Closet Cleanout

A B O U T 

As a business, I sell vintage and handmade garments of my own design, but I also wanted to make sure my personal wardrobe reflects the same values. Like most people in Canada, I own much more clothing than I truly need, so purging my closet was a start to trying to live a more conscious and less cluttered life. 

I started “Shallon’s Closet Cleanout” on Instagram as an attempt to minimize by way of a simple, accessible platform. I listed my GOOD QUALITY, CAREFULLY CHOSEN pieces that I had invested in, but had barely worn.  After I finished, I had friends interested in doing the same so I told them they were welcome to use my account since there were already a good handful of likeminded buyers. We changed the name and it just kept going and going and now we have over 3000 members and thousands of items have been listed.

The idea behind Closet Cleanout and my brand Rack+Ruin is to promote mindful consumption by offering up alternative ways to shop such as vintage, preloved, handmade or quality locally made pieces that have less of a detrimental impact on the environment, on people who are being subjected to unethical working conditions and on our bank accounts. 

@closetcleanoutyxe is for Saskatoon, @closetcleanoutyqr is for regina + @closetcleanoutyky is for Kindersley and area (eston, kerrobert, etc.. as long as you’re able to deliver to kindersley). join the community if you’d like to add a few new-to-you items to your wardrobe or if you are wanting to sell some pieces of your own!

B U Y E R S 

~ First to comment wins. Seller will confirm winner by commenting “Sold to @_______”

~ Feel free to comment “seconds” and “thirds” as sometimes it doesn’t work out for the initial buyer and they will know who to contact.

~ All sales are final. If you’re not sure of an item, do NOT claim it as you are committerd to purchase as soon as you do. Failure to comply will have you removed from the account. this applies to “next” in line as well.

~ dm’s are not accepted, only comments. and absolutely no offering the seller more money to an item which has already been sold!

~ Buyers will be contacted by the sellers through DM to close the sale, this includes arranging payment and pickup/delivery/shipping. 

~ Payment can be made via Etransfer the moment you claim your item to secure the sale but the seller will not deposit the funds until Item is picked up or has been shipped with proof of shipment (tracking number or photo). Alternatively some sellers accept cash at time of pick-up.

~ Items may be available for pickup, delivery or shipping. Check the sellers intro for which particular options they are accepting. Note that most pickups are scheduled on specific days that the seller will specify in their intro, so please read their details before claiming. If you are picking up, be sure to get the sellers phone number before you head out. 

~ Failure to comply with buyer instructions such as a missed pick up time may result in missing out on the purchase and the seller may decide to offer it to the next in line. The idea for sellers is a purge of their closet which includes a quick and painless turnaround time. 

~ All items must be picked up, delivered or shipped within 1 week unless you have special arrangements with one another.

~ It’s very important to be thorough reading the rules on this webpage as well as each particular sellers introduction on the day they start their takeover. This will result in a great experience for all parties involved. 

~ Know your rights as a buyer! If an item is not as described or has any unmentioned flaws, you are not obligated to purchase. Each seller is responsible for taking clear photographs and writing accurate descriptions as there are no “try-ons” and you are putting your trust in this little Instagram community.

~ FEEL GOOD ABOUT PURCHASING FROM THIS PLATFORM FOR SO MANY REASONS, INCLUDING THAT 10% OF EACH SALE GOES TO HELPING THOSE IN NEED

~ update: you can now purchase from @closetcleanoutyky (kindersley) as well as @closestcleanoutyxe (saskatoon) and @closetcleanoutyqr (regina). shipping of course will be at the buyers expense or in some cases the seller may be able to deliver which she will specify in her intro

S E L L E R S

~ Detailed information will be emailed to you once you are booked in.

~ *NEW rule** due to complaints from community members, we now limit sellers to one takeover per year unless you email admin for a special reqest to do another one after at least 6 months. as we want to give everyone a chance to use the platform and believe you should not have a need to purge your closet more than that if you are a conscious consumer. “special requests” will be granted to sellers who (based on previous takeovers) have had successful sales, selling items which we support.

~ 10% OF TOTAL SALES MUST GO TO A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION OF YOUR CHOICE. YOU CAN DO A POST ABOUT IT AT THE BEGINNING OR END OF YOUR TAKEOVER TO SHARE WITH BUYERS WHERE A PORTION OF THEIR MONEY IS GOING. UPON COLLECTION OF ALL SALES A PROOF OF DONATION IN THE FORM OF A PHOTO OR SCREENSHOT CAN BE SENT TO THE ACCOUNT TO BE POSTED PUBLICLY SO WE CAN ALL SEE THE DIFFERENCE WE'RE MAKING

~ Full takeovers are currently running in increments of 2 days per person which allow sellers enough time to spread out their posts a bit as well as close their sales. It should be an enjoyable experience—not rushed, which will also allow for better photos and more thorough descriptions. This is key for more sales and fewer discrepancies with purchasers! The days are mon/tues, wed/thurs and fri/sat. When using the online booking system you can click the date on the mon, wed or fri. Sundays will be reserved for paid flash sales, paid advertisements, housekeeping, news, notifications, etc.

~ You may do a maximum of 20 posts during your 2 days or 15 if your’e doing a sunday flash-sale. The idea of having maximum number of posts is to encourage people to carefully choose their good quality pieces to sell on Closet Cleanout and to provide a less cluttered and confusing digital storefront. I would suggest spreading them out a bit throughout the time frame but you don’t need to break it up equally both days. And best to finish posting early enough on the final day if possible so you have time to do a sale if necessary and arrange details with the buyers.

~ Based on follower feedback, the most common suggestion is that sellers should donate cheap, fast fashion items to thrift stores or shelters because they typically only cost up to $25 new and it’s more of a pain to try and arrange a pick up or delivery for a $5 item than its worth. So going forward, $10 is the LOWEST price that items on this account can be listed for, going upward in $5 increments so that people can only pay cash in bills not change. There is no maximum asking price, feel free to ask whatever you believe it’s worth but also realize that it may not sell if you list it too high. 

~ saskatoon BOOKINGS CAN BE MADE THROUGH THE online scheduler by clicking the link below. choose the mon, wed or fri option for your 2-day sale.

Kindersley appointments, use the contact form below to book. Use “KINDERSLEY” as your subject and be sure to include your insta handle and the date you’d like to start your sale in the message.

Finally On a personal note, I think recycling clothing is an amazing idea no matter what the brand so it’s so awesome that you’re all embracing the idea, but there are a lot of people waiting in line to sell on here so I would rather give the openings to the better quality pieces.  I’m not going to dictate which brands can and cannot be sold— just a suggestion to sell the clothing you would like to make $10+ on and to please donate or giveaway the rest.  Lots of these particular types of items are great styles but I no longer feel comfortable publicly promoting them because I believe in ethical fashion and if I have an account that supports fast fashion it’s kind of hypocritical for me as the creator of Closet Cleanout.  I would be happy to promote a new account to direct people to if someone else wants to take that on since the ultimate goal with this idea is to share our preloved pieces instead of buying new! I am in no way shaming anyone who purchases these types of items as I myself don’t always do a background check on every piece of clothing I purchase. I just try my best to get educated and be a conscious consumer and anyone reading this is already doing that by considering to participate in a clothing recycling community!  

major thanks to the administrators to managing these accounts. it takes an enormous amount of time and effort to keep these accounts (mainy yxe) running. If anyone in kindersley is interested in joining our admin team, please email me. also Feel free to contact me if you’re interested in starting a version of this in other areas and I would be happy to assist and promote!

Contact us!

the images below are for sellers to use during their takeover to promote it or finalize it. these images are copyrighted to rack+ruin so you may not use anywhere besides our platform or on your own instagram account with our permission to promote your sale with us. please copy and paste to your phone from this website rather than taking a screen shot from a previous seller on instagram :)