When you donate your old clothes, it's expected that you'll never see the item again. Goodwill reports over 107 million pieces donated every year, and only 10-30% of them actually make it to the floor. The rest go to a landfill.
But for one lucky jacket that belonged to a family in East Sussex, it found its way back to the family eight years after its donation.
Influencer Anna Kilpatrick received a call from a woman who lived in Wales saying that she had found a green jacket with Kilpatrick's son's name and number written on the tag. The coat was donated when her son was 12 years old, and he is now 20 years old.
"In a matter of seconds I had to kind of work it all out," Kilpatrick said to the BBC.
The H&M jacket was donated to one of Kilpatrick's friends, and over the years, the jacket made its way 250 miles from East Sussex to mid Wales. Even after eight years, the coat was still in great condition.
Kilpatrick comes from a family of 15 siblings and "always had hand-me-downs." While she used to be embarrassed by it, her outlook changed after becoming a single parent, which led to her passion for sustainable fashion.
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After receiving a lot of compliments about her sustainable fashion choices, she started sharing her journey on Instagram and has since built a following of over 80,000 people. "We are all such a brilliant part of the sustainability network without even realising," she said.
Knowing that your items might have an extended life is not the only benefit of donating your clothes and shopping secondhand. Other benefits to thrifting include saving roughly $1,760 every year, finding designer items at a significant discount, such as a $70 Fjällräven Kånken bag for $5, and often buying higher-quality goods.
Kilpatrick shared this story in hopes of encouraging others to think about the lifespan of their clothing before buying new. "Just remember the good practices that our grandparents used to do. They used to share stuff and make things last a really long time, and I think we just have to take a few tips from how people lived in the past, and then we'll be looking forward to a better future."
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