Maintenance: The Hanger Project, part two

When I was writing about The Hanger Project's suit hangers a while ago, Kirby Allison sent me a selection of his other hanger styles to put to use. They're really terrific - good looking and more effective than anything I had in my closet. I've been using the clamp style (above) to hang the ghurka shorts I wear on the golf course.


At first I didn't see much need for Kirby's shirt hangers (above), but the shape and the width of the shoulders treats my knit tops better than the wire hangers the dry cleaner provides.


Probably the most useful of the three are the felted trouser hangers. The felt keeps trousers from slipping, and the width of the bar means the trousers don't crease when they hang for a while.

Recommended.

Maintenance: SHINE TO GO

When the product manager for Kimberly-Clark's new SHINE TO GO shoe polisher asked me to write about it, I warned him that I'd hold it to a high standard. So when a package of the patented all-in-one applicator and buffer arrived, I arranged for the shoe care professionals at San Francisco's A Shine & Co to give me an expert opinion.


SHINE TO GO is a nice concept that's simple to use. Each package contains an applicator that's designed to quickly shine one pair of shoes. Just apply the "real cream polish" with one side and buff with the other.

I put "real cream polish" in quotes because there's no ingredients list on the package or the web site and that's a significant negative. A lot of convenience products contain silicone, which makes shoes look shiny at first but you really don't want to bring that stuff near leather that you care about. Which is why we tried it on a pair of shoes that are used to teach people how to shine. The photo above shows polish going on. Once applied, we waited a minute for the liquid to dry on all parts of the shoe.


The second photo shows buffing (more buffing than any home user is likely to apply) that unfortunately didn't fill in scuff marks like real polish should. When the buffing was done, the result was a cloudy, streaky shine. It wouldn't be enough on shoes that really needed polish, and we didn't think it would do justice to well kept ones. For emergency touch-ups of shoes in between those two points, maybe. If there's no silicone in it.

Bottom line: A SHINE TO GO is a good idea but a flawed implementation. Granted, it's a convenience product. But I agree with the opinion of the professionals: men that care about their shoes shouldn't settle for for anything less than the protection and beauty of a real shoe shine. It's just not that hard to do yourself when there's no shine stand handy.

Maintenance: The Hanger Project

Among the good things to come out of the Ask Andy About Clothes forum was a project to design and source a great hanger for suits that would be available to AAAC members. Just as shoe trees help preserve shoes, quality hangers help preserve a suit’s shoulder construction and drape. Hundreds of thousands of hangers later, The Hanger Project has turned into a full-time job for founder Kirby Allison. It offers customers around the world high quality hangers for shirts and trousers as well as suits, and has recently begun offering shoe trees.

Like other Web-based businesses, the Hanger Project is able to deliver a more finely tuned product line for men with tailored clothing than any retailer could ever stock. For example, the suit hanger is available in three widths—17.0, 18.5, and 20.0 inches—that provide shoulder support for all jacket sizes. Suit hanger pricing begins at $22.

The Hanger Project ships by the postal service so the cost is reasonable. Shipping to Europe for six hangers is $45, or less than 20% of the total purchase.

Maintenance: Walk-In Closets

Earlier this week we looked at ways to store a wardrobe using reach-in closets. Reach-ins are all well and good, but it's complicated to store even a mid-sized wardrobe of forty items of tailored clothing and accessories in multiple reach-ins. By the time a man needs a fourth closet he needs to re-think. And re-thinking quickly leads him to walk-in clothes storage.

Now there are two principal types of walk-in storage: the bespoke closet and the converted bedroom. I know of at least one Manhattan bachelor whose spare bedroom is filled with clothing racks and I'll wager he's not alone. But he's missing a bet as he could store two to three times more clothing in that bedroom if he had it fitted out.

The details of a large walk-in warrant more than a blog post. At a high level of abstraction I will say that designing one is considerably simpler than carefully squeezing every bit of storage out of a reach-in. Take a bedroom sized room of 10' by 15' (three by 4.5 meters) or more, put shelves and double bar around the four walls, and build an island in the center that has a countertop for packing and under-counter drawers on two sides. Add lighting and it's done (men who insist on an easy chair and a television may have their priorities mis-placed).

According to my calculations, if the space isn't shared with another a 10' by 15' walk-in will comfortably hold a hundred suits as well as the rest of a suitably scaled wardrobe. That's comfortably into Duke of Windsor territory if not quite to the level of legends like Charles Revson of Revlon.


One point in favor of the converted bedroom approach is that it sets an important precedent. If the wardrobe eventually expands to overflow even this available space, no-one will be surprised by a plan to convert another bedroom. The kids should be grown by then anyway.

The photos are from the gallery of Southern Closet Systems.

Maintenance: Reach-In Clothes Closets

I don't know how my clothes manage to breed when I'm not looking but my sock drawers are looking over full these days and that's not the worst of it. Even with vigilant weeding, my clothes have expanded inexorably to fill every square inch available, so I thought I'd share what I've had to learn about getting the most out of perpetually inadequate clothing storage. Today I'll focus on reach-in closets, those shallow six or eight foot long spaces in most modern American bedrooms, as they are the most common.

First, the basics. The most important principle of clothes storage is that a man must be able to see what he has. In practice, that means that as little as possible should be stored in drawers. Underwear's OK, as are socks, and I haven't found a better way to store pocket squares. But shirts, jackets and trousers should be hung and shoes and knitwear placed on not-very-tall white shelves where they can be seen easily.

Good visibility requires plenty of incandescent lighting so no time is wasted wondering whether something is black or blue (flourescents don't show color accurately). Since few reach-in closets are built with lights, and incandescent bulbs can be a fire hazard in enclosed confines anyway, one good idea is to install ceiling lights angled to shine into the closet. A company named SoLux makes moderately priced closet lights (one model is pictured) that the company claims duplicates natural sunlight, but I have't tried them.

Of course, a closet's doors have to be open for that light to reach the clothes. Doors generally are a bother and the sliding version is one of the first things to upgrade. Sliding doors make it hard to access the center of the closet and always seem to be in the way generally. If doors are required at all, install folders. Killing two birds with one stone, they let the ceiling lights cover the entire space.

Once doors and lighting are handled, another useful principle is that clothes should be reachable without disrupting other clothes. Those very tall shelves minimize stacking. Seven inches is plenty of height for a pair of shoes or a sweater or two, 16" suffices for boots, and a foot at the top of the closet is the right height for hat boxes. Getting shelves in place calls for a man handy enough to install his own hardware, or one of the many closet remodel companies.

My own closets were built out by California Closets, not that it matters as there seem to be equally competent closet specialists in every city (another word of advice - I've yet to find a closet company that paints, so if you are thinking about having one re-do a closet for you, you should have them quote demolition separately from construction so you can have the closet painted after it's ready for the new shelves but before they put the new shelving in). The objective is to install all the double rack and not very tall shelves that will fit, so you can let your wardrobe expand to take advantage of them.

The drawing at the top of the post illustrates one way to fill a reach-in with shelves and hangar bars. I can't take credit for it. I found it on the Web a while ago and have forgotten where, so I can't give credit to the originator. But I thank him or her nonetheless.

Maintenance: How to Wash Socks

When I began living on my own as a young man, I lacked an education in household things. Doing my own laundry meant that dirty clothes went into the washer, the water temperature was set to hot, and the cycle begun. Years later I learned I had prematurely ended the lives of many pair of socks that way.

Inadvertant sockicide didn't matter too much then, but today I try to get longer life from my socks so I can afford patterns like the pictured pair by Robert Talbott. That means laundry is done a lot differently now. Silk and cashmere socks are washed by hand in warm water. Cotton and wool socks are machine laundered in cold water on the delicate cycle.

After washing, my socks are hung on a drying rack installed below the laundry room fan. The fan moves enough air over the socks to make them think they are being line dryed out of doors, so they don't get stiff as a board. Which they do for some reason when they're line dried in still air.

When dry, fold each pair carefully and store them neatly in a drawer. At those prices, they deserve it.

Maintenance: Caring for Suits

A reader asked about the maintenance of suits and the change of season means it's probably time to review those practices once again. So here goes.

The chemicals used in the dry cleaning process can significantly shorten the life of a suit, and I try to have mine cleaned only at the end of their active season. Before cleaning, send suits to an alterations tailor to tighten buttons and make any required repairs. When they come back, have the suits dry cleaned to remove any dirt that might be attractive to moths, and hand pressed. When you get the cleaned and repaired items home, remove the cleaners' poly bags and store them for the inactive season in cloth suit bags.

If you wear hand canvassed jackets and your dry cleaner won't hand press the jacket fronts, I urge you to find another dry cleaner. The photos are of my alterations tailor performing emergency service on one of my jackets after my (now former) cleaners ruined the press of the collar.


Minimizing dry cleaning frequency requires five minutes of home brushing and steaming before and after each wearing. A suit should be brushed to remove dust and dirt before it gets ground into the cloth. After brushing, empty the pockets, remove belts or braces and hang the suit on a shaped or padded hanger with the closures zipped or buttoned.

Suits should rest for at least 24 hours (flannels and tweeds should rest for at least two days) so the cloth has time to recover its shape. Many wrinkles that developed during the wear will fall out of their own accord overnight.

Before wearing a garment again, remove any remaining wrinkles, and any new ones that developed during storage, with a steamer. Steam relaxes the fibers and, unlike ironing, will not scorch them.

Some trousers may lose their crease during the season. When this happens, I prefer to have my trousers pressed but not cleaned (a jacket and trousers should always be cleaned at the same time to keep them looking like a matched set). This is only a good idea if they are brushed regularly. Pressing dusty cloth, even cloth that looks clean, grinds dirt into the fabric. And, because most people don't brush, many cleaners don't offer a separate pressing service.

Need help finding a competent dry cleaner? If there is a Four Seasons Hotel in your city, call and ask where they send their guests' clothing. Try the service they use -it'll usually be the best establishment in town.

Maintenance: G&G's Shoe Cleaning Kit

Tired of hauling country shoes into the city for polishing, I decided I needed shine supplies for the weekend. I was ordering a pair of shoes at the time, and, on impulse, took a flyer on Gaziano & Girling's shoe cleaning kit. That was six months ago.

Of course, I'd entirely forgotten that 'shine them myself' resolve when one day Dean Girling emailed asking if it was OK to charge my credit card. I hadn't made any other plans, so I'm now the owner of a shine kit that's nearly as nice as a pair of G&G bespoke. As it should be. I mean, it took significantly longer than the shoe order did and cost as much as a couple pair of boat shoes.

Nonetheless, the kit reminds me of some of the wonderful English accessories that used to be available in London's Burlington Arcade before the jewelers took the place over. Men who don't care if their shoes go unpolished while they await delivery will appreciate the sturdy case that encloses a shoe horn, tins of polish, suede cleaner, a shine cloth and a selection of brushes for calf and suede shoes. Now all I have to do is figure out the intended use of some of the brushes.

Gaziano & Girling Shoe Cleaning Kit, £100 ex VAT (about $200).

Maintenance: The Wet Shave

There are two types of shaving - wet and dry - and of the two the wet shave is a bit closer as well as a more luxurious experience. I use an electric razor most of the time, but I like to indulge in a wet shave on Saturday afternoons when I'm dressing for the evening. Here's how.

The most important part of the wet shave is the preparation. Skin needs to be softened and the pores opened, which means it's best to either shave right after a hot shower, or to moisturize the face with a hot, wet face towel for thirty seconds or so.

Following moisturization, apply shaving soap that has been whipped to a lather with the largest badger hair brush you can afford (larger brushes hold more water). Shaving soap has fatty oils for lubrication and the brush lifts the beard and lightly exfoliates the skin. Applying cream or gel with the hands actually flattens the whiskers and makes shaving less effective.

It's important to shave in the direction that the whiskers grow. Before shaving, use the fingers to detect the direction of the grain. One direction will feel more resistance than others,and that direction is against the grain. Don't shave against the grain (that's the most common cause of razor burn, in-grown hairs and shaving rash). Around the chin and under the nose, move the blade sideways against the growth if necessary.

Use a quality razor and sharp blades for the work - the Gilette Mach III is a good choice. Warm the blade under hot water and then use smooth strokes to minimize skin irritation. An alum block will stop small cuts from bleeding. Rinse the razor after each stroke.

After shaving, rinse the face with cold water to close the pores. Gently pat it dry and then apply an alcohol-free balm or moisturizing gel. Rinse the brush and razor to remove soap and flick away any remaining water, and hang the brush on a brush stand so it can dry.

Men who use a fragrance after shaving should apply it behind the ears and at the base of the neck rather than irritate the newly exfoliated skin on the face.

When it comes to shaving products, the venerable English firm of George Trumper is my preference. I like the traditional looking handles they offer for the Mach III cartridges as well as their shaving soaps and related products. The pink labelled Extract of West Indian Limes collection includes shaving soap in a wooden tub (£16.50 or roughly $33) as well as skin food, a moisturing glycerin-based after shave balm (from £12.00 or roughly $24.00). It smells good, and the scent dissipates in half an hour so it won't conflict with a favorite cologne.

If you haven't experienced a classic wet shave, try it first at a reputable barber shop. Once you're hooked, ask a loved one for the gift of a badger shaving brush (brushes start at £36.00 , or roughly $72.00, but you're worth it). Any third party that strokes the result will be glad they did.

Maintenance: A Shoe Shine

My friend Noah, the manager at the Crocker Galleria location of A Shine and Co., was kind enough to let me photograph him as he shined a pair of shoes the other day.


The process begins with wetting a toothbrush and scrubbing any dust out of the welt. The shoes are Edward Green Cardiffs in Edwardian Antique (from Leather Soul in Honolulu). I don't usually wear bluchers with a suit, but sometimes you have to bend the rules to get a shine.



After the shoes are clean, Noah puts on layers of polish. This particular pair didn't need conditioning so he's using neutral Lincoln wax.

Noah brushes the shoes after each layer of polish. Shoes like polish after every second wearing, and I'm getting three coats today.

Finally, the shine is buffed out. The calf that Edward Green uses gains lustre as it ages. I have several pair that are twenty years old and they really gleam after a good shoe shine.

Maintenance: Wool, Wrinkles and Steam

It takes constant vigilance to keep tailored clothing looking as good as that worn by the late John Russell, the 13th Duke of Bedford and one of the best dressed men of the twentieth century in the opinion of Vanity Fair magazine.

With proper care the natural qualities of wool clothing can be maintained for years. Wool garments should ideally only be dry-cleaned at the end of each season, preferably immediately before storage to remove any dirt that might be attractive to moths. Avoidance of dry cleaning (the chemicals are not wool friendly and accelerate ageing) requires other kinds of care before and after wear.

Once a wool garment is worn, it should be stored on a shaped or padded hanger to rest for at least 24 hours (for worsteds; flannels and tweeds should rest for at least two days). Give it a good brushing, empty the pockets, remove belts and hang with closures zipped or buttoned. Many wrinkles that developed during the wear will fall out of their own accord overnight.

Before wearing the garment the next time, remove remaining wrinkles, and any new ones that developed during storage, with a steamer. Steam relaxes the fibers and, unlike ironing, will not scorch them.

Founded in 1940, Jiffy Steamer is the oldest U.S. manufacturer of steaming equipment for wrinkle removal. According to the company, Jiffy manufactures over 16 fabric steamers and clothes steamer models.

The Jiffy J-2000M Steamer ($189 from the company) is the model the company recommends for home use on clothing. I have one at home and it wipes wrinkles away quickly and easily with a continuous flow of steam. I also pack Jiffy's Esteam travel steamer ($69 from the company) when I'm going on the road. It weighs a few pounds but is much more effective than the irons found in even the best hotels. Turning on the shower in order to fill the bathroom with steam has never successfully removed clothing wrinkles for me and frankly it bothers me to use so much water for so little reward.

Maintenance: Jewelry Care

Men don't keep much jewelry any more. Wedding rings are about it for most. The cell phone has superceded the metal wristwatch. Few men wear cufflinks, fewer wear tie bars or tacks, and fewer still need dress sets for black tie.

That said, I'm a cufflink man, and cufflinks like the pictured gold knots require care so as not to lose their lustre. Jewelry (or, as the English spell it, jewellery) should be stored in the original box or separated in the lined compartment of a jewelry box so it is less likely to get scratched.

To maintain the original condition of any precious metal, polish it with a high quality non-abrasive cloth. Cloths specific to gold and to silver can be purchased at most jewelers. Take care not to be too forceful and damage the surface.

Silver and gold can also be cleaned in water by ultrasound. Inexpensive household ultrasonic cleaners consist of a metal-lined tank containing a removable plastic basket. Put the jewelry in the basket, add water and turn on the unit for a few minutes. Dry it afterwards with a soft cloth, not tissue or paper towels.

For travel, I wear one watch and my pack cuff links in individual lined velvet pouches in my checked luggage. Checked luggage is exposed to theft, but I think it's safer than placing my links in a bin and sending them through the metal detector in full view of a hundred strangers.

Of course, so few men wear jewelry any more that none of them might care.

Maintenance: Self Service Shoe Shines

It was said that even when he was the King of Hollywood, Clark Gable would never make appointments for Saturday mornings because that was when he shined his shoes (the pair on the left is from one of Andy Warhol's time capsules). And, other than those of us who employ a valet, that's a habit we should emulate. Dress shoes should be polished roughly every second wearing, which means a man might have three to four pair to shine every week. With practice the job will take ten to fifteen minutes for each pair.

The tools for a weekly shine session are shine brushes and polishing cloths for black and brown, a toothbrush for cleaning around the sole, and polish and edge dressing in appropriate colors. Add a suede brush and a suede eraser for suede shoes. A pair of wall-mounted shoe butlers like the ones used in professional shine stands are useful for holding the shoes in an accessible position during polishing.

Many of these materials are available in kit form or individually from online sources like Joe's Shoe Service.

Polishing
Caring for leather shoes is a multi-step process. First, remove any surface dirt. Clean the joint between the sole and the upper with a wet toothbrush. Then it's time for polish. My friends the shine professionals at San Francisco's A Shine & Co have shown me that the best shines are a combination of both cream and wax, starting with Meltonian cream and finishing with Lincoln wax. The cream softens and lubricates the leather. The wax comes to a higher shine. Avoid liquid polish as it will dry out the uppers and leave them vulnerable to cracking.

Remember that shoes tend to get darker as they age. Use a lighter color polish than the shoes to maintain the color. Use darker polish to add highlights, antiqueing the finish.

And for a how-to on polish technique, see Andy Gilchrist's excellent tutorial on Ask Andy About Clothes.

Suede Shoes
Clean suede shoes by brushing dust out of the joint where the sole meets the upper with a toothbrush and then apply edge dressing to the heel and soles. Remove marks with the suede eraser and finish with a light brushing to restore the nap.

Evening Shoes
Clean patent leather evening shoes after removing the silk bows from pumps and laces from dress oxfords. Scrub out the joint where the sole meets the upper with a toothbrush and apply edge dressing to the heel and soles. Then rub petroleum jelly on the uppers with a cloth, and leave the jelly on for a while so it soaks in. Finally, buff them lightly with a soft clean cloth. The jelly will not only keep them shiny but also prevent the uppers from cracking.

Saturday mornings are for shoes!

Maintenance: Kent Brushes

Brushmakers G.B. Kent & Sons Plc and its predecessor companies have been royal warrant holders nine times since Queen Victoria and currently hold a warrant from Queen Elizabeth. That usually means that a company is the best of its type in the United Kingdom and Kent has certainly been successful for a long time. It's said that the kit of every English officer in 19th century India held a set of their brushes.

The Kent web site offers a wide range of brushes for grooming, but this essay is principally about clothes care. You need brushes to remove dust and lint from your tailored clothing.

The mainstay of my brush wardrobe is their double-sided (soft bristle for jackets and stiff bristle for trousers) CC20 brush for £29.50. You may wish to complement it with a soft CP6 for cashmere (£20.00), a £13.00 CG1 for travel, and/or an LPC2 brush for removing hair from the other brushes (£2.45). There's also a shoe care set for £26.00.

Ordering from the web site is easy. Kent accepts most major credit cards in dollars or pounds and ships promptly by air mail once an order is complete. Delivery outside the UK takes up to fifteen days.

Brushes are guaranteed against defective materials and workmanship. According to the company, defective items will be repaired or replaced free of charge.

Maintenance: The Whirlpool Fabric Freshener

The arsenal of home maintenance devices for classic men's clothing has long included steamers and trouser presses. In recent years we've seen two new additions: the steam press and the Whirlpool fabric freshener (pictured to the left). The steam press, which we may cover in a future post if I am ever bold enough to try ironing one of my shirts, is an iron replacement. The fabric freshener is a form of steamer.

The fabric freshener uses steam to relax wrinkles and some ionization magic to remove odors. Insert two garments and some distilled water, turn it on and come back later. In thirty to fifty minutes, most wrinkles will be gone and your clothes will have an unobjectional clean smell. That's both the good and the bad.

Compared to other products, a Jiffy personal series garment steamer does a better job of wrinkle removal on jackets and an iron does better on shirts. Of course, you have to remove the rumples yourself with the Jiffy or an iron. The Whirlpool lets you do something else while it works.

I use the freshener weekly in warm weather for linen trousers in particular. As you know, the knock on linen trousers is that they wrinkle too badly to wear a second day without pressing. The fabric freshener takes care of that - place two pair in the cabinet, turn it on and walk away for forty minutes. It brings them back to about 80% of pressed, which is to say completely wearable, and there's no longer any hint of cigar smoke.

Closed into its storage position the freshener is about a foot deep and 32" long so it stores in a closet or under a sink. It sets up in less than a minute and at 27 lbs. it's easy enough to handle. $199 direct from Whirlpool.