Specialization
Services
About Company
Company overview
UK Clothing Caravan Limited is a second-hand clothing wholesale exporter dealing in pre-loved garments, footwear, fashion accessories, toys and bric-a-brac. The company was established in 2011 and operates from 801 London Road, West Thurrock, Essex RM20 3LH, on the Thames estuary east of London.
The company runs textile donation banks nationwide, works with school fundraising programmes and partners with Children with Cancer UK. That matters commercially as well as reputationally: a wholesaler with its own collection network knows the provenance of its goods rather than buying already-traded bales.
Order sizes: an unusually low floor
The minimum order is 1 tonne, and the company loads up to full 20-tonne loads. Large orders take a minimum of 14 days to prepare.
A one-tonne minimum is worth pausing on. Most export-oriented wholesalers start at a 20-foot container, roughly twelve tonnes, which locks out anyone who is not already running volume. A one-tonne floor puts this supplier in the gap between pack sellers and container exporters, and that gap is where a lot of growing businesses actually sit: too big for 20 kg parcels, not yet ready to commit twelve tonnes to a single origin.
The published 14-day lead time is equally useful and equally rare. Most suppliers leave timing vague and quote it verbally per order. Knowing in advance that a large load needs two weeks lets you plan a purchasing calendar instead of discovering the constraint after you have promised stock to a customer. Buyers comparing several second hand clothes suppliers should ask each for lead time in writing, because a cheap supplier who cannot deliver when your season starts is not cheap.
The four product lines
- Cash 4 Clothes - clothing, paired shoes and accessories, pre-checked and hand-picked
- Unsorted Original - garments collected nationwide, quality-checked, with unusable pieces discarded
- Toys - from action figures to board games
- Bric-a-brac - household items, ornaments, gift sets and small electrical goods
Note that the shoes are described as paired. Unpaired shoes are a genuine and underappreciated problem in this trade: a bale of singles is close to worthless at retail, and suppliers who do not pair are quietly passing that loss to you.
Read the Unsorted Original line carefully
This is the detail that most rewards attention. The Unsorted Original line is described as quality-checked, with unusable pieces discarded. That is not the same product as true original.
Genuine original means untouched: the bag leaves the collection point as it arrived, and everything is still inside, both the premium pieces and the rubbish. Here somebody has removed the unusable fraction before the goods reach you. Commercially that is a different bargain. You lose the pure lottery aspect but you also stop paying freight on material you were always going to throw away, which for a distant buyer is often the better side of the trade.
The honest way to read it is as a hybrid sitting between original and graded. Ask what exactly gets removed and by what rule, and read the underlying grades vocabulary so you can place this line against quotes from other suppliers. Anyone deciding between this and untouched bags should understand how UK sorting plants split those flows before committing.
Who this fits and how to start
UK Clothing Caravan suits buyers who need more than parcels but less than a full container, and buyers who want mixed loads including toys and household goods alongside clothing. West Thurrock sits beside the M25 and close to Tilbury and London Gateway, so both road collection and sea freight are straightforward.
Contact runs through [email protected] and [email protected], with charity collections on +44 (0)1708 685 079 and cash for clothes on +44 (0)1708 685 076. Buyers building a programme of wholesale second hand should start at the one-tonne minimum, since it is small enough to treat as a test and large enough to judge consistency properly.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum order?
One tonne. The company can also load up to full 20-tonne loads.
How long does an order take?
Large orders require a minimum of 14 days to prepare.
What does the company sell besides clothing?
Paired shoes and fashion accessories, toys from action figures to board games, and bric-a-brac including household items, ornaments, gift sets and small electrical goods.
Is the Unsorted Original line truly unsorted?
Not entirely. It is collected nationwide and quality-checked, with unusable pieces discarded, so it sits between untouched original and graded stock. Ask what is removed and on what rule.
Where is the company based?
At 801 London Road, West Thurrock, Essex RM20 3LH, established in 2011.
Key Strengths
Established UK wholesale operator
Experience in international export markets
Detailed grading system
Various quality grades available
Compliance with export regulations
Other suppliers: United Kingdom
Companies from the same country in the GSS Forum directory. Compare terms before you send the first enquiry.