In October, Jeffrey Diduch, author of
the blog, Made By Hand - The Great Sartorial Debate, posted an excellent rant about the importance of
using the right hangers.
Amongst other things, this is what he
had to say:
"Nothing makes me crazier than those stupid little wishbone
hangers that some stores use to hang their garments. I really,
really hate them. The way that you store your garment has
such an impact on it, the same way a shoe tree is so important to
the life of a good shoe. Two of the most delicate parts of a coat
are the top of the sleeve and the collar, and they are shaped to
contour your body; it would make sense, then, to hang a garment on
something that closely resembles the body, no? Then why do
department stores insist on those skinny little wishbone hangers
which in no way resemble the body, are usually too wide so they
poke out the sleeves, do not support the top of the sleeve so the
sleeve buckles, and do not support the collar?"
He went on to say:
"Why do the stores use these awful little hangers, then, if they
are so bad? Well, space. And space is money. Space in the
distribution center, space in the trucks which ship the product to
the stores, and space on the selling floors. They can cram more
garments into less space using these little hangers, which saves
them money. Grrr."
I should ask the same questions of dry cleaners: Why do dry
cleaners use wire and wood hangers that are not contoured to
support the neck and do not have a wide surface area to support the
shoulders and protect the overall drape of the garment?
Let me suggest a few answers: They don't care. They're too
cheap. They want to maximize space on their conveyors and trucks.
Whatever the excuse, your garments suffer the
consequences of their decisions.
The following series of photos illustrate the point made by
Jeffrey in his rant.
Consider this Anderson & Sheppard bespoke suit jacket
hanging on an ordinary cleaner's straight wood hanger:
Now compare those photos to the same bespoke suit jacket hanging
on a RAVE FabriCARE contoured hanger:
How can I help you?