Toronto upset after clothing store chain tosses unsold items in garbage

Long-standing children's retail chain Carter’s OshKosh B’gosh is under fire in Toronto after one resident found bags of unsold, unworn clothing that had been cut up and rendered unwearable outside the store's Dufferin Mall location. 

Toronto resident Natasha McKenna wrote on Facebook that she was shocked and upset to find several bags of brand new clothing in the trash when walking by the Dufferin Mall earlier this week. 

"Was so disappointed to walk by garbage bags yesterday full of brand new baby and children's clothes, toys, shoes and other items from Carter's OshKosh B'gosh... but they weren't just thrown out they were destroyed so they couldn't be used by anyone," she wrote online. 

"I'd heard of this practice in retail and fast fashion and it made me sick as I dug through the bags by the Dufferin Mall to find sliced shoes, smashed picture frames, cut up onesies and ripped up snowpants and gloves."

McKenna wrote about how despicable this practice is considering the waste that went into the production of the clothes as well as the fact that they could easily be donated to a number of charities when there are so many families and children in need.

"It's business practices like this that tells you this company cares more about profits then [sic] the children and families they market to," she said.

"They don't care about kids and they don't care about the environment kids will inherit by sending these clothes from the rack to the landfill."

She urged shoppers to think twice before buying clothes from there until they stop this practice and to share their thoughts with management.

She also encouraged residents to speak up and ask what other retailers do with merchandise that doesn't sell. 

McKenna's Facebook post has garnered almost 5,000 likes as of late, and many are commenting promising to boycott the store. 

While representatives from Carter's OshKosh B'gosh did not immediately respond to a request for comment, a store employee did send McKenna a private Facebook message confirming that this is in fact common practice. 

"Employees are instructed to cut up items that are returned damaged or is somehow damaged on the floor. If an item is shipped in damaged, it gets sent back but if someone brings back a snowsuit with a coat that the zipper 'sticks' it is cut up!" the employee wrote. 

"It's absolutely insane how many children don't have coats or mitts but Carter's is willing to cut up these old winter necessities when they can easily be repaired. Employees and management has argued for a change many, many times but they simply do not care."