Organizing

I Thought I Had My Closet Figured Out—Then I Met These Hangers

Turns out, they’re also the secret to freeing up space in your drawers.

January 24, 2020
Photo by James Ransom

I’m a pretty organized person. My overflow beauty products are categorized into baskets, the top drawer of my dresser is devoted to trinket dishes of jewelry, my socks are all paired up, and my shoes have specific slots on the shoe rack. My friends and family might tell you I take it too far...but I just like things a very precise way.

Recently, I was given some new hangers to try. The brand, MAWA, I was told, has been on a mission to manufacture the world’s best clothes hanger since 1948. My first reaction was, “psh, I don’t need better hanging organization.” But even I am big enough to admit when I’m wrong.

For reference, my 'before' closet was a mix of assorted plastic hangers and marginally better-looking felted ones. After a little bit of cleaning and making the switch, here’s what my closet looks like:

Not bad, huh?

In my assessment, the biggest advantage to swapping in this line of hangers is that everything now has a specific place. For example, those beautifully curved European-style hangers were designed specially to not poke into chunky knits or create those awful shoulder bumps, so sweaters that I generally kept folded in drawers can now hang with the cool kids (my leather jackets, obviously). The straight-across pants hangers also mean my five pairs of identical black jeans can move from drawer to closet, without taking up a ton of space.

Separately, the heavy duty (but deceptively delicate looking) coat hangers can hold up to eight pounds (hello, German engineering) and come with clips to hang, well, pretty much anything. Here, I clipped up my most-used winter hats, but you could also use them to hang knee-high boots, scarves, or a full outfit (clipped pants and a hanging jacket). Other items that made their way into the closet: ascots, belts, pants in their slimmest form, and scarves on their own special hook-shaped hangers.

A laundry cycle, a hectic work week, and approximately three outfit panics later... not one thing has fallen off or ended up back in my drawer. And that by itself is worth something.

Is your closet in need of an overhaul? Tell us in the comments!

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See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • lizatee
    lizatee
  • Nancy Stahl
    Nancy Stahl
  • VeraDysonn
    VeraDysonn
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    kat3029
  • JessicaRC
    JessicaRC
When I'm not writing & editing for Home52, I'm likely to be found DIY-ing a new piece of furniture (or restoring an old one), hanging things on the wall in my apartment, or watching hours of vintage RHONY.

9 Comments

lizatee February 13, 2020
I love a slim hanger and appreciate the curved edges. However, if one has narrow shoulders as I do, the shape of the hanger is only as good as the overall length (approx. 16" here). Petite hangers (aka children's/teen/junior hangers - approx. 14" long) are best for small-framed adults (I'm talking Size XS and S). I will never buy a regular-sized hanger for my own clothes again (funny bumps in my sleeves, be gone!). It would be great to see a this company make a petite version of their hangers for tops.
 
Nancy S. February 2, 2020
Omigosh, is this your only clothes closet/truly all you own? I’m impressed and now depressed — majorly! Mine is the opposite ... ho hum. I’ve some clothes to go threw/get rid of.
 
VeraDysonn January 27, 2020
Ok, now I've seen the advantage of these new set of hangers. I love the idea. You get to hand your hats its matching jacket. This would step up closet organizing games real good. I love it.

Thanks for sharing.
 
VeraDysonn January 29, 2020
The pleasure is mine. Thanks for your inspiring contents.Looking forward to more
 
kat3029 January 26, 2020
don't hang your knits! even if the hangers don't poke them, hanging will stretch and distort the knits' shapes. knits should always be folded.
 
Claudia T. May 5, 2020
Agreed! Your knits will sag out from their weight. The hats are probably fine but your sweaters will lose shape.
 
JessicaRC January 25, 2020
Brilliant idea to clip your hat to the hanger of your corresponding coat! Take my $! My baskets of winter accessories runneth over...😂 Thank you German engineering! Oh and Food52 for letting us know that we need these hangers in our lives.😊
 
Maggie S. January 24, 2020
your capsule wardrobe is inspiring!
 
Aja A. January 24, 2020
Is there anything more satisfying than a well-organized closet with a line-up of matching hangers? The after shot looks so good!!