Best Practices & Tips

Gathering Clothes

There are many ways you can collect used clothes. One way that has worked well is putting donation boxes in dorms, fraternities/sororities, churches, friend’s houses, and apartments buildings.

Have everyone involved in planning the event do a “Closet Clean-Out.”

Encourage your friends, family, & community members to collect 10 items each at a minimum.

*Students: If you choose a date for Threads after a school break, blast reminders the week before break—through email, social media, etc.—for members and students to collect clothes while they are home to bring back.

Collect more clothes than you think you will need and invite more volunteers to sort than you think you will need. A greater selection of clothes yields a higher quantity of foot traffic.

Sorting Clothes

Leave time to wash the clothes before selling them.

Organize your clothes how you think it will work best for your space and campus.

One suggestion would be to separate clothes with the original store price tags still on them from the rest. Section these off when you hold the event and price them higher.

Pricing Clothes

“Pay What You Want” Method

Tell people that they can pay whatever they’d like to donate for X item. But also have a separate rack full of nicer brands or newer items that you price at a minimum price to ensure that there’s a base pay.

Make sure there is a person manning the check out area who will make sure the donation goes through and explain the mission behind Threads and IJM before they pay. This will increase the chances of someone donating more.

Price by Category

For small teams who do not have enough people/time to price each item, try pricing categories instead of individual items (X dollars for shirts, Y dollars for pants, Z dollars for shoes, etc.). Put up a sign with the prices for each category.

You can also use color-coded stickers to price individually if you have capacity. Make sure to post signs that show what each color means.

Event Location

You want to choose a location that people frequent (i.e. has a lot of foot traffic) and is easily recognizable.

Student Ideas: the student union, a quad on campus, a campus ministry house or church, a fraternity or sorority house, etc.

Non-Student Ideas: Church Lobby, host a thrift party at your home, office space, etc.

If your event will be outside, come up with a back up plan in case there is bad weather.

Reserve a back-up space (such as a spot in the food court, a classroom that people pass by frequently, a lecture hall, a church, your home etc.) or consider renting or borrowing a large tent.

Payment Process

Don’t wait until the day of the event to understand and plan your process.

Review the process with all volunteers who will be helping check others out.

For Small Teams

Set expectations: After reviewing this handbook and understanding the tasks involved, make sure you and anyone helping you with the event has a realistic idea of how much time it will take so you can plan well.

Delegate specifically: After level-setting what needs to be done and what is possible, make sure everyone helping has specific tasks. This will help you better track if things are getting done on time.

Invite friends in: If you’re feeling overwhelmed and think you need more help, don’t be afraid to ask more friends to be involved. Maybe one of your team members is planning a coffee hang out that they can change to a clothes sorting party. This is also a great way to invite others into the mission and possibly gain new Champions/Chapter Members!

Know your limits: Even if you set expectations well at the start, you’ll likely have to continue evaluating and adjusting as you go. For instance, maybe you are receiving too many clothing donations and need to stop collecting any more to organize them in time.

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