Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Children's Slimline Hangers Review

For years, I used to use these nylon-coated wire hangers from Walmart which were ridiculously cheap ($1 per dozen).  Their only good feature was that they had an uber slim profile so I can smoosh all my clothes together and fit 5x as many as regular plastic hangers.  Other than that, they were flimsy and always getting bent, clothes were forever falling off (especially strappy items), and I hated getting hanger indentations in delicates and knits.

When I first started blogging, I decided to do a closet purge where I cleared out all the items that didn't really fit or that I haven't worn in years, which didn't leave me with a whole lot of clothes left.  Soon after that, we moved to our new place, and I realized that it was time to invest in better hangers!

Initially I was really excited about the potential of these petite wooden hangers that DiaryOfAShopper found, but unfortunately they were almost just as big as the regular size.  So instead, I went to good old Bed Bath & Beyond for the ubiquitous Slimline Huggable Hangers.  They have a slim profile which maximizes closet space and a velvety texture that holds on to straps and delicates/knits to prevent them from slipping off.

But instead of getting the regular size, which looked rather big and wide to me, I took a chance and got the children's size instead, along with some hanger clips that will allow me to hang skirts and pants:


At first when I opened the box, I was dismayed to find out how TINY they looked.  Here's a comparison to my husband's regular wooden hangers:


The width of his hanger measures 17.25" and mine measures a mere 11.75".  But when I went to hang some actual clothes on them, I realized that they work pretty well!

(J.Crew Grand Ruffle Shell & LOFT blazer)

(BR silk skirt & Tailor-made dress pants)

Granted, the hangers are not as wide as my actual shoulders, but they're really only about an inch off.  The velvety texture holds things on even when the the neckline is wide, and the fact that they're wide enough for skirts and pants made them keepers for me.  And the bonus is that they're especially good for sweaters because narrow shoulders leave no annoying hanger indentations!

They retail at $20 for a 24-pack, but BB&B always has various coupons.  I ended up spending about $60 total to replace all my hangers, with plenty of extras to spare for new clothes :)  Here's a peek at my completed closet:

 

Top: Dress Shirts & Pants

Bottom: Skirts & Outerwear

Left: Dresses




Hanging: Tops

Open Shelves Below: Jeans, Sweaters, Accessories & Purses













I also keep my special occasion dresses and heavier outerwear in a separate coat closet.  As you can see, most of my "tops" are just basic tees and tanks, organized by sleeve length.  I'm still working on re-building my wardrobe after the last purge, but despite lots of buying there hasn't really been that many keepers.

I'm pretty happy with how the hangers turned out, and I love how uniform and organized they make my closet look (especially compared to before!).  I think children's size hangers work only if they're the huggable (velvety) type, and only if your clothes are a similar size to mine.  Even a size bigger and I think they would probably be too big, and you would be better off buying the regular-sized hangers.

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review! Do you think they noticeably create more storage space than regular hangers? That's what I've always wondered :)

    And your closet is so organized!! :o Makes me want to clean up my mess of a closet .. hehe :D

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  2. Oooh these hangers are absolutely perfect! :) I hate my clothes sliding off and falling to the icky floor all the time. The slim profile is so perfect. I think I will invest in some of those at school where closet space is limited

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  3. Those hangers are perfect for petite items. I know what you are talking about those Walmart hangers. I used to have them but they're super cheap and bent so easily. Great review!
    ----------------------------------------------
    I am giving a beautiful necklace at PetiteLittleGirl.com

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  4. Ooh I love a good organized closet!

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  5. I also get my slim hangers from BBB with coupons in hand (or Target), and later I saw that Costco has them for the best deal. I saw the childrens ones and though they were way to small! They look like they work on your little tanks and for clipping skirts, but I think my blazers would be hanging off the edges.

    Around the same time when you tweeted about purging your closet (ages ago) I did the same, but I have to go one more round! My closet is probably 1/10th the size of yours, no exaggeration. I'm just too lazy to list on eBay, and the stuff is fairly new/unworn. Maybe a blog sale is in order. Did you donate or sell all your stuff?

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  6. elleandish - Compared to my old wire hangers these were not much different, but they definitely create much more room compared to plastic or wooden hangers. And in the closet pics I sort of spaced them out a little, there's definitely more room to "squish" if you know what I mean!

    PAG - I thought they would be too small for blazers too... but they've worked for everything I've tried so far. That LOFT blazer I have in the pic is actually corduroy and is pretty heavy, but stays on fine and doesn't budge. I "donated" my clothes to my little sister, and whatever she doesn't want is probably going to end up going to a distant relative in Asia somehow!

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  7. oh wow! your closet is so organized. I have a itsy bitsy closet in SF and I rememeber having one of those closets when I lived in Socal! So I have fold everything and put into my dresses. Those hangers are a great idea to save space though. I might consider that!


    I also have a huge box of stuff that is worn once/or not worn at all. I need to go to buffalo exchange or donate it!!!

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  8. Ahaha my sister uses children's hangers too! All my clothes falls off the regular ones too but I'm too lazy to buy more :\

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  9. Thanks for the great info on where to find good work appropriate clothes! I'm also doing my residency (in Pittsburgh)...and I LOVE the days I can wear scrubs so I don't have to worry about nice work clothes!

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  10. sophia - I'm glad I'm not the only one lol.

    Tara - I love being able to wear scrubs to work too, so comfy and it's a no brainer when getting dressed. But eventually I'm going to have to dress like a normal person (and plus it's nice to feel put together sometimes) so I'm trying to have it somewhat figured out before I get there!

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  11. Wow I've never even thought about using children's hangers! I've had to fold all my tops in drawers cuz I dreaded those 2 spikes cause by the ends of regular sized hangers on clothes! Great idea!

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  12. Wow, that is amazing that the kids' huggable hangers worked! I would be tempted to try them if I hadn't just redone my closet with those petite wooden hangers.

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