The right hanger can completely transform your closet and not only from space efficiency standpoint. Good quality hangers prolong the life of your favorite clothes, keep your closet looking attractive and organized, and save you precious minutes each morning when you are getting dressed. Because you can actually find things.
Even more important than having the right hangers is having ONLY the right hangers. This means parting with all those monstrous dry cleaning wires and cheap plastic hangers that pull your tops in all the wrong places. As for the assortment of better hangers you have in your closet, they might be fine on their own but when randomly mixed, they make your clothes hang at different heights and take up different amount of space between pieces.
To upgrade to the closet that sparks joy, it is required to upgrade to all the same hangers for each type of clothes you have.
I’ve been experimenting with hangers long before I immersed myself in Kon Mari home organization method, which teaches to show love and respect to our clothes in return for the hard work they do supporting us every day. If your shirts and blouses could speak, chances are they would ask for a nicer hanger, please, and less crowded closet conditions.
With that in mind, I present to you my Oscar-nominated list of top 5 hangers, which I have personally tested & adopted for everyday use and which are functional, aesthetic, and affordable.
1. All-Purpose Everyday Hanger
Name / Brand: Huggable Shirt Hanger by Joy Mangano
Cost: $8.99 (pkg 10)
Best For: shirts, blouses, nicer t-shirts, dresses
Retail Stores: Container Store
Quick Link: http://bit.ly/2exjB6v
This slim, velvety, well-constructed hanger will be the work horse of your closet and can take care of 90% of your hanged clothes. Huggable hangers are perfectly non-slippery and they take no space! These hangers come in several different colors but the one in ivory shown above is by far the classiest and the most neutral for either gender.
Be careful not to mistake Huggable Hangers by Joy Mangano with their inferior velvety counterparts sold at T.J. Max and Marshal’s by the pack. Those are much cheaper and flimsier and the velvety surface is more coarse. They break quite often.
And just a little bit of trivia: Huggable Hangers are designed by Joy Mangano, a woman who built a multi-million empire selling household goods like a Miracle Mop, which she invented in early 1990s and which made her an overnight sensation. Jennifer Lawrence beautifully portrayed her in the movie “Joy” (2015).
I personally get a kick from seeing “joy” medallion imprinted on every hanger in my closet.
Love it, love it, love it.
2. Pant Hanger
Name: Chrome Metal Pant Hanger
Cost: $5.99 (pkg 3)
Best For: dress pants, your best jeans
Retail Stores: Container Store
Quick Link: http://bit.ly/2eyvfzb
A combination of several factors make this hanger perfect for your pants: it’s sturdy; its smooth black plastic coating makes the pants glide off the hanger easily; just a little bit of a curve at the end of the bar ensures that pants don’t slip off the bar when hanged. Finally, this hanger keeps your pants fromtouching the floor as it hangs close to the cliset rod — this makes it easier for you to choose.
Again, watch out for inferior counterparts sold on Amazon and other sites that feature a similar design but are not as smooth and sturdy.
Tip: Do not waste precious hanging space by hanging all your pants. Use Chrome Metal Pant Hanger only for your best pairs and store the rest folded. Watch this video to learn how to fold clothes most efficiently using Kon Mari method: http://bit.ly/2eoKcDc
3. Skirt Hangers
Name: Skirt Hanger Natural
Cost: $2.99 each
Best For: skirts (can also be used for pants)
Retail Stores: Container Store
Quick Link: http://bit.ly/2eoIWjG
Name: Non-Slip Skirt Hanger Grey
Cost: $2.99 each
Best For: skirts
Retail Stores: Container Store
Quick Link: http://bit.ly/2eaYKsJ
I love both of these hangers for skirts. They are extremely well made, look beautiful and do the job well. I found that plastic clips are more gentle on skirts while the wooden version with metal clips works better for heavier fabric skirts and also pants. If the hanging rod in your closet is high enough from the floor, you can use the wooden skirt hanger (top) to hang your pants, which would eliminate the need in the Chrome Metal Pant Hanger. It’s a matter of personal preference.
I imagine that fewer women today own a lot of skirts, so if you can at all, please avoid using those cascading hangers that clip 5-7 skirts at a time making the bottom ones dust the floor. Even more so, click one skirt per hanger as a rule. Of course, these sturdy hangers can securely hold two or even three skirts, if needed, especially if they are made of lighter fabric, but do your skirts a favor and show them some love. Skirts make us look so feminine and sexy — let’s give each skirt its own hanger and let them enjoy some privacy while they are resting between wears.
Don’t have a tulle skirt collection? Then just marvel at the site of happy-looking skirts (:
4. Jacket, Suit & Coat Hangers
Name: Superior Natural Wooden Hanger
Cost: $9.99 – $11.00 each
Best For: tailored jackets, suits, coats, your nicest sweaters
Retail Stores: Container Store
Quick Link: http://bit.ly/2eyCiI9
Your most expensive clothes like tailored jackets, suits, wool coats, and cashmere sweaters deserve special treatment. A sturdy wooden hanger with lavishly sculpted arms will provide the long-term shape support these investment garments require.
The variation of this hanger with a horizontal bar (bottom) is perfect for a pant suit if you want to keep both pieces together. The ribbed bar will keep the pants in place without the use of clips or clamps.
Name: Premium Cedar Hanger
Cost: $3.49 – $3.99 each
Best For: jackets, suits, coats
Retail Stores: Container Store
Quick Link: http://bit.ly/2eLFN1z
Cedar Hangers are made of real cedar but cost three times less than Superior Natural Wooden Hanger. Yes, they have less sculpted arms but they will still take good care of your jackets, suits, and coats and will also keep moths and mildew away thanks to cedar. To refresh the potency of your cedar, gently rub them with a piece of sand paper once a year.
Tip: You can buy just a few of Superior Natural Wooden Hangers for the most expensive tailored pieces you have and use Cedar Hangers for the rest of your jackets and coats. This will save you money but will still provide necessary support for more expensive pieces in your wardrobe.
5. Accessory Hangers
There are more accessory hangers on the market than accessories we care to hang, so I want to recommend just two that I know will come very handy in your closet.
1. BELT STORAGE
A typical belt hanger you’ll find at the stores has a row of hooks on each side, which simply does not work. When hanged, belts get lost in the cloud of clothes that surround them, so you need to take the entire hanger out to select a belt you need.
What you want to get instead is a small rack with hooks that you can nail to the wall. Alternatively, you can buy a hanger with belt hooks on just one side, put a nail in the wall and hang it.
Below is a fancy visual to give you an idea of the kind of rack style you want to shop for but it does not need to be quite as fancy. A simple wooden rack from Amazon (image below) will do the job just as well.
Name:Woodlore Belt Rack (up to 12 belts)
Cost: $13
Retail Stores: Amazon.com
Quick Link: http://amzn.to/2emkNgj
2. CAMISOLE HANGER
Name: Chrome Metal Classico Accessory Hook
Cost: $2.99
Best For: camisoles
Retail Stores: Container Store
Quick Link: http://bit.ly/2eMrdqL
If you are a kind of gal, who loves wearing camisoles underneath the jackets, blouses, or just on their own, you’ll appreciate this idea. Using simple and ridiculously affordable Classico Accessory Hook, you can save a ton of space in your closet by hanging all of your camisoles on one hook. If you have too many, find some sorting principle (dark versus light, fancy versus basic) and divide all camisoles between two accessory hooks.
Closet Tips
For those of you who like bonuses, here are 3 more tips to make your closet transformation more complete:
- Clothes feel best in the company of like clothes, so hang all your long sleeve tops together, dresses together, jackets together, skirts together, etc.
- Hang only your nicer clothes, including all tailored pieces — fold the rest and store it in drawers or in containers on the shelves. Learn to fold like a pro using Kon Mari folding method. Folding will save you a ton of space.
- Experiment with Kon Mari method of arranging clothes from darkest, heaviest, longest on the left to lighter and shorter on the right. This creates an uplifting visual swoosh. Repeat for each subcategory in your closet — tops, dresses, skirts, pants, etc.
Leave a comment or question or share a photo of your transformed closet.
Spark Joy 