Project Working

From a visual perspective, it would be nice to have all the same hangers, but there are some hangers that are better suited to certain types of garments than others while still keeping costs down. My goal is going to be to get all the same type of material for particular types of clothes and have all the hangers at least have a chrome hook for uniformity.

Wire hangers are great for all sorts of things. They can help you unclog a sink, fish wire through walls, unlock your car door if you locked yourself out, you can even make an HDTV antenna out of them, and theyre a cheap way to transport your clothes from the dry cleaners. Theyre not so great for your clothes. 

Over the years wire hangers have been getting thinner and weaker. They dont distribute the weight of the garment over a large surface area and arent always wide enough which can cause indentations in the clothing. Apparently the metal can even discolor some fabrics, which is why when you get your clothes from the dry cleaners, theres sometimes a paper sleeve over the hanger or some cleaners use coated hangers.

Keep some wire hangers around because they can come in handy for different things, but once you get your clothes home from the cleaners, put them on better hangers. On your next trip to the cleaners, bring back your last set of wire hangers and see if theyll take them back so they dont wind up in a landfill. From what I understand many cleaners will accept them.

If for some reason you must have wire hangers (packing in a travel garment bag for instance) these Organize It All Chrome Hangers look nicer and stronger than the ones you get from the dry cleaner.

These are better for your clothes than wire hangers and most of my closets were filled with them. Theyre not horrible but over the years you pick up some from the drugstore, the supermarket, and other locations and you wind up with a bunch of slightly different hangers in a rainbow of colors. It destroys the uniformity Im looking to achieve. 

Getting all new plastic hangers that are the same size and color is an option but it seems like a waste. If Im going to replace my hangers I want to replace them with something better.

Another problem with plastic hangers is some hangers wind up becoming different sizes and shapes, over time some of the hanger hooks have deformed resulting in an uneven appearance that makes the closets look cluttered. Hanging heavy items, such as jeans, on the bar of the hanger can also cause them to deform as can be seen in the photo above.

These new types of hangers appear to be very popular. They have a chrome hook, which fits with my design goal, and the body of the hanger is a thin plastic that has a flocked surface. Think of the inside of a jewelry box. This velvet like surface provides friction to prevent clothes from slipping. They also have little indentations to hold on to clothes with thin straps so your tanks and spaghetti strap dresses dont wind up on the floor every time you look at them funny. 

Theyre reasonably priced and have a lot of good reviews. The only big downside is that if you put wet clothing on them it can cause the color of the "velvet" to transfer to your clothing, or otherwise damage the textured coating. I usually hand wash my workout clothes when Im done with them then throw them on hangers and allow them to air dry. Im going to need to keep a few plastic hangers around for that.

I purchased some velvet hangers to see what all the rage was about and I have to admit Im pretty happy with them. I think they will make a good general purpose hanger for shirts and other tops. I replaced some of my plastic hangers with these velvet hangers and theres a big difference in the before and after photos.

You can see that the shirts line up better when theyre all on the same type of hanger. The collars and shoulders are more in alignment. The shirts also sit better on the hanger and dont move around when I hang them on the rod thanks to the non-slip velvet texture. It makes it easier to find the shirt Im looking for and the shirt doesnt slide around as I put it back on the rod.

If you look closely on the back wall of the photo there are CedarSafe Aromatic Eastern Red Cedar Flakeboard Closet Liner Panels. I had just installed these about a week ago. Not so much because I had a moth issue, but because I like the smell of cedar. Every time I open the closet door Im greeted by the fresh cedar scent which reminds me of being out working in the yard. Something I cant do in the dead of winter. Anyway....

While I had the closet cleared out I had washed and ironed these particular shirts and hung them up carefully (I didnt mess them up for the photo) yet they still look like a mess compared to how they look when transferred to the velvet hangers which I didnt take much care in hanging up.

Velvet hangers claim to save space but I didnt see much in the way of space saving compared to the plastic hangers when the shirts hang naturally. If I compress them they probably take up less space than tubular hangers but I like to give my clothes room so that air can circulate and they dont wrinkle. Even without the space savings the shirts hang much nicer and make the closet look more tidy.

For button down shirts, polos, other tops and light dresses I think Im going to stick with the velvet hangers. I was so happy with the few hangers I purchased I decided to order another 50 Velvet Hangers because they look and work well and are affordable. Especially when bought in packs of 50. They are available in different colors and in the following different styles:

Velvet Suit Hangers	Velvet Shirt/Dress Hangers	Velvet Suit Hanger with Metal Clips
General purpose hanger can be used for shirts, jackets, suits, folded pants, etc.	Costs less than suit hangers. No cross bar for pants. Good for shirts and other tops and dresses.	If you hang your pants or long dresses without folding them to avoid creases, these come with clips.

You can also get Finger Clips separately to add to your velvet hangers that enable you to hang pants and long skirts without folding them.

Wooden Hangers

Theyre not cheap but $15 for a hanger doesnt seem so bad when youre considering youre putting a suit or jacket on it that you paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for. If you have a few suits and jacks I did see these Proman Products Libra Wide Shoulder Suit Hanger w/PVC Ribbed Bar that are less than $6 each when you purchase a set of 12.

The Honey-Can-Do Wood Wide Shoulder Suit Hangers comes in a 2 pack for around $12 but I could only find them in black. The Whitmor Cherry Wood Collection Suit Hanger is less than $7 each currently but I was hoping for a light colored wood. I guess Id have to spend a little more to get the cherry flat hangers to match.

If the wood hangers seem too expensive, theres always the plastic broad shoulder suit hangers which are a fraction of the cost.

Your suits and jackets should last you a long time if you take care of them and you should invest in decent hangers for them if yours didnt come with proper hangers.

Padded Hangers For Delicates

For delicate fabrics like silk, satin and lace, padded hangers are recommended. They help protect delicate and expensive blouse, lingerie and other items such as sleepwear. They all have similar designs, a hook and a padded arm with a bow in the middle. Some are covered in canvas, others in linen but most seem to be in satin.

Theyre all very feminine looking but you know what. Us guys can have silk shirts, silk and satin pajamas too. A black set or canvas covered padded hanger might be a little more masculine looking. You can even clip the bow off if you want.