At the height of the Marie Kondo craze, I eyed my closet and considered purging my stuff. Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought, to have a very pared-down uniform-like wardrobe? Wouldn’t it be virtuous to only own the number of shirts that fit on the hangers that I already owned? Wouldn’t it be great to have enough space in my tiny closet to actually look through what I had? Probably! But no matter how many times I try to purge my closet, it invariably fills up again. So if you’re in a similar spot, I have a suggestion: Stock up on skinny velvet hangers.
You’ve likely heard about these hangers before — they’re a favorite of professional organizers, and by now have become a pretty well-known space-saving hack. Maybe you already own some. If you don’t, everything the pro organizers say is true. They’re so good that it’s kind of hard to talk about them without sounding like an infomercial. But really, ever since I switched out my old plastic ones for all skinny velvet hangers, I’ve been able to fit about 25 percent more in my closet. All of my collared shirts, blouses, and dresses hang so flatly that I’m convinced they’re less wrinkled than before. I’ve even freed up so much room that I have one of those hanging shoe and bag organizers now, something I could never have done when I had mostly bulky plastic hangers.
I’ve bought skinny velvet hangers from Target, some random ones at T.J. Maxx, and some pricier ones from Bed, Bath, and Beyond that came with little clips you could use for hanging pants and skirts. Those were all fine, but some snapped if you used them to hang anything heavier than a shirt, and the others were too expensive to purchase in bulk. Finding the Amazon ones was a fluke — I only ordered them because they were cheap, and I wasn’t expecting much. They turned out to be sturdier and slimmer than all of the others I tried. I mostly use them to hold shirts and dresses, but they’re strong enough to hold winter coats, or multiple pairs of folded pants. I started by ordering 30 hangers, then ordered 30 more, and then, I’m a little embarrassed to admit, 30 more. While I did the opposite of cutting down my closet, the insanely cohesive look of these hangers —and my clothes all neatly put away — is still pretty joy-sparking.
Editor’s Note: This Prime Day deal has expired, but we’re leaving this ode up in case you want to buy the Velvet Suit Hangers at full price. For a good alternative that’s still part of the sale, we found these very similar hangers from Closet Accessories.
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