The Test

ClotheRack is a business experiment with its pass mark published in advance. If it fails, the site stops growing and the domain is sold or allowed to lapse. No moving goalposts.

The pass mark

Affiliate revenue must exceed content cost in any rolling 90-day window within the site's first year (by October 28, 2027). The domain renews on May 4, 2027: renewal happens only if the test has passed by then.

What counts as content cost

Cash out of pocket to create and run content. To date that is $0: the site was built on infrastructure the publisher already operates, carries no paid promotion, no paid photography, and no paid writing tools, and its recurring cash cost is $0 per month. Any future cash cost — a writer, a tool, a promotion — is entered as a cost record the day it is incurred, before it can be argued about. Revenue counts only when an affiliate program reports it as earned; clicks are not revenue and are never presented as such.

The scoreboard

Outbound clicks, revenue records, and cost records are kept as individual records in the site's own store — not as totals somebody typed. The live verdict is computed from those records at /api/test-verdict, and click counts at /api/click-census. Until affiliate enrollment completes (it requires the publisher's business tax details, and is in progress), outbound links are plain merchant links and earn nothing — the scoreboard will show revenue of $0, because that is the truth.

Programs

Selected for capsule retail: Amazon Associates (apparel category, 4.00% standard commission), eBay Partner Network (fashion, 4% of sale price in eBay's published example; 24-hour cookie) and Everlane's affiliate program (commission on net sales via the Pepperjam network; rate confirmed at enrollment). All three are free to join. Creator platforms that require an established social following (LTK asks for 5,000+ engaged followers) are out of reach of a new publication and are not used. Full terms as recorded at selection are in the disclosure.