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How to properly hang dress pants so they stay on the clothes hanger

Hanging dress pants can be frustrating. Use this clever trick to keep your dress pants on a clothes hanger and off the floor.

Taylor Martin CNET Contributor
Taylor Martin has covered technology online for over six years. He has reviewed smartphones for Pocketnow and Android Authority and loves building stuff on his YouTube channel, MOD. He has a dangerous obsession with coffee and is afraid of free time.
Taylor Martin
2 min read
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Taylor Martin/CNET

It's happened to everyone. You carefully drape your dress pants over the rung of a clothes hanger, reach into the closet to hang them on the clothes rod and slip. The pants slide off the hanger an onto the floor.

Thankfully, there is a way to properly hang dress pants so they will no longer slide off the hanger. It only takes a few extra seconds to do and it will save you loads of frustration. It may even save you time in the long run, since you won't have to iron the pants after they've slipped off the hanger and sat on the floor of your closet for an undisclosed amount of time.

Learn how to keep your pants off the floor.

Hanging dress pants the right way

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Taylor Martin/CNET
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Taylor Martin/CNET

To hang dress pants, first find the crease in the legs and lay them flat on a folding table or the bed. Next, take the top pant leg and fold it up towards the waist of the pants. Place the coat hanger on the bottom leg, hook side towards the cuff or leg opening. Fold the bottom leg over the rung of the coat hanger, pulling it through the hanger and lay the leg opening against the crotch seam. Press it flat. Take the top pant leg and also pull it through the coat hanger. While holding the top leg, grab the hook of the coat hanger, pick both up and drop the pant leg.

Folding the legs over one another through clothes hanger will help the pants hold themselves in place, thanks to their own weight and friction.

Now all you need to do is straighten out the legs, ensuring the crease in the pants is aligned with the fold on the clothes hanger. It also helps to line up the pant legs with one another.

Taking it a step further

Unfortunately, this method isn't entirely foolproof. Dress pants are typically a much slicker material than other types of pants. This means, despite this clever hack, dress pants can and will still slip off clothes hangers.

To take it one step further, all you will need are some pins, clips or something to help hold the pants in place on the clothes hanger.

I've found that small binder clips work exceptionally well. You can clamp two binder clips on the legs of the pants near the clothes hanger to ensure they won't slide around very much at all. You can also try place them in way that any indentations left by the clips will be hidden, but having to steam out two tiny clip marks is still much easier and quicker than having to iron both pant legs.