My wardrobe is what most people would consider slightly excessive. I own a lot of clothes. And handbags. And a lot of shoes. I always donate items that are in good condition to help those less fortunate and to help nonprofit organizations continue their good works and programs. But when it comes to old footwear, I only donate shoes that I bought and never wore much for whatever reason....we all have some of those! I do think that shoes are something we have to be very careful about donating. This purge 3 pairs of expensive but outdated pumps went in the donation bag.
But OMG, these 17!!!!! years old leather boots have been sitting for about 10 years on the bottom of my closet:




17 years old, no shape, no-name boots (but with the phrase 'Made in Italy' and pretty stiff old leather. I think we have to respect the difference between donating something that someone could reasonably wear with pride, versus just trying to foist our garbage off on someone else and make ourselves feel better because we "donated it" rather than threw it away. And while I do a lot of donations, I had compacted these 17 years old boots as small as possible into the refuse bag in the kitchen. I´m generally not a squeamish person, but I think after 17 years these boots were zero worth and NOT donation items. Ugh! Disgusting! Alone the germs ....Ewwwwwwww!!! I think these 17 years old pull-on boots were just plain old gross refuse. Do you agree with me in the case of these old boots? Please serious answers

Even shoes that look to be in good shape, after you've worn them for a while, they shouldn't go to anyone else. They've molded to your own feet, and won't fit anyone else properly, and possibly cause problems for them. If your boots haven't seen the light of day in 10 years then they haven't been cared for....the leather is not going to be very good at this point anyway. Textiles are better to donate. From the hygienic point of view, I guess these old boots are unhygienic too. So yes, off in the garbage bag. I love shoes and boots, but in this case ...Way gross! These old boots were definitely garbage and NOT donation items. I think a lot of organizers here agree with me in this case

It seems to me that these boots could have been great for a Halloween Costume or Community Play. I would rather see items go to charity than into a landfill, so I donate everything unless they won't take it, then I throw it away.