag).

Their bags are much smaller than Trashie’s though, as it’s $15.50 for up to 5 pounds of clothing. The bags are pre-labeled though, so you don’t need to go to the post office and can send it right from your home. They also only recycle domestically, so you can rest assured your clothes aren’t getting resold and dumped abroad.

21. Thousand Fell x Supercircle

Thousand Fell is a sustainable sneaker brand that’s partnered with Supercircle to offer clothing recycling (and recycling for shoes from their own brand).

The label requires a $10 deposit, and you get 20% off Thousand Fell as a thank you for recycling. If you redeem the coupon, your deposit is returned.

You are limited to 10 items max, however, and the size of the package is about the same as a poly mailer. You can do multiple shipments overall, but they have to be done one at a time.

Still, it’s a great program, especially since they upcycle as well as downcycle. According to them: “Once enough material of a certain kind has been collected (think 500 cotton t-shirts), our recycling partners will ensure that the material that can be upcycled will make its way into new items & textiles.” This is awesome since the upcycled material can have a longer lifespan.

If you have any more organizations you think others should know about, please tell us in the comments!

For more organizations and ideas on what to do with old clothing, see these posts:

23 Places to Donate Clothes Besides Goodwill
15 Underrated Ways to Recycle Clothes You Can’t Donate
11 Ways to Get Rid of Clothes Responsibly