Bringing old clothes you were about to throw away back to the store is becoming a new habit for some consumers. According to sources in Shanghai's Huangpu District, brand stores such as Uniqlo and MUJI have turned old clothing collection into a daily service, and the destinations and reuse pathways of the collected garments are gradually coming to light.

Uniqlo's efforts are relatively concentrated. In June this year, the brand piloted its RE.UNIQLO clothing collection service at four stores, including those on Huaihai Middle Road and Nanjing West Road in Shanghai; starting August 21, the service was expanded to all stores in mainland China, with the "Feimayi" mini-program launched simultaneously, extending the collection entry point from offline to online. From August 21 to August 30, Uniqlo also ran a promotion offering a "Fuzzy" refrigerator magnet for old clothing donations. Staff at the Huaihai Middle Road global flagship store said many customers only learned through this event that the store could collect old clothes, with some bringing in nearly 20 items at once that they had originally planned to discard.

MUJI, for its part, has adopted a "barter" approach. Staff at the Xintiandi store explained that consumers who return three pieces of idle MUJI-brand clothing at once receive a ReMUJI eco-friendly bag, with no need to present receipts or other proof of purchase; staff confirm the item's identity through information such as "Ryohin Keikaku" or "MUJI" on the clothing's wash label.

Collecting clothes is only the starting point of the chain. Clothing collected by Uniqlo is transported by professional organizations to sorting centers, where it is classified by material—cotton, polyester, nylon, blends, and so on—and then directed into different recycling processes depending on the garment's condition, with some ultimately made into products such as soundproof cotton, agricultural thermal insulation quilts, and cleaning cloths. MUJI's ReMUJI project covers clothing circulation, old item collection, and surplus material utilization; some defective items and inventory clothing are repaired, refurbished, and patchwork-designed before being put back into use.

Some companies are also directing discarded materials beyond the store. Chen Dandan, manager of M-SEEN, a building finish materials service provider, said that when renovating or arranging spaces, some brands use recycled fabrics, leather goods, and metal accessories to make display props, and Shancun Yousong is one example. However, she admitted that expanding the application of recycling still cannot avoid the hurdle of cost—from collection and disposal to processing, expenses are considerably higher than using brand-new raw materials directly, and such recycled materials have not yet achieved economies of scale, putting them at no price advantage.

For the old clothing recycling industry, the highlight of this change is that the combination of brand stores and online mini-programs is pushing collection touchpoints from scattered charitable scenarios toward large-scale, routine retail terminals. Whether sorting, regeneration, and end-use applications can keep up with the increased front-end volume, and whether costs can decline with scale, remain the practical variables determining how far this path can go.

Source: Where do old clothes go after being collected? | Going to the Grassroots · Originally published on 2026-09-22