Any regular thrift store shopper knows that some shoes or shirts just do not sell. So what happens to these double cast-offs? If their owners put them up for sale and no one bites, is it worth keeping them around? If you are at all interested in limiting our nation's ever-growing landfills then the answer to that question is an unequivocal yes. But it may be that these unwanted shoes will not stay long in our country.
Many thrift stores sort and bundle their unsold merchandise and ship it overseas where these “soft goods” will hopefully find an owner. This unsold merchandise is sometimes called “credential clothing”. In particular, credential clothing that is not sold in thrift stores in the States and subsequently sent overseas is referred to as “Mixed Rags”.
Sometimes this unsold footwear is sent to disaster relief areas such as after the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. This was the case with shoes collected by Deseret Industries, a non-profit organization run by the Church of Latter Day Saints. The money collected from selling shoes and clothes in the two thrift stores owned by Desert Industries is used to fund vocational training programs. Unsold merchandise is bundled and donated to disaster areas abroad.
Sometimes these unsold shoes make a profit for their overseas merchant. It is not uncommon for 50 pounds bags of shoes to be purchased overseas by a merchant, sorted and then sold in an open-air market.
A thrift store in Vermont takes a different tact. Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA) owns five thrift stores in the state. It recycles its unsold shoes. The shoes are broken down and ground into base materials, which are then used to make something new. SEVCA states that shoes recycled from its thrift stores have been used to build highways in Vermont or to fabricate shingles that are used on roofs. In 2007, SEVCA recycled 210 tons of unsold shoes and clothing collected from seven towns in Vermont.
If you are donating your old shoes to a local thrift store, it is a good idea to ask the store what it does with its unsold merchandise. Whether the shoes are sold or donated abroad, or whether they are used to make a new highway, the goal is to keep these shoes out of our nation's landfills. It may be that one thrift store in your community throws unsold shoes away, while the other finds yet another potential use for them.
Jane Barron works for OddShoeFinder.com,a free online website that helps people find mismatched footwear.Get more information on
deformed feet,
corrective shoes or
foot length difference.