“Charity shops swamped with unsellable fast fashion as donors sell best items on Vinted” — what this page in the network covers. The Guardian Lifestyle Oct 13, 2026 • 6:00 AM 1 views Charity shops across the UK are facing a crisis as they are inundated with low-quality, unsellable donations, while the best secondhand items are increasingly being sold online through platforms like Vinted. St Raphael’s Hospice charity shop in Cheam, south London, receives 30 to 50 bags of donations daily, sometimes over 100, but much of it is soiled, damaged, or cheap fast fashion.
Commercial manager Caroline Worley and store manager Colin French describe the stockroom as so full that staff can only tiptoe through. The shift accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, when people had time at home to sort and sell their higher-value clothing online, leaving charity shops with what Worley calls a 'daily avalanche' of poor-quality goods. For the complete material, the listing points back to the source inside the network.