Where The Clothes Hanger Originated From

It is rare that we spare a thought for the basic tools we use each day to keep our homes and lives organized. One example of these kinds of items are white plastic hangers. Hangers a re a simple, basic, necessary part of our lives, but who first had the idea for their construction and design?

There are many different kinds of hangers that we use in our society and they serve many different purposes.

The wire hanger is the most popular hanger and probably the prototype for every other hanger design, but before this was the coat hook. The Timberlake Wire and Novelty Company located in Jackson, Mississippi, required more coat hooks which inspired a new invention in 1903. Albert J. The issue of having too many coats and not enough hooks was solved by Parkhouse, an employee.

Mr. Parkhouse fashioned a piece of wire into 2 ovals and then bent the ends into a hook shape. This was the first example of a wire hanger. In 1932 a patent was created for a clothes hanger. Schulyer Hulett created this design which featured cardboard tubes mounted over the wires in an effort to prevent clothes from wrinkling when hung on them. A 1935 upgrade included a cardboard tube for the lower part where you could hang pants. You can still see this style of hanger being used today as it is an inexpensive choice when the hanger in question is going to be disposed of, such as with dry cleaning and shipping.

Clothes hangers have been developed and improved upon over the last seventy years, as well. The most popular style used in home are the multicolored plastic kind. These hangers will maintain shape and are a bit more sturdy for holding clothing.

Suits, coats and other expensive clothing pieces are usually displayed by retail stores on high end clothes hangers that are made from fine woods. These high end hangers have a top-notch appeal to them as well as the same general function. Thomas Jefferson is accused by some historians to have invented the wooden hanger for use in his Monticello home, which was where he created many of his handy inventions. Suits and coats are also hung on formed hangers that have the shape of shoulders on them. Many other materials make up the contents of these hangers now, as well as plastic.

It’s amazing that this extremely basic instrument, can be such a big part of our daily lives. A closet full of wrinkle free clothes, is something that we have all come to expect.

Now, Miron has written other articles on hangers. Be sure to check out either black plastic hangers or travel hangers!