Gourmet Hangers

Some people are willing to spend $24.95 each for wooden hangers to keep their suits on, such as these from the much lauded "Hanger Project". (these tend to be the same people who can justiy spending $60 for a fifth of vodka, preferred booze of drunks the world over).


Further proof that the rich are easily separated from their money by clever folks every day. For it is in the ostentatious display of excess that they can continue to inform us of how rich they are. But, to be fair, the Hanger Project proffers this compelling argument for the exorbitant price of their wares:

"What man of style wouldn’t jump at an opportunity to retire cardboard and plastic hangers with hangers that are not only beautiful but will protect and prolong the life of his wardrobe? Quality hangers, like shoe trees, will protect the life of your suits by providing proper support."

I agree completely! I'd even go so far as to ask "What man of style would even dream of using plastic hangers in the first place?" That's why I buy these jobbies in bulk at (gasp!) IKEA:
Wooden hangers, $3.95/ 8 pack. They are of exactly the same quality as the hangers we sent our clothes out on at Simon's.They may be cheap, but somehow (maybe it's magic) they manage to keep my clothes suspended from the pole in my closet in a very similar manner to the expensive ones. (Snark, snark, snark...)

And all this time, I thought I was being a bit snobby by simply insisting on wooden hangers at all.

In case you're wondering, the Hanger Project also offers a shoe horn for $15, which I'm told performs it's duties in a manner far superior to the metal shoe horn they give you for free at the shoe store.

Reader Questions : Shoe Shines

Reader Jonathan writes:

I am a novice when it comes to proper shoe care. I recently attended an outdoor wedding which required a hike down a gravel road. Needless to say, my shoes are now a dusty mess. I would like to begin taking care of my shoes properly, which means learning how to polish them. I am not sure where to begin to find the right supplies. What are the essential elements for a starter shoe care kit? The Hanger Project would have me believe that $195 is what I need to get started. I am not about to spend that much on shoe care. What can you recommend?

Thank you, Jonathan. The best questions are often the simplest ones. The short answer here is that anything for sale on The Hanger Project is all well and good for men who are extravagant enough to spend as much on small items as many people spend on rent or feeding a family, but any sensible person, regardless of income, can and should be able to have the same things at a fraction of the cost. We've discussed this here before on the topic of wooden hangers. As always, my advice is that your money, however limited, is better spent on the clothing itself than on the periphery care items that come in tow.

Vitriol aside, I applaud your conviction that good shoes are something worthy of proper care. The very fact that you even want to know how to polish shoes puts you ahead of so many these days. But allow me to say that my vitriol is far from misplaced. Simply put, all the shoe care items any normal man, even a clotheshorse, is likely to need can be readily had at your nearby Rite-Aid, CVS, Duane Read, Walgreen's or supermarket. Should you be lucky enough to still live in a town where a cobbler plies his trade, so much the better. If you do, ask him what he thinks of paying $195 for shoe polish, rags, and brushes. He'll either laugh outright  or get in touch with Mr. Allison himself for a quick tutorial on how to spot a sucker.

The first step in basic shoe care is cleaning excess dirt off the leather. There are many expensive cloths and salves that accomplish this, but I prefer an old t-shirt cut in squares, wetted in the sink with warm water and wrung out. Cost: $0.00. For really grimy shoes, try an old toothbrush.

Next, apply polish with a dauber. Mine are Kiwi, one for black polish and one for brown, purchased ages ago for less than $5.00 each. Then, rub of excess polish while working it into the leather. Again, old t-shirts work just fine.

Now comes the buffing. You'll need a proper wide, soft bristled brush for this. Mine not only came from CVS for about $6.00, but has lasted 15 years. As for the polish itself, Meltonian, an SC Johnson company, makes a fine cream polish that sells for about $3.50, while Kiwi is my go to choice for wax, about $5.00.

Sure, there are fancier products, but as I said before, your money is better spent on the shoes than the polish. I've been polishing shoes my whole life with the products I mentioned, and I find the results to be great, so long as you know how to shine the shoes. For more on that, the internet has no end of instructional videos. I reiterate: this stuff is widely available in nearly every pharmacy, hotel, airport, corner store, supermarket and cobbler shop in the country. If rich men feel the need to further aggrandize themselves by spending more on shoe polish than most of us do on food, so be it. It's gratifying to know that they are just as gullible, and often more so, than us regular folk.

Hope that helps.