A guide for parents
What to do with outgrown children's clothes
Every option, what each one gets you, and what really happens to the clothes afterwards.
What's in here
- The options at a glance
- Giving outgrown clothes away
- Selling outgrown children's clothes
- Swapping outgrown children's clothes
- So what should you actually do?
Nobody warns you how fast they grow out of things. One minute the 0-3 stuff is huge on them, the next it's in a bag by the door and you've no idea what to do with it.
And the maddening bit is that it's all still lovely. Four in five children's clothes get replaced because they've been grown out of, not because they're worn out, and the early sizes only get a few weeks each.
So you end up with a bag. Then another bag. Then a third one you've stopped looking at.
Here's what each option actually involves, including the ones that aren't us, because they might well be the right answer for you.
The options at a glance
| Option | Effort | You get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand to a friend | None | Nothing | When you know someone the right size |
| Charity shop | Low | Nothing | Clearing space, supporting a charity |
| Textile recycling | Low | Nothing | Anything worn out or stained |
| Vinted | High | A few pounds | Bundles, if you have a morning |
| Facebook Marketplace | Medium | A few pounds | Local bundles, no postage |
| eBay or Depop | High | More, per item | Single branded pieces |
| NCT nearly new sale | Medium | Money and clothes | When the dates line up |
| Local swap group | Low | Clothes back | If one exists near you |
| Swapaboo | Low | Their next size, whenever you need it | Swapping again and again, no selling |
Where used clothes in the UK actually end up
Source: UK post-consumer textiles, 2022. WRAP, Textiles Market Situation Report 2024. The remainder is landfilled.
Fewer than a fifth of used clothes ever get worn by anyone else. Not because people don't care! It's just that passing something on properly is harder work than it ought to be.
Giving outgrown clothes away
Hand them to someone you know
Still the best option when it works. The clothes go straight to a child who needs them, nothing is wasted, and nobody has to trust a stranger.
The catch is timing. You need to know someone with a child the right size at the right moment, and most of us don't.
Charity shops
Easy, and it supports the charity. What tends to surprise people is what happens next: most donated clothing is sorted, baled and sold on rather than put out on the shop floor, and a large share leaves the country.
That doesn't make it a bad thing to do. The charity earns from it either way. But donating and reusing aren't the same act, and most of us assume they're.
Textile recycling banks
The right answer for anything genuinely worn out. Holes, stains, stretched necklines. Don't put those in a charity bag, and don't put them in the bin.
Only 2% of UK textiles are recycled into new material here, so it's not the environmental win it sounds like. But it beats landfill, and worn-out clothes have nowhere better to go.
Selling outgrown children's clothes
Vinted
The default now, and it works if you've the patience. Bundles do better than single items for children's clothes, since buyers want a size at a time rather than one top.
The real cost is time, and we have worked the maths through properly. Photographing, describing, pricing, answering "is this still available", posting. A bundle of four or five baby items typically fetches somewhere between five and ten pounds, which isn't much for a morning.
Facebook Marketplace and local selling groups
Faster than Vinted for bundles, and no postage. Local groups can be excellent, because the buyer is a parent two streets away who wants exactly what you've.
The downsides are the ones everyone knows. Messages that go nowhere, people who don't turn up, and arranging to meet a stranger.
eBay and Depop
Worth the listing for individual designer or branded pieces where the price justifies it. Not worth it for a bag of everyday babygrows.
Swapping outgrown children's clothes
NCT nearly new sales
Genuinely good, and the option parents recommend most often. You sell your items at a local sale, keep most of the proceeds, and buy other people's at the same event. How they work, and how to do well at one.
The limitation is that they happen a few times a year in a given area, and your child grows continuously. Useful when the dates line up, no help in March when nothing is on until June.
Local swap groups
Some areas have WhatsApp or Facebook groups where parents pass things around informally. Where they exist and you're in one, they're the best thing going. Free, local, and everyone already knows each other.
They're also invisible from outside, and you can't join one that doesn't exist near you.
The bag in our loft sat there about eight months before I did anything with it. I kept meaning to. That is genuinely how Swapaboo started.
Swapaboo
We got tired of the same bag in the loft, so we built this. You photograph what your children have outgrown, we check and value each piece, and that value becomes credits you spend on the next size up from another family. One photo per item, about a minute a bundle. No listings to write, no price to agree, nobody to meet.
Every item is photographed individually and checked before it lists: no holes, no stains, no heavy wear. Each piece is graded and the grade is shown before you claim it, so nothing is a surprise when the parcel opens, and if something arrives not as described your credits come straight back. You pick every piece yourself, so it's never a mystery bag.
The only money that changes hands is the delivery or collection, from £1.99, which works out around 85% less than buying the same clothes new.
And it keeps going. What arrives becomes the next bag a few months later, so the same clothes can dress four children instead of one.
We're opening in small batches and it's invitation only for now.
So what should you actually do?
If it's worn out, textile recycling. Not the charity bag, not the bin.
If you know someone with a child the right size, give it to them. Nothing beats it.
If you want money and have a morning spare, Vinted for bundles, or a local selling group if you would rather not post anything.
If there's an NCT sale coming up, that's the best of both, when the timing works.
If you want the next size without selling anything first, that's the gap we built Swapaboo for. It's the only one on this list where a bag going out turns directly into the clothes coming in, every few months, without a listing or a buyer in between.
Common questions
Is it worth selling children's clothes?
For individual branded or designer items, yes. For a bag of everyday clothes, the maths is thin. A bundle typically fetches a few pounds and takes a morning to photograph, list, price and post. Most parents who try it once do not do it twice.
Do charity shops actually want children's clothes?
They accept them, and the charity earns from them. But most donated clothing is sorted and sold on in bulk rather than sold in the shop, and a large share is exported. If your aim is that a specific child wears them, donating is not the most direct route.
What should I do with clothes that are stained or torn?
Textile recycling. Charity shops cannot sell them and it costs the charity money to dispose of them, so putting damaged items in a donation bag makes things worse rather than better.
How many clothes does a child get through?
Roughly 300 garments between birth and starting school, and most are outgrown rather than worn out. That is why the bag in the loft keeps refilling.
What is a children's clothes swap?
Any arrangement where parents exchange outgrown clothes rather than selling or donating them. It can be informal, like a local WhatsApp group, organised, like an NCT nearly new sale, or run as a service like Swapaboo, where what you pass on becomes credit toward what you need next.
Where can I swap children's clothes in the UK?
Locally, through NCT nearly new sales and community swap groups on Facebook or WhatsApp, where they exist. Online, Swapaboo runs a national children’s clothes swap: you photograph what your children have outgrown, each piece is checked and valued, and you spend that value on the next size from another family. You choose every piece yourself and pay only the delivery or collection, from £1.99.