The Best Closet Organizers, According to Professional Organizers

“Always buy more hangers than you think you need,” says organizing expert Caroline Solomon. These hangers are among the most affordable, with a 30-pack starting at $25 and a 60-pack going for around $35. They’re cheap, but not cheaply made; Solomon praises them for not buckling under the weight of bulkier items. It’s an impressive feat, considering their slimness. (She advises buying the set in white instead of black, as the black can leave dark lint on clothes, and the white makes clothes “pop.” Though if your wardrobe has more of a Wednesday Addams vibe, get the black so there’s no light-colored lint to deal with.) Solomon agrees on hanging clothes according to length, but prefers to go from longest to shortest: “This way the eye is guided by a neat ascending line that really opens up your closet.”

Lisa Zaslow, owner of Gotham Organizers, likes these Amazon Basics hangers, “which are well made with a hook that you can turn easily (so all your clothes face the same direction).” Though these come in a number of colors, including burgundy and mint green, she likes the white so the focus is on the clothes. But having different hues might be better for a shared closet to know whose hangers belong to whom.

To avoid “misshapen shoulders,” Ann Lightfoot, a founding partner at Done & Done Home, counts on these hangers — which are among the gentlest she’s tried. She exclusively uses velvet hangers for silk and other fussier fabrics, and these ones keep their nonslip promise thanks to their flocked coating and notches to hold onto straps. They are sold in sets of 60 and come in colors like orchid and Barbie pink, resulting in a uniform look that’ll make your closet feel more organized before you hang a thing, Lightfoot says.

For clothes that are a little more tailored, Lightfoot likes these hangers with wider edges, which help maintain the original shape of clothing with strong-looking shoulders. “Smaller hangers tend to cause bumps,” she says. (These clip-on wooden pant hangers also have her stamp of approval, as plastic ones are much more likely to break.)

Natalie Schrier, founder of Cut the Clutter, told us that the pant-slash-skirt version of these Container Store hangers are “much more low-profile than most others on the market.” The delicate clips are designed to avoid leaving hard-to-iron indents. There’s a matching suit-style version, too, which is equally as space-saving.

Those “who aren’t going to be careful when they’re yanking things off a hanger” should get hangers that aren’t branded as “nonslip,” explains Schrier. She adds, “Any hanger that grips, be it plastic with partial rubber or velvet, is going to make it harder to get the garment off the hanger — that’s the point of them, to prevent the clothing from falling off.” Some of her clients just want to tug a T-shirt and have it slide it off — these slim suit hangers are a solution. She likes their look, which is “classier-looking than the traditional plastic ‘tubular’ hanger.”

A valet rod is “this horizontal rod [that] you mount on the edge of a shelf, and then you can pull it forward when you need it,” explains Zaslow. The retractable rod “just gives you a little extra space to hang garments,” Zaslow says. This version from Rev-A-Shelf (a big name in the storage business) is installed with two screws. You could also use the pull-out as a place for planning outfits, or holding space for clothes you’ve worn but aren’t quite ready for the wash, or a perch for items that just came back from the dry cleaners, she adds.

Command hooks are a classic. All you need to do is affix the included adhesive strip to a wall. Zaslow likes sticking some on the closet door itself to hold everyday essentials like the tote bag you never go without. Hooks are a way to free up space on shelves or on a closet rod, she says. You can get them in fancier finishes as well, including an “oil-rubbed bronze” metal model and a “satin brass” double style.

For a more zhuzhed-up look, Cattano mentioned the J Hook by Schoolhouse. (The label — makers of one of our favorite wall planners — makes what it describes as “modern American heirlooms.”) And if you buy them in multiples, you can hang them in a neat line, like so. For Cattano, the J Hook serves as a drop zone for a hanger — like Zaslow, she likes it as “a place to put dry cleaning before you have a chance to rehang everything,” or a spot “to hang something you’re steaming before wearing.” (Her steamer of choice is the Esteam from Jiffy, which she says is large enough to get through multiple garments in one round, but small enough to be stored anywhere.)

These sorting labels can be slipped on (and off) the hanging rod in a closet, or used on the hangers themselves. The prewritten tags include categories like “long-sleeve,” “jeans,” and “dress shirts,” or you can make your own, as Zaslow suggests: “You can even do things like ‘Wear This Next’ for things you forget to wear,” she says. Her advice is to always group like with like: “Put all the pants together; put all the tops together.” This will give you a glance of what you have whenever the inevitable “I don’t know what to wear” situation comes up.

These zippered storage bags — which come in small, medium, and large sizes — can sit right on a shelf. Their uncluttered appearance is one of the reasons Solomon approves of them — of note is a tag on the front “where you can mark the contents.” They’re made from sturdy burlap to help keep moths out, she adds.

Zaslow likes to store shoes low: “They’re walking around outside on the sidewalk; they’re dirty. I don’t like them to be up high where dirt falls down.” For the floor of a closet, she recommends these nondescript, low-profile shelves from the Container Store that can be stacked on top of one another. Even when stacked, the shelves leave enough clearance to hold taller shoes like high-tops or Chelsea boots. Each is made from “a very fine mesh, so that you don’t have to balance a heel,” as often happens with other shoe organizers, Zaslow says.

For the bottom of a closet, Solomon likes this architectural rack from Yamazaki. (A taller and just-as-handsome style from the brand was the best thing Strategist senior writer Liza Corsillo bought in 2022.) You can “fit more shoes on it than you might think at first glance,” Solomon says of the expandable stand. She recommends placing flats, loafers, and heels on the topmost tier while shoes like sneakers and boots go underneath to balance out the design.

These dividers are pieces of plastic with rubber feet and adhesive mounting strips. They can be adjusted to fit almost any drawer, so you can assemble them in any arrangement you want. Be thoughtful when planning your layout and “be careful when you put them in,” warns Zaslow, because once installed, they won’t budge. Schrier agrees, “They’re the only dividers that don’t shimmy, trust me.” These dividers are also recommended in our guide to the best drawer organizers. Nicole Abramovici of Genius Organizing started using hers a decade ago and says her underwear drawer has been “immaculate ever since.”

“I understand the whole feng shui of it all — you don’t want to interrupt the slumber and have things cluttering up underneath the bed,” says Beth Penn of Bneato Bar. “That being said, sometimes you really don’t have the room.” An under-the-bed box like this is good for holding seasonal stuff like bathing suits, shorts, rain jackets, and winter coats, she says. Just be wary of hoarding. You can think of that space more as an attic: “It’s not really accessible, and it’s not for anything you would use often,” Penn recommends.

Having a hamper right near your clothes can help you efficiently sort what’s clean and what’s dirty. Cattano suggests having at least two: one for your usual laundry and another for separating what’s headed to the dry cleaners and what needs a hand-wash. This hanging bag can go right alongside the clothes in your closet, she says. Strategist writer Erin Schwartz is also a fan, calling out the bag’s “quality-of-life” features that make laundry day easier, including an adjustable hanger for different doorknobs and a back zipper to dump laundry into the washer without having to reach in and remove it piece-by-piece.