Fall is here!

With swimming pools closing up as Summer ends, people are packing away their sun tan lotion, swimming trunks and sandals and starting to get out their cold weather sweaters.

Getting your cold weather clothes out and ready to wear in the Fall means unpacking them from a box in the closet or from a moth-free storage container in the garage (for some) to accessing it for the sake of fashion, but for its quality, durability.  And from there:  properly organizing it for the upcoming season.   

Many find that they have too many stretched out or overly-worn out sweaters, or that they own a bunch of  sweaters with “sweater bumps?”   Anyone that’s ever hung a bulky or delicate sweater on a hanger in the closet in the past unfortunately knows about “sweater bumps,” or: those annoying shoulder lumps that form in the shoulders of a favorite sweater as a result of hanging on a hanger for too long.

Hanging your favorite sweaters on a cheap, plastic or ugly wire hanger in the closet is not great for the life of a sweater.   Hanging a heavy sweater on a hanger in the closet–ugly Christmas sweater or not–has the potential to permanently damage it.  Hanging a sweater in the closet improperly will not only create sweater bumps in all your sweaters, but it can also stretch every one of them to the point to where it will no longer fit you properly. 

Does hanging up sweaters ruin them?

It definitely will.  It won’t happen overnight or over a single season, but over time, hanging your sweaters up will eventually make them unwearable.  Sweaters go bad as a result of basic physics.   It’s the material–acrylic or wool or any other materials–that the sweater is made that has to go up against our planet’s gravity.  

Once gravity begins to pull at the fibers of a heavy-duty sweater it allows for the creation of sweater bumps but also for the stretching, wrinkling and distorting of your favorite sweaters to the point to where they’re altered forever.   And when our favorite sweaters cease to fit properly our entire day becomes ruined – there’s nothing worse than having to go through a day with uncomfortable clothes on that just don’t fit “right.”

How To Hang Cardigans Without Ruining/Stretching Them

Absolutely.  Cardigans are even more vulnerable to hanger stretching than a more heavy duty fiber sweater, like an ugly Christmas sweater.   Cardigans stretch faster on a hanger for a variety of reasons.   Whether it’s because of the thin-nature of the sweater or the material from which it is made, cardigans are more likely to stretch and get sweater bumps than any other sweater that you could hang up in the closet.

Washing your cardigan as a way to “reset” it may work temporarily, but ultimately, it’ll never be the same sweater that you first fell in love with when you initially purchased it from your favorite store.  Once it stretches after hanging up too long in the closet it’ll never quite fit as perfectly as it once did.

What hangers are best for sweaters?

If you’re hell-bent on hanging your cold weather wear up in the closet on hangers, then it’s better to use a padded or a wide wooden hanger than the cheap plastic or ugly wire ones.  Will using a padded or wide wooden hanger prevent your sweaters from getting sweater bumps?  No.  But using a padded or a wide wooden hanger to hang up your sweaters in your closet will reduce the effects of gravity on your favorite sweater for a little while. You might make it through a season or two without seeing any of your sweaters getting sweater bumps – but sooner or later they won’t prevent you from avoiding the inevitable. 

Because it’s impossible for us to fight the effects of gravity, the best way to preserve our beloved fall sweaters is by storing them folded up or via the “triangle method” on a high-quality hanger in our closets.

Should knit sweaters be folded or hung?

All sweaters should be folded or hung in a specific way which will prevent them from stretching or getting sweater bumps.  

Folding your sweaters is always the best way to store your sweaters in the closet.  If your closet has a ton of room, then folding your sweaters and stacking them on a shelf is probably effortless.  

But, if you’ve got a closet with limited space, then folding your sweater vertically and then hanging it up on a padded or wide wooden hanger at the armpit area is the best way to go. 

Hanging up your sweaters from the armpit area not only reduces the gravity placed on the fibers but it’ll also save you space in your closet. 

How to Hang Your Sweater By The Waist:

  • Folder your sweater vertically.
  • Pull the waist section of your sweater through the hanger. It should appear as if it were a pair of  pants hungs through the hanger at the legs on the hanger.
  • Fold the sleeves up and over the top portion of the hanger so they drape down the back side.  If put on the hanger properly, your sweater should resemble an odd-shaped version of a triangle.

How do you hang a sweater on a wall?

People that reside in apartments that don’t have closets may find it useful to hang their sweaters using the “triangle method” on a portable clothing rack or apon the wall.

Hanging your sweaters up on the wall using the “triangle method”can be done via a wall-mounted clothing rack, a shower curtain rod, or a series of 3M hooks.  The amount of sweaters to be hung should be dictated by how many sweaters you own, as it’s important not to “overload” your wall and cause damage not only to your wall but also your clothes as well.

Any wall-mounted clothing rack or display should always be nailed or screwed into a stud in the wall, secured in place with quality screws that are put into place with a power drill.   Any wall-mounted clothes rack should also allow for your sweaters to be hung using the “triangle method” to hang freely without brushing up against the wall itself.   

They should only be hung at a height that you can reach and also without even width between them and the wall that will allow them to hang vertically flush.

Regardless of whether you have a large closet with lots of room or one with almost no space at all, when you properly hang your sweater using the “triangle method” you’ll not only be preventing the gravitational effect on your sweaters, you’ll be saving essential space but also be saving them from “sweater bumps,” stretching out, and distorting how they fit.