The market for wholesale second hand clothes is, to put it mildly, booming. It’s a massive global trade, and the United States is a significant hub for sourcing this inventory. For retailers, resellers, and importers, diving into this world can be incredibly profitable. But it’s also a business with a lot of unique quirks. It’s not like ordering new products from a catalog. From mysterious-sounding terms to the sheer logistics of it all, it’s easy to have questions. Here are some of the most common questions answered, based on observations of how this industry really works.
1. What’s the difference between all the terms? (Credential, Mixed Rags, etc.)
You’ll hear a lot of industry jargon. They aren’t just interchangeable terms for “used clothes”; they refer to the product at different stages of processing.
- Credential Clothing: This is the “rawest” form of used clothing. It’s unsorted, untouched donations, often still in the original bags they were dropped off in at a charity or collection bin. You get everything—the good, the bad, and the unexpected. It’s a gamble, but the potential for finding high-value items is at its peak.
- Mixed Rags: This is a very common wholesale product. It typically refers to items that have already been picked over by thrift stores (like Goodwill or Salvation Army outlets) and didn’t sell. It’s a mix of clothing, but it’s been handled and lightly sorted at least once.
- Sorted/Graded Clothing: This is inventory that a wholesale supplier has processed. Workers have sorted the items by category (e.g., “Men’s Cotton T-Shirts,” “Vintage Denim”) and, most importantly, by quality.
2. Where do US suppliers even get wholesale second hand clothes?
The supply is vast and comes from a few primary channels. The main source is public donations. Americans donate billions of pounds of textiles every year to non-profits and charities. These organizations are the first line of collection.
What they can’t sell in their own retail thrift stores—and there’s always far more than they can sell—gets baled up and sold to wholesale textile recyclers and suppliers. This overstock is the lifeblood of the wholesale second hand clothes industry. Other sources include for-profit collection bins and, to a lesser extent, textile recycling drives.
3. What does "Grading" (Grade A, B, C) actually mean?
Grading is maybe the single most important concept to understand. It’s how suppliers sort inventory by quality, and it dictates the price. While systems vary slightly, a typical breakdown looks like this:
- Grade A (or Premium/Cream): These are the best items. They’re in excellent, resalable condition with minimal or no signs of wear. They might have original tags (deadstock), be from high-end brands, or be desirable vintage pieces. This is what most retailers want, and it commands the highest price.
- Grade B (or Standard/#1): These items are still good and wearable but show light, visible wear. Think minor fading, a very small, fixable stain, or slight pilling. They are perfectly fine for many markets and make up a solid bulk of resalable inventory.
- Grade C (or #2): These items have more significant flaws—obvious stains, small tears, missing buttons, or heavy pilling. They aren’t great for direct resale in most markets but are often used for “rework” projects (e.g., cutting them up to make new items) or are destined for other markets.
There is also a “rag” or “wiper” grade, which consists of textiles only suitable for being cut into industrial wiping cloths.
4. How is wholesale second hand clothes sold? Bales? Containers?
You generally can’t buy just 20 pieces. This is a bulk business. The most common units of sale are:
- By the Bale: This is the classic method. Clothes are compressed into large, dense blocks, or “bales,” typically weighing anywhere from 100 lbs (around 45 kg) to over 1,000 lbs (450 kg). You buy the bale sight-unseen.
- By the Pound/Kilogram: Many suppliers, especially for sorted goods, will sell by weight. You might order 500 lbs of “Grade A Men’s Flannel.”
- By the Container: For international buyers, this is the standard. You purchase enough bales or bags to fill a 20-foot or 40-foot shipping container. A 40-foot container, for example, can hold roughly 45,000 to 55,000 lbs of clothing.
5. Will I get rich from one bale of vintage t-shirts?
It’s best to manage expectations. Opening a bale of wholesale second hand clothes is a bit of a treasure hunt, but it’s not all treasure. If you buy an unsorted bale of “Vintage T-Shirts,” you will absolutely get duds. You’ll find stained shirts, uncool designs, and items that just aren’t valuable.
The profit is made in the average. The hope is that the one or two amazing, high-value shirts you find will pay for the entire bale, making everything else pure profit. But it requires sorting, and you have to be prepared to deal with the undesirable items, too.
6. What are the most popular categories to source from the US?
Demand shifts with trends, but some categories of wholesale second hand clothes are perennially strong. The US is a fantastic source for:
- Vintage Denim: Brands like Levi’s, Wrangler, and Lee are globally sought after.
- American Branded T-Shirts: Think Harley-Davidson, band tees, sports teams (NFL, NBA), and university apparel.
- Workwear: Brands like Carhartt and Dickies are incredibly popular, both as fashion and functional items.
- Tropical Mix: Many suppliers create a specific “tropical mix” (lightweight summer clothing) for export to warmer climates in Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia.
- Outerwear: Things like North Face jackets, fleece, and puffers are also in high demand.
7. What’s a typical Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)?
This depends entirely on the wholesale second hand clothes supplier. Some online-focused wholesalers have adapted to smaller resellers and will sell single “micro-bales” of 100 lbs. This is a great way to start.
However, the large, industrial-scale exporters—the ones who are often the direct processors—are usually only interested in “by the container” orders. Their MOQ might be a 20-foot container, which is a significant investment. Always check the supplier’s MOQ before you get too deep in negotiations.
