Does the $500 reporting limit apply to the grand total of "clothing", or can the donation be broken down into smaller segments, like "men's clothing" and "women's clothing", or "outerwear" and "shoes", or donations to different orgs?
You are making a non-cash contribution of $600 worth of clothing for the year. Your non-cash contribution for the year is more than $500 and therefore meets the requirement to file one or more Forms 8283 to identify the recipients of your contribution.
All clothing items would be in one group, not broken down into "men's" or "women's"
According to Similar Items of Property in the IRS's Instructions for Form 8283,
Similar items of property are items of the same general category or type, such as coin collections, paintings, books, clothing, jewelry, nonpublicly traded stock, land, or buildings.
However, please read the instructions linked above. They might be helpful to you.
You must file one or more Forms 8283 if the amount of your deduction for each noncash contribution is more than $500.
I had read the instructions for Form 8283, but found them not very clear.
Thanks for the answer about all clothing considered the same, which is what I expected.
But where you say
"You must file one or more Forms 8283 if the amount of your deduction for each noncash contribution is more than $500."
The "each contribution" is the part I still don't understand. If I make three separate contributions valued at $200, does that mean I don't need to file a From 8283 (each under $500), or does the total of $600 for "clothing" mean that I must file the form?
You are making a non-cash contribution of $600 worth of clothing for the year. Your non-cash contribution for the year is more than $500 and therefore meets the requirement to file one or more Forms 8283 to identify the recipients of your contribution.