FAQ

Find out more about where the goods come from, who sets the prices and how the recycling takes place. Below are the answers to these and many other questions.

1) Why does Humana sell clothes if it gets them for free?

Humana does not get any items for free. All goods that come from other countries are purchased at market price. The goods that we collect from Estonia also have their own cost. People are hired to empty the containers, cars leased, fuel consumed, and there are also costs in sorting and selling the clothes. There are no free clothes.

2) What kind of clothes one can donate?

Clean and intact items of clothing, home textiles, toys are suitable for the clothes container. Electronics, furniture and other household items are not suitable. Please do’nt bring broken toys, broken and very dirty shoes, clothes stained with oil anord paint, or damp items that may damage other itmes.

Clothes can be sent to reuse through collection containers, the locations of which can be found here

3) Where can used clothing and household textiles end up?

At the Humana sorting center, all items are sorted according to quality. Over 80% of the clothing is wearable – some of it is donated to partner organizations in several African countries, where it is sold wholesale or through second-hand stores to finance development projects; some is sold in Humana stores; some is exported to Asian and African markets. Items that are not suitable for wearing are recycled. A small percentage of the production is waste – broken shoes and toys, moist textiles, single socks. We collect plastic and paper separately to be recycled in Estonia.

4) On what basis does the sorter decide whether a used clothing item will be sold in a store, recycled, or sent somewhere else?

The decision is made based on quality, how fashionable the item is and what material it is made of. The first question for an item of clothing is “Is it suitable for a Humana shop?” If the answer is no, next categories come up from the hierarchy.

5) What categories are sorted into?

Humana has over 100 sorting categories in continuous production. Unfortunately, we cannot publish their exact specifications, and they change over time.

6) What happens to the already sorted goods?

The sorted goods are sent to a warehouse, where they are either stored or first pressed and then stored. Goods that are going outside Europe are pressed to reduce transport volume. From the warehouse, the goods are either sent to a store, donated or exported to other countries.

7) What happens to dirty and broken items and how much waste is there?

Heavily soiled, moldy and damp items, as well as broken shoes and toys, single socks and household waste go into household waste, as they would damage the rest of the production. Waste is 5% of the production volume and we hand it over to a waste company. Broken clothes go into various recycling categories. Plastic and paper bags are collected separately and handed over to the relevant environmental organizations.

8) What materials and in what condition are clothes sent for recycling?

A wide variety of materials and items are sent for recycling, from knitted items to feather pillows. The categories are developed in cooperation with our wholesale customers.

9) What clothes are most in demand in Humana stores?

Women’s clothes are sold the most since the volume of women’s clothes is the biggest. Children’s clothes are also popular since those are quickly outgrown. Work clothes, sweatpants, etc. are also sought after. The selection of men’s clothing is smaller in regular stores, because there are simply fewer of them among the second-hand goods. In vintage stores, however, the proportion of men’s clothing is equal to that of women’s clothing.

10) What is done with clothes that have not been sold in the Humana store?

Unsold items are sent back to the sorting center and sorted into new categories which will not reach Estonian Humana stores. Each item has only one chance to find a new owner in the Humana store. It will not end up in the same or another Estonian store again.

11) How much used clothing is purchased?

The Humana Sorting Center sorts an average of 7,000 tons of clothing per year. Some of this is collected in Estonia as donations (2,650 tons in 2024), the rest is purchased.

12) Where do the goods come from?

We mostly import goods for sorting from Finland. A small part of the goods comes from Poland and Lithuania. The clothes collected in Estonia make up an increasing part of the sorting volume.

13) How much do you sell?

Thanks to our large production volume, we are able to sell and donate practically all of our production. Wearable items end up in Humana stores, donated to partner organizations, and exported. We send items that are not wearable to recycling. We also sort paper and plastic packaging separately and recycle them. Only 5% is garbage that we have to send to landfill, to everything else we give a new life.

14) Why can’t I exchange clothes I bought?

Second-hand clothes no longer have a manufacturer’s warranty. Since all items are unique, it is impossible to determine whether the returned item is the same as the one sold in Humana shop.

15) Does Humana take clothes from people for sale?

Humana only deals with donated clothes; the organization’s internal rules do not allow commission sales.

16) Who sets prices in stores and how are they so similar in stores?

Store managers evaluate goods based on a unique evaluation guide. If the price of an item seems too expensive at the beginning of the sales cycle, the customer makes the final decision, and if the item was overpriced, it remains on sale until the end of the cycle, when all items cost only €1 (and selected products €0.5). Or the item will not be sold at all.