Putting the Hanger Out to Dry

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Those innocuous-looking plastic, metal and wood hangers you get at the dry cleaner and stores have a dark side: not only do they clog landfills, they muck up recycling streams and create extra waste. Now, a handful of manufacturers and purchasers are starting to reimagine this commonplace item.

The plastic hanger lives a life similar to the plastic bag.

In many cases customers get to keep the hangers attached to the clothes they buy for no extra cost. Although the hangers can be readily reused, who doesn't already have a closetful of sturdier hangers? And after a few uses or until too many get piled up, they get tossed in the trash.

Eco-minded consumers might send them to be recycled, though in many cases recycling centers just ship them to the landfill.

"What is the useful life of a product like a hanger? Two weeks? Why is it made out of a material that will last 1,000 years?" said GreenHeart Global's founder and president, Gary Barker.

Just like the plastic bag, which is now under attack from a host of reusable-bag retailers around the world, hanger manufacturers like Oakland, Calif.-based GreenHeart Global and others are trying to make retailers and dry cleaners forget everything they know about what they put clothes on.

Breathing New Life Into An Old Item

GreenHeart Global manufactures paper and plastic Ditto hangers. The paper Dittos are made entirely of recyclable paper and contain 70-100 percent post-consumer recycled content, vegetable-based inks and environmentally friendly adhesives. Plastic Dittos are made of PET, the most-recycled type, and are made of only plastic -- no metal hooks or clips.

The plastic Dittos have a lifespan of 5-10 years, Barker said, and at the end can be recycled along with other PET material. "It's so recyclable, and granted, it's not a sustainable material, it's something that right now is the best solution for this commodity," he said.

For a brief period, Barker considered using bioplastic, though it's currently not a viable solution, he said. Making bioplastic hangers would actually require more energy to produce than other hangers, they cannot be recycled since they could muck up the recycling streams and they need to be composted in commercial facilities, which are fairly rare.

GreenHeart Global went live in November last year, and Barker has spent the last year in talks with a wide variety of companies. San Francisco-based retail giant GAP is using paper Dittos for displaying items in almost 200 outlet stores. GAP's acting CEO at the time, Bob Fisher, connected Barker with the company. In working with GAP, Barker showed the hangers off to almost every department, but it was the marketing department that saw the potential, Barker said, noting how well the earthy look of the hangers complements denim.

Chris Tewksbury, a member of GAP's sustainability panel, said hangers are just one of the topics the company is looking at as it reviews its store operations. GAP stores use wood hangers for displaying clothes, and keep items on plastic hangers when they're stored in the back, he said. All hangers stay in the store until they break, then they go in the trash.

As Ditto talks and works with more companies, they develop more types of hangers. For GAP, GreenHeart Global is providing paper hangers with removable aluminum clips, so if the paper hangers need to be tossed, the clips can be removed and used elsewhere or recycled.

L.L. Bean is using special sandal hangers GreenHeart Global developed to take up half the retail space of current sandal hangers. Barker is also working with Reebok Canada on hangers for hockey gear and Adidas Germany for hangers with wide shoulders to hold sports equipment.

Maggie's Organics found out about Ditto hangers shortly after they launched. The company sells clothing made from organic and eco-friendly materials in stores like Whole Foods Market and small co-ops, and it wanted to start putting clothes on hangers to display them better. But Maggie's wanted to go with a hanger in line with its mission as an eco-friendly clothing maker, said Katie Dombek-Keith, who handles product design and marketing for Maggie's. The company is using paper Dittos now for baby attire, lounge clothes and scarves. "It really gives a good presentation and brings the whole thing together," Dombek-Keith said.

Although many companies are interested in what GreenHeart Global has to offer, one struggle is getting them past what they're familiar with. "The last 50 years, they've been using the same product," Barker said. "It's getting people to look at them because they've been invisible for so long." Dittos, though, cost more than traditional hangers, and Barker never expects to be able to compete on price alone.

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