Rolling Clothes Rack

[Bugbear]

This evening I went to Walmart and bought a rolling, adjustable clothes rack. This was to replace an old one that had been bent out of shape; the new one was about twenty-three dollars. Here is the review.

It seems to be sturdy and was easy to assemble. It has tubular steel parts that are held together by heavy duty, plastic parts at the top and base. In my experience, the plastic parts that make the right angles are a plus because the metal, unless it is very thick scaffolding-like construction, tends to bend and crimp much more than plastic. This one also adjusts in height by about a third, and has extension arms on either side at the top. I can say that it is better than the last two racks I had.

It extends to about sixty inches with the two arms, and I can, with clip hangers, spread a kilt out fairly well for steaming and that type of thing. I don't know that it would support a wet kilt. I already keep my suits and kilts in two, fifteen-inch-wide garment protectors. The rack, not counting the arms, is a little more than thirty inches wide, so I can put both on the rack.

One other feature is five smaller hanger rods above the main rod or tube. I think I could put my whole closet on this rack which will come in handy if I have to move or something like that. Hopefully it will hold up well.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I have a similar clothes rack that I bought years ago from a clothing store that was going out of business. I keep it in the box room and use it for airing clothes that have been stored away, or are about to be stored away. Also for those items worn to "cigar night" that my wife doesn't want stinking up the dressing room, now that we no longer have separate dressing rooms. Clothes racks are incredibly handy (ours comes down to the snug where it's used to hang guests' coats when we entertain) and I don't see how a gentleman could possibly survive without one.

[Riverkilt]

Have three of them things now. Found out they work better for me by leaving off the extention and just using the shorter thicker tubes vertically. Then I sent the racks up on cinder blocks so the crossbar is high enough for the kilts to hang from. Jury rigged for sure, but don't have the problem of the thing getting top heavy and tipping over when the cat rubs against it.

Ron

[Bugbear]

I think this one will work out well, but they had a deluxe, heavy duty model for about twice the price. Anyway, in my tiny little cottage, I have to be able to move things around or out of the way.

I'm also a fan of those large plastic storage containers. About a year and a half or two ago I thought I was going to need to move, so I packed everything up in those boxes. I just never unpacked, so almost everything is still in them.

[Nanook]

Clothing racks are quite useful but I think you will always find the cheap ones from the supermarkets are not up to the task of much more than lightweight clothing items and occasional use. For a number of heavy kilts, jackets and coats you might want to consider a heavyweight commercial garment rack as used in showrooms and factories. They may cost more but should also last decades of hard use and probably never need replacement. Designed to reliably accept large heavy loads they are unscathed under weights where even most home closet bars will bend or even break. Since the cost of a single failure in a commercial setting can be significant they are typically made to be bomb proof. Mine is made of heavy chromed tubular steel and has wheels good enough to push a full rack with 100s of kg of clothings down the road.

A quick search of the U.S. market for racks that could fit the bill turned these up:
http://www.aitequipment.com/cgi-bin/...r2.htm&0=EZ500
and
http://www.garmentrack.com/zgarmentrack.html

[Bugbear]

Those are very, very good clothes racks, Nanook. Perhaps one of these days I will get one. I usually end up looking at the racks and their construction at the stores rather than the clothes on them; the same goes for the shelves etc at stores.

This one is light weight and I do not suggest using it as a jungle gym. It is, however, an improvement over the old rack I had and threw away after scavenging the wheels and a few other parts. I spent slightly less than I had budgeted for the rack, so it worked out.

The budget is now focused on building up a pile of money for a tartan kilt, possiblely box pleat, and this rack will have to do. The pile is about a third of what it needs to be.

[Bugbear]

BTW, I also happen to come across "Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies"
conducted by Josef Krips with the London Symphony Orchestra. It's not too bad of a collection; though I'm sure an expert could rip it to shreds. The funny thing is that it does literally come in an henged tin box. It kind of reminded me of the short bread in a tin.

I also got the "The World's Greatest Composers : BACH" collection. I haven't had a chance to listen to it, but it also comes in the short bread tin.

Both are fairly low cost.

[Smayniac]

Clothing racks are quite useful but I think you will always find the cheap ones from the supermarkets are not up to the task of much more than lightweight clothing items and occasional use. For a number of heavy kilts, jackets and coats you might want to consider a heavyweight commercial garment rack as used in showrooms and factories. They may cost more but should also last decades of hard use and probably never need replacement. Designed to reliably accept large heavy loads they are unscathed under weights where even most home closet bars will bend or even break. Since the cost of a single failure in a commercial setting can be significant they are typically made to be bomb proof. Mine is made of heavy chromed tubular steel and has wheels good enough to push a full rack with 100s of kg of clothings down the road.

A quick search of the U.S. market for racks that could fit the bill turned these up:
http://www.aitequipment.com/cgi-bin/...r2.htm&0=EZ500
and
http://www.garmentrack.com/zgarmentrack.html

One of my retail customers uses those z racks, they are very nice. A nice feature for the stores is that when empty, the racks nest together to take much less warehouse space. I don't know how many here own more than one rack nor how often they are empty, but a nice feature.

Bob

[gilmore]

Nanook, thanks again for another helpful and informative post, and for tracking down those racks in the US online.

[Bugbear]

Yep save those links.