In January, Southern California was engulfed in a devastating firestorm that left many families in need of urgent support. The response from the community was overwhelming, with social media flooded with images of crowds flocking to the Rose Bowl and Santa Anita racetrack, bringing supplies—primarily clothing—for those who lost their homes in the Palisades and Eaton fires. Mounds of clothing appeared everywhere, from wedding dresses and Y2K fashion to faux leather jackets and sheer bodycon dresses.
The sheer volume of donations was so immense that mutual aid groups and nonprofits, including the YMCA, were compelled to turn down additional contributions. Christina Bragg, a spokesperson for the YMCA, noted that the amount of clothing donated was unprecedented. “I know the Y was not alone in this, but if you were in L.A., if you weren’t directly impacted, you were trying to find a way to support those who were,” she said. “For a lot of people, we all have a lot of clothes and so there were a lot of donations of clothing, of shoes.”
During January, Bragg mentioned that the YMCA organized around 25,000 volunteers to help process the influx of donations, sorting through the clothing to ensure it could be reused. However, with all the donations, did every piece of clothing find its way to fire victims? Not quite.
Bragg explained that while the YMCA continued to address the needs of those affected by the wildfires, they also made concerted efforts to distribute excess donations to various organizations that serve the unhoused community, youth, and the Downtown Women’s Center. Mattias Wallander, chief executive and president of USAgain, shared that his organization picked up approximately 10,000 pounds of clothing from various YMCA locations in Southern California. For 25 years, his organization has directed excess used clothing to countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras, where such items are sold in second-hand clothing stores.
With the profits generated, Wallander noted that they donate to causes like Habitat for Humanity. Wallander also remarked on a noticeable uptick in clothing collections—about 10% to 20%—immediately following the wildfires. “The trend is that Americans consume more and more clothing and use them fewer times,” he noted, emphasizing that much of the clothing remains in pristine condition when it is ultimately donated.
Only about 15% of the clothing they receive is resold domestically, with the bulk exported to Central America. Another organization, Trashie, was also called in to collect excess clothing. According to Trashie’s chief strategy officer, Annie Gullingsrud, the organization collected over 56,800 pounds of clothing. Around 23,000 pounds came solely from Santa Anita, with the rest from charities throughout Los Angeles.
However, Gullingsrud stated that only around 50% of what they collected was of reuse quality. Typically, about 70% of used clothing shipped to them is suitable for reuse. “The majority of the stuff that we got, we wouldn’t send back to the L.A. organizations to reuse because no one in L.A. wants to reuse this stuff,” she said. The influx of donations, while well-intended, did not always meet the actual needs of those displaced by the wildfires.
Gullingsrud emphasized that individuals who lost their homes were primarily in need of toiletries, cash, and food rather than clothing. “These organizations, they’re not clothing collection organizations, but all of a sudden they were clogged,” she added. In some cases, donations get misplaced or result in overwhelming quantities leading to waste. She compared this situation to past events, such as Hurricane Katrina, stating, “Sometimes if they are not set up to handle clothing donations, a lot of it ends up in landfills.” She pointed out that clothing cannot simply be left outside at donation centers, as it risks becoming moldy and toxic.
As Trashie began receiving calls for pickups of excess donations, they coordinated efforts across the city. The clothing was sent to a sorting and grading facility in Texas, where it was classified into recycle, reuse, and landfill categories. “We’re not kidding ourselves; someone’s probably not going to wear dirty, old running shoes,” she remarked.
In terms of recycling, clothing is sorted by fibers such as cotton and polyester. Some materials are transformed into new fibers, while others are converted into products like filling for punching bags or pet beds, or even turned into rags.
Jennifer Wang, a textile waste and recycling management consultant, described the circular nature of clothing donations. When items reach a donation bank, they are organized into rewearable, non-rewearable, and waste categories. The rewearable pile is further categorized to identify what can be resold in the U.S., which typically amounts to around 30% of donated items. Non-wearable donations are usually sent abroad for downcycling.
Wang explained that in downcycling, fibers are processed and turned back into a form that can be used for household products, such as rugs. However, not every charity has access to such sorting facilities, and the sorting process can be labor-intensive. Wang emphasized the necessity of sorting facilities in ensuring that textiles do not wind up in landfills. “They want to understand what is the value of that goods and what is the output so that they can communicate with the downstream buyers,” she said.
Wang added that this circular industry could also help create revenue to support development work in areas impacted by natural disasters. As the community reflects on the overwhelming response to the wildfires, it highlights the importance of understanding the actual needs during crises and the value of effective donation practices.
image source from：https://laist.com/news/what-happened-to-all-the-clothing-donated-during-the-la-wildfires
