Cleaned Out Your Closet – Now What? Amsterdam Edition

A Professional Organizer’s Guide to Mindfully Discarding Clothes in Amsterdam

So, you finally tackled that overflowing closet, and now you’re staring at a mountain of clothes that no longer spark joy. It’s a liberating feeling, but also a bit overwhelming—what do you do with everything? Before you toss them in the bin or squeeze them into a dark corner, check out the options below to help responsibly discard clothing in Amsterdam that won’t be cluttering your closet any longer.

A note for newcomers to the city: if you’ve recently moved here, the sheer number of Dutch words for “second-hand shop” can be its own kind of overwhelm—kringloopwinkel, opnieuw, kledingbank, weggeefwinkel. And if you don’t have a car (many Amsterdammers don’t), hauling bags of clothes across the city by bike or on foot is its own logistical puzzle. The good news: several of the options below come to your door, no vehicle required. Look for the 🚲 marker throughout this guide.

A little planning goes a long way when it comes to getting rid of clothes efficiently and sustainably.

Consider these four factors before deciding where your items should go:

• Volume – Are we talking a couple of T-shirts, or do you need a fleet of bicycles to transport everything?
• Condition – Are they gently used, or have they seen better days?
• Age & Style – Are they trendy, vintage, or past their prime?
• Seasonality – Is it the right time of year for someone to buy them? Even fabulous winter coats don’t sell well in July!

Once you’ve sorted your clothing into sellable, reusable (gently worn), and recyclable (damaged/stained) categories, you have three main options: sell, donate, or recycle.

Sell – Give Your Clothes a Second Chance (and Make a Little Money)

Selling your clothes is a great way to ensure they go to someone who wants them. While it’s not a way to make a fortune, it’s one approach to extending the life of your garments, and you might make a few euros in the process. Selling used clothes generally requires more effort than donating, so be selective about which items you choose to sell.

Consignment Stores in Amsterdam

Consignment stores take care of the selling for you and give you a percentage of the sale. Clothes and accessories for consignment should be clean, in excellent condition, and in line with current fashion trends.

A consignment store will put an item up for sale for a fixed period and thereafter require the original clothing owner to collect the items by a certain date or agree to the item’s donation. Consignment shops usually have pre-identified charities and will happily tell you where your clothes will be donated if they don’t sell, and you don’t collect them back.

De Ruilhoek – Amsterdam-Zuid | deruilhoek.nl Buys and sells second-hand designer and brand-name clothing for men and women, with pieces priced at roughly 25–35% of retail. Bring in at least seven items for your first consignment; you’ll receive half of the sale price once an item sells, and can track your items online.

Helly Secondhand – Amsterdam Oost & De Pijp | hellysecondhand.nl A neighborhood fixture in Oost for eighteen years and running, Helly takes in clothing directly from Amsterdammers across sizes XS to plus size, for all genders. A mix of vintage, pre-loved, and unworn pieces.

ReShare Store Amsterdam-West – Bilderdijkstraat | reshare.nl/stores Leger des Heils’s own vintage and second-hand storefront, selling donated clothing, shoes, and accessories at accessible prices.

Trekkemaan – Bilderdijkstraat 165-D, Amsterdam-West | trekkemaan.nl A neighborhood fixture in the Tetterode building, run by the same close-knit group of volunteers for thirty-five years. Trekkemaan takes clothing donations and passes items along to Oranje Huis, which houses women who need a safe place to stay; the nicer pieces go into the shop itself, with proceeds funding a rotating list of good causes. Hours are limited (closed Mondays and Sundays), so plan around that. Full disclosure: I’m proud to have a family member among its founders and longtime volunteers.

If you have success with a consignment shop, it can be the beginning of a beautiful relationship – when your style aligns with a shop’s clientele, you may have an easy choice for where to bring future clothing discards and a bit of pocket change to boot!

Sell by Mail – The No-Car, No-Effort Option 🚲

Sellpy – sellpy.nl Owned by H&M Group, Sellpy is a full-service resale platform that handles everything after you pack a bag. Order a free Sellpy bag through the app, fill it with items you want to sell, and drop it at a parcel point or schedule a courier pickup. Sellpy authenticates, photographs, prices, lists, and ships each item, then pays out your share once something sells. Anything not worth listing gets donated or recycled rather than shipped back to you—so this doubles as a responsible-discard option, not just a selling one. It’s a strong fit if you have a moderate-to-large pile of clothes, want them handled without owning a car, and don’t want the back-and-forth of Vinted or Marktplaats messages.

Sell Online

If you prefer to handle sales yourself, online platforms are an option. Depending on demand for your items, it may take more effort to sell clothes online than it does to sell them via a consignment shop. You may, for example, have to post and repost before people discover your items and buy them. On the upside, selling used clothes online allows you to reach a broader audience.

Back and forth communication and negotiation can wear on you (pun is purely accidental) and it’s wise to avoid frustration when you are undertaking a comprehensive declutter. In other words, place a value on your time and energy when deciding if you want to handle your clothing discards by selling the clothes you no longer want online.

• Vinted – vinted.nl — User-friendly app for selling clothes across Europe.
• Facebook Marketplace – facebook.com/marketplace — Good for local buyers.
• Marktplaats – marktplaats.nl — The Dutch version of Craigslist, but much better! If you are not comfortable communicating in Dutch this site might be a bit challenging. Non-Dutch language postings are likely to get fewer views than similar listings in Dutch.

Tips for Selling Online

• Keep descriptions clear and concise.
• Brand-name items tend to sell faster.
• Take well-lit, high-quality photos – outside can be a fun choice
• Post in-season items for the quickest interest.

Donate – Give Your Clothes a New Home

Big Thrift Stores

Kringloop West – Tweede Hugo de Grootstraat 70H, Amsterdam West | kringloopwest.nl Open daily, 10:00–18:00. Drop off at the counter, or book their free pickup service by phone or email for larger donations.

RataPlan – Generatorstraat 10, Amsterdam West (near Isolatorweg metro) | rataplan.nl At 3,500 square meters, this is the largest kringloopwinkel in the city, with a dedicated drop-off point at the warehouse entrance and a free pickup service by appointment.

Charity-Run Clothing Shops

Leger des Heils (Salvation Army) “Opnieuw” shops | legerdesheils.nl Amsterdam West – Burgemeester Vening Meineszlaan 64 Amsterdam Noord – Loenermark 317-318 Amsterdam Noordkaap – Hilversumstraat 338 50|50 Budgetstore, Oost – Middenweg 14 Each neighborhood shop takes in donated clothing, shoes, and accessories and resells them at accessible prices, with proceeds supporting the Leger des Heils’s local work. Home pickup can be arranged in Amsterdam by calling ahead.

Smaller Charity Initiative (Call Ahead to Check Their Needs)

Hebben & Houwen (Stichting Kledingbank Amsterdam) – Zilverberg 68-C, Amsterdam-Noord | Tel: 06-424 944 61 | hebbenenhouwen.com Amsterdam’s clothing bank for residents on a low income, giving clean, contemporary clothing directly to Amsterdammers referred through the Voedselbank or a social service. There’s a particular need for men’s clothing and shoes, larger sizes, and winter coats for children and teens. Open by appointment on select weekdays.

Free Doorstep Pickup – No Car, No Drop-Off Required 🚲

Byewaste – byewaste.nl (app for iOS and Android) This is the option I most often recomend. It is absolutely worth knowing about if you don’t have a car and don’t want to carry bags anywhere.

Byewaste picks up textiles, electronics, books, toys, and small household items directly from your door, free of charge, and routes each item to reuse or recycling partners based on its condition.

The process: download the app, sort your items by category into separate bags or boxes, book a pickup slot, and set everything by your door (or in a shared entryway) at the agreed time. There’s no minimum, so it works well for a single bag of clothes or a broader clear-out that includes a few other categories at once. It’s a particularly good match after a move or a renovation, when clothing discards tend to arrive alongside a mix of other things you no longer need. My Amsterdam clients who’ve used Byewaste have found it reliable and easy—pickups are done on the chosen day and the app makes the whole process straightforward.

Recycle – When Clothes Are Beyond Repair

Some clothes are too worn out to be resold or donated, but that doesn’t mean they should go in the garbage. Gemeente Amsterdam runs its own textile collection alongside the household waste service:

• Above-ground textile containers – Amsterdam has phased out most underground textile containers in favor of above-ground ones, which keep clothing drier and easier to sort. Find your nearest container through amsterdam.nl afval-scheiden page.
• Afvalpunt Seineweg – Seineweg 1, 1043 BE Amsterdam. The city’s recycling point for items that don’t fit standard textile collection. Details and other Afvalpunt locations at amsterdam.nl/afval.
• Textielrace pickup – In select stadsdelen, Amsterdam periodically offers a free at-home textile pickup service, with discount codes from sustainable clothing brands as a thank-you. See textielrace.nl for current participating neighborhoods.

What’s Accepted?

✔ Clothes (even torn or incomplete) ✔ Towels, bedding, curtains ✔ Shoes (tied together), socks (paired) ✔ Bags, belts, scarves

What’s NOT Accepted?

✗ Wet or soiled textiles ✗ Carpets, cushions, hard toys ✗ Small fabric scraps

Beyond Clothes: Furniture, Electronics & Other Household Items

A closet clear-out rarely stops at clothes—especially after a move or a renovation, when furniture, small appliances, books, and boxes of miscellany tend to surface at the same time. A few Amsterdam-specific options for the rest of the pile, all doable without a car. One note: the free pickup services below are for items still in good enough shape to resell or donate—for things that are genuinely worn out or broken, see the bulky-waste options that follow.

Gemeente Amsterdam’s free grofvuil (bulky waste) pickup – amsterdam.nl/afval/grof-afval Book a free scheduled pickup for furniture, mattresses, and other large items directly from your address through the city’s website or the Gemeente Amsterdam app. As of 2026, most stadsdelen require booking an appointment rather than simply setting items on the curb, so check your address on the site first. If you’d rather not wait for a pickup slot, you can also drive items to one of the city’s Recyclepunten (afvalpunten) yourself, free of charge, if you have access to a car or a borrowed van.

Kringloop West’s bulky waste service – kringloopwest.nl/grofvuil-amsterdam Separate from their free donation pickups, Kringloop West also runs a paid removal service for furniture and household clear-outs, including items that are past donating. Send a photo via WhatsApp for a quick assessment, and check their website for published rates before booking—useful if you need something gone faster than the municipal appointment system allows, or if you’re clearing more than the free service covers.

Byewaste (above) also covers electronics, books, and toys alongside textiles, making it a convenient single stop for a mixed pile of smaller, still-usable items.

Quick Guide: Which Option Fits You?

• No car, no time, just want it gone responsibly → Byewaste (clothes + most small household items, picked up free)
• Want cash and don’t mind some effort → Vinted or Marktplaats
• Want cash with none of the effort → Sellpy (mail-in, they handle the rest)
• Have designer or barely-worn pieces → De Ruilhoek or Helly Secondhand (consignment)
• Want to support a longtime neighborhood volunteer effort → Trekkemaan
• Want your clothes to go directly to someone who needs them → Hebben & Houwen or a Leger des Heils “Opnieuw” shop
• Have furniture or larger items too, and they’re still in good shape → Gemeente Amsterdam’s free grofvuil pickup, or a kringloop pickup
• Have furniture that’s past donating and needs to go fast → Kringloop West’s paid bulky waste service

Final Tips for a Smooth Decluttering Process

• Check pockets – You never know what you might find!
• Use sturdy, closable bags for donations and recycling.
• Wash and fold items before donating.
• Tie shoes together before placing them in textile bins.
• Keep a donation box handy and empty it regularly to prevent future clutter.

By thoughtfully choosing where your clothes go, you’re not just tidying up—you’re contributing to a more sustainable and compassionate community. Happy decluttering, Amsterdam!

Enjoyed this article?  I’m Sheila, your opruimcoach/professional organizer. Each month I’ll drop fresh organizing inspiration, smart tips, and a nudge to let go of what doesn’t serve you. Sign up here and get organizing inspiration without adding to your clutter pile!