How it works
There is no fee, no obligation, and nothing to sort or clean before you write. You can stop at any point and we will not chase you.
An open closet, a rail, a pile on the bed. Add a sentence about the situation and roughly where the clothes are. That is the whole of the first step.
A yes, an offer, or a plain no with the reason and a suggestion of somewhere better suited. You will never be left wondering whether anything happened.
Free pickup across Middle Tennessee at a time that suits the family. Anywhere else, we email you a prepaid shipping label for the pieces we accept, so posting them costs you nothing.
Two routes
Most people want the closet emptied and the good pieces to go on to someone. Some would rather be paid. Either is fine, and telling us which you prefer costs you nothing.
The usual route. We take what we can place, the closet is cleared, and nothing good is thrown away. Anything we accept but do not resell is passed on rather than binned. Remember that a gift to us is a gift to a business, so there is no tax receipt.
We buy outright. No consignment, no waiting to see whether a piece sells, no split to work out later. Payment follows once the pieces are in hand and match the photographs.
What we can place
We are a small, specific operation. Women's pieces are what we know and what we can actually find a home for, and we would rather point you somewhere better than take a box we cannot do justice to. We do not take menswear, and we are not a general thrift drop-off.
Leather handbags of every shape. Boots, heels, platform sandals and anything with a real shape to it, in leather, patent, suede or satin.
Wool and cashmere coats, trench coats, leather jackets. The heavy, well cut things at the end of the rail that nobody wants to put in a bag.
Silk, linen, cocktail and evening pieces, and the one dress she wore to everything that mattered. Scarves and costume jewellery too.
Questions we get
No. There is no fee at any stage, pickup in Middle Tennessee is free, and we cover prepaid shipping label for pieces we accept from further away, so posting them costs you nothing either.
No. Send it as it is. We inspect, clean and mend everything that comes in, so preparing it would only be work you did twice.
No, and we would rather say so up front than let you find out later. Cleaning Out My Closet is operated by Sammy Leigh Vintage, a business in Franklin, Tennessee. A gift to us is a gift to a company, which is not tax deductible. If a deduction is what you need, a registered charity is the right destination and we will say so.
It is passed on. It does not go into a landfill and it does not sit in our storage. We are settling the onward routes now, and when a partner is named it will be published on the page about why we do this.
Yes, and that is a good part of what we do. We review photographs quickly, collect accepted pieces at no cost to you or your client, and we never ask for a client list. You stay between us and the family until they choose otherwise. Write to us and we will send the one page version.
A reply within a day, and a pickup arranged within the week in most cases. If you are working to a closing date or a sale date, say so in the first email and we will work to it.
One photograph and a sentence. That really is the whole of the first step.