Clothes Hangers
Personal Selection: My design tool choice is the clothes hanger. I chose this tool because it is such a useful idea for a product that can help keep our clothes neat and orderly and wrinkle free. As a fashion designer and someone who works in fashion retail, the clothes hanger is a tool I use quite often and find as many good uses as I find design flaws.
History:
Clothes Hangers are a relatively modern invention. It seems like they would have been around for longer, but hangers are reportedly an American invention. There are claims that Thomas Jefferson invented the clothes hanger, however he might have popularized the use of a hook to hang clothes on, but those are not the same concepts. The man to be credited with the invention of a clothes hanger is Albert J. Parkhouse in 1869. He invented it by looping a piece of wire around a bar when there weren’t enough hooks for coats to hang on in the store he worked in. He patented the invention, but he may have not made any money off of the idea. It has since evolved into a widely used product worldwide.
Function:
The primary function of the clothes hanger is to, as you guessed, hang clothes. I suppose it could be filed under the category of hygiene because it keeps clothes neat and clean. It might, however, be more for style and organization.
User:
The user of this product can be anyone. If there is a need to keep clothes off the ground or out of drawers, then anyone can use this product. There was no target demographic when inventing this item other than the average person who wanted to keep their clothes off the ground.
Materials + Production:
The materials typically used to make hangers are either wire, wood, or plastic. Sometimes they might be coated in fabric, although that is something that costs more to manufacture and is seen in higher end markets and shops.
Affordance:
This tool doesn’t necessarily speak for itself unless if you see it in use. If someone saw an empty hanger in a closet next to other clothes on hangers, it would signify how the product is used.
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