‘Marie Kondo effect’: Netflix tidying guru sparks increase in charity shop donations

Fans are even packing their clothes according to Kondo’s ‘signature fold’

The “Marie Kondo effect” has sparked joy for charity shops with a number of organisations reporting an increase in donations.

The Netflix show, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, sees the Japanese author help families clear their homes of clutter by asking them to only keep items that “spark joy”.

Viewers inspired by her methods claim the techniques have even helped their mental health, insisting that having a clean and organised home makes them feel calm.

But it’s not just Netflix fanatics that are reaping the benefits. As more and more people follow the craze, charity shops across the country are reporting that donations of clothes have doubled since Kondo’s show was released on the streaming service.

The organisations, including Scope and Salvation Army, say they are able to identify which items have been donated by fans of the show as they are packed according to her “signature fold”, which sees items stowed upright to help reduce creasing.

“Thanks to @MarieKondo and @Netflix, we’ve been receiving more donations this month – and clothes have been folded so neatly!” national disability charity Scope wrote on Twitter.

“It certainly #SparksJoy with us.”

Marc Spence, executive director of retail at Scope, told HuffPost UK: “Over the last six weeks we have noticed a year-on-year increase in donations to our shop of 5 per cent.

“This month, we’re being told that that donations are coming in immaculately placed in bags, in Marie Kondo’s signature fold. And, because these items are folded so neatly, more donations have been put into the donation bags than usual.”

A branch manager for the Salvation Army is also convinced the trend is having an impact, admitting that while shops usually experience an increase in donations after Christmas, her store has seen a larger than usual volume in recent weeks.

“Before we would get about three donations a week,” Karen Bertram, manager at Salvation Army’s Tamworth branch told the BBC.

“The last few weeks we are getting six a day.”

Bertram added that the shop is seeing lots of new donors, including one man who had cleared out his mum’s whole house after watching the show.

The reports come amid a decline in charity shops across the UK with numbers down by more than 100 in the first half of 2018, according to Third Sector magazine.

The only part of the country where more charity shops opened than closed was Yorkshire and the Humber, which gained five charity shops after 38 closed and 43 opened.