Donating me!? Donor fear and the difficult entanglements of clothes and persons in the transition towards a circular economy of textile reuse

Textile waste is estimated to reach 134 mill tons per year globally by 2030, if a circular transition is not managed. Illuminating aspects of consumer culture that prevent circular clothes reuse is thus of critical environmental importance. While management and consumer scholars have continuously investigated how reuse can be furthered through donation and circulation systems, few have looked at the reasons people may have for refusing to donate their discarded clothes for reuse. This paper investigates reasonings for refusing to donate clothes for reuse even when information, technical and political support is in place. Through qualitative analysis of detailed ethnographic accounts from users of a Danish reuse and recycling station, the article provides a nuanced understanding of the social rationales that govern deliberate decisions not to donate for reuse. Drawing on sociological and anthropological theory on the intimate entanglements of clothes and wearer, I advance the concept of donor fear to unfold how clothes become controversial if not downright (socially) dangerous to donate. Showing how clothes donation constitutes complex social risks and dangers, this study is relevant to both scholars and practitioners who want to understand and manage socio-cultural obstacles to the circular economy of textile reuse.