Choosing the Right Hanger

I pulled a long-sleeve t-shirt off a hanger yesterday and put it on.  When I looked in the mirror, I noticed there were humps on either side of the shirt at the shoulder area.  I immediately knew that I had no one to blame but myself.  I knew better than to use the hanger that I did; while I never truly worked in one of our stores, I have learned a few things over the years.

Choosing the right hanger is an important component in properly caring for clothes.  There’s a reason why we hang certain garments only on certain hangers.  Below is a breakdown of our hangers and how we use them.

• 18” White Wire Shirt Hangers – The gauge on these hangers is a bit thinner than our other hangers.  That’s because they are only used for dress shirts, which are fairly lightweight.  If you take a look at the shape of that hanger you’ll notice that it has a unique bend at the collar area, which keeps your collar upright and in proper form.  It also is longer 2” longer than what many other dry cleaners use; we like using the 18” size so that the shoulder area doesn’t droop.  This is a great hanger, and it will keep your dress shirt looking fresh until you are ready to wear it.
• 16” and 18” Cape Hangers – These wire hangers are covered in paper and have our logo printed on them.  They initially came about because years ago we would safety pin skirts and shorts to these hangers to hold because there wasn’t a clip-style hanger available.  Today, we use them not only because the variety of sizes ensures we use the proper hanger with the garment but also because they present a nice, clean look.
  
• 20” Wire Knit Hanger – This hanger is specially designed for use with men’s knit or polo shirts.  Because of its unique size and shape, you don’t have to worry about humps or bumps in the shoulders of knit shirts.
• Plastic Skirt Hangers – Now that we have these, we no longer have to use safety pins to properly hang skirts and shorts.  These hangers also have silicone pads in the clips so that they won’t leave marks on garments.  While we typically use them for skirts and shorts, you could also use them to hang pants by the cuff instead of placing them over a Strut Hanger.
• Strut Hangers – These hangers have a cardboard bar at the bottom and can serve several purposes.  The tube is treated with a non-tacky latex to make sure that pants and other garments don’t shift around.  We also like to use these hangers for knit items, like sweaters, that might stretch and lose their shape.  We simply fold the garment and place it over the cardboard bar.  Finally, it is also a great hanger for a suit if a shoulder guard is used to keep the shoulder area from losing shape. 

We love helping you look your best, and we hope this information is useful as you care for your clothes at home.  If you ever have a question on how to care for a garment, please feel free to stop by or call one of our stores or shoot us an e-mail at wildwednesday@acleanerworld.com.