What's the deal with Wire Hangers?

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

More and more, we are seeing sales adopt a "wire hanger only" policy. And a few Facebook fans lately asked, what's going on with the wire hangers?!?! So here's the deal:

Why Does My Sale Require Wire Hangers?

1. More Items Per Rack - Slim wire hangers allow for more to fit on the rack... meaning your sale can offer more clothes in a smaller space.

2. Less Clothes on the Floor - With plastic hangers, clothing can fall off much easier. The result is clothing left on the floor - and that is sometimes clothing that just won't sell. Yes, you do have to take a few extra steps to secure your items on the hanger....but in the long run, your item security will be better.

3. Less Product Loss - Wire hangers make it MUCH *more* difficult for items to be removed from the hanger and stuffed into a bag, under a shirt, in a pocket, etc. It's a great theft deterrent.

4. Better Grouping & Cross Merchandising - With plastic hangers, it is sometimes challenging to secure a top, pants and accessories to a single hanger. With a wire hanger and a few safety pins, you can work some magic with a 4 piece set!

Where Can You Find Wire Hangers?

The bottom line with prepping your items with wire hangers is COLLECT NOW! Don't wait until the weekend before consignor drop-off to find them... start collecting now!

1. Your Local Dry Cleaners - some have recycling programs, some give them away, others will sell them super cheap.

2. Craigslist - just do a search for wire hangers and see if anyone is giving them up

3. Freecycle - If you have Freecycle in your area, you can do a quick search for folks dumping their hangers.

4. Your Hubby's Work Associates - If your hubs is in a shirt & tie kind of world, have him ask a few coworkers to share their stash. (He can explain to them what that crazy world of consignment is all about - wouldn't you like to hear that conversation??)

5. Online - If you get desperate and just need some hangers, there are tons of options. Just do a Amazon or Google Shopping search.

Of course, there are also sales on the other side of this "debate" and they don't allow wire hangers at all.

Did I miss anything? Post a comment if you have a tip or question!

Comments: by 9 "Old Mommies" and "New Mommies"

*** What is going on there?!?! We changed our comment format to Facebook only but are keeping the "old comments" for now!

Tori St. Germain commented on 08-Feb-2011 09:45 PM

On #3 is should be MUCH more difficult... instead of less

Kelly Kurz commented on 08-Feb-2011 09:48 PM

Those are all great places to find wire hangers! Another place where I got a TON of them was (surprisingly) Caribou Coffee. They get their aprons cleaned each week and they come back on wire hangers so the manager had a huge box full just piling up. It never hurts to ask wherever people where uniforms or aprons!

Chrissy commented on 08-Feb-2011 09:50 PM

HAHA! Thanks Tori!!!

Debbie Palm commented on 10-Feb-2011 10:56 AM

Funny...the sale I go to in MN allows only plastic hangers. Now, when I buy new clothes for the kids I always ask for the hangers.

Jkaye commented on 11-Aug-2011 04:04 PM

The best place to get wire hangers is straight from a distributor! 3 Hanger Supply sells in bulk at wholesale prices, shipped to your door. Link: http://www.3hangersupply.com/dry-cleaning-supplies/wire-hangers.html

bhanzalik commented on 24-Aug-2011 02:10 PM

Wire hangers make it easier to look through the clothes. They slide better and all of the wire hangers are about the same size. The plasic ones vary and many are small. When hung on the round polls they can be hard to slide them down to see what is behind
or in front of it.

rahjc commented on 06-Sep-2011 11:42 PM

One of my pet peeves at sales is having to look through pants that are pinned to wire hangers. They are very hard to look through and I just skip them. Same with skirts. I don't want to have to straighten clothes on a hanger to look at them. I'll just
pass and go to another item that's easier to look at. I'm very glad that my sales that I do don't care what kind of hangers we use. Also, I have torn up more fingernails and stabbed myself more times trying to get clothes off of hangers with safety pins when
volunteering at sales.

Margene Dagle commented on 11-Jan-2012 08:26 PM

When using wire hangars- you have to pin- pins put holes in the product. I to not like wire hangars. Most of the big resale groups- like JBF will not allow them beause when you take your purchases with you- they include the hangars and they rip clothing
in the bags. Just an FYI- Quality or Quanitity at the sales.?

SonyaDRB commented on 15-Feb-2012 12:45 PM

Another place to get wire hangers is at a businees where they have uniforms cleaned. My husband is a body shop mgr and they have 10 hangers per employee per week they trash. The uniform company doesn't want them back. So think and any sort of shop where
they have cloths cleaned and I bet they'll give you all you want.