Located in the old RBS Building next door to the Students’ Union, ‘The Closet’ (Formerly known as the ‘Upcycling Project’), is a charity clothing shop run by students, for students, with all proceeds supporting local mental health charity Manchester Mind.
The rebranded shop opened its doors to the students of Manchester last Wednesday evening with an exciting launch event, featuring music from Bilderberg and Lord of the Tings residents, plenty of freebies from popular coconut water brand Vita Coco, and showcasing the work of several young Manchester fashion designers.
However, the launch event was put into jeopardy when organisers found the shop to have been trashed after Pangaea. First thought to have been left open for students to roam around, the shop was left messy with cigarette butts and used drinks cups, and was also found to have had several donated items of clothing stolen.
It was later discovered that The Closet was in fact used as a designated green room for several Pangaea artists. The Closet’s organisers were not informed of this, and Students’ Union staff even failed to move donated items to a safe place before allowing artists to have free reign in the room. One security guard reported there being up to 20 people drinking and partying within The Closet at one time.
Despite the upset, The Closet’s organisers managed to clean up the room in time for the launch event, attracting around 250 students, and raising around £400.
The Closet aims to promote sustainable fashion, promote awareness for Manchester Mind, and promote youth entrepreneurship. If you would like to support this student action project, the shop will be opening Wednesdays – Fridays this term from 1 – 5pm.
A Students’ Union spokesperson said: “The University of Manchester Students’ Union General Secretary, Naa, spoke with The Closet offering our apologies for the breakdown in communication with our intentions of using the venue as a Green Room for Pangaea Festival.
“The venue operates as a space for students, campaigns and events and efforts are always made to ensure the venue is accessible to all whilst protecting anything contained within the space to the best of our ability. Therefore we will be working closely with the Closet to identify any items that are missing and will look into the matter further.
“Every effort was made to clean the room following the Festival and we liaised closely with The Closet seeking their feedback in the lead up to their event.
“On behalf of the Students’ Union we would like to congratulate the on-going efforts of The Closet and their successful launch event.”
