How to Organize a Men’s Closet & Wardrobe: 10 Steps

Nevertheless, it’s great having an organized closet because you always know where everything is when you need it. Men tend to have less-organized closets than women (sorry, guys!), but the truth is, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’d like to learn how to organize a men’s closet, you can do so easily by following the few simple steps listed below.

Learn more about: Pants Hangers: Essential for Wardrobe Organization.

How to Organize a Guy’s Closet the Easy Way

To organize a guy’s closet the right way, follow these 10 steps:

When you hang up sweaters, they eventually become misshapen and develop creases that you often can’t get rid of, which is why folding them is the best thing to do. Take each sweater out of the closet, fold it neatly, and place it on a shelf in the closet. If there are no shelves, consider installing them because you’ll need them for more than just the sweaters.

Read more: Maximize Your Closet Space: Best Coat Hanger Options

Men don’t have long dresses to hang up in their closet, so When you’re organizing a men’s closet, one of the first things you’ll need to do is hang additional closet rods there.

If you install a second rod underneath the first rod low enough so that it’s below the items already hanging from the higher rod, you’ll get additional space that allows you to hang shirts or other articles of clothing.

Athletic wear is a key item in our “How to Organize a Guy’s Closet” list. So, athletic shorts, t-shirts, and similar items should be placed in drawers and not on hangers. Casual clothes don’t need to be displayed, but they should still be easy to get to when you need them.

If you like, you can place a small chest of drawers in your closet just for these items. Casual clothes don’t stretch out on hangers, but it isn’t necessary for them to be hung up, either so fold them and then place them in drawers.

Shoes are usually the first thing to turn a tidy men’s closet back into a mess, because they tend to pile up on the floor. The fix is to give every pair a defined spot and match the storage to how often each pair actually gets worn.

Start with the everyday pairs. Keep sneakers, work shoes, and whatever gets grabbed on the way out the door on a low, tiered shoe rack at floor level, where they’re easy to reach without bending or digging. A simple two or three tier rack holds far more than a floor pile and keeps pairs together.

For dress shoes and seasonal pairs, clear stackable shoe boxes work well. They keep leather free of dust, let you see each pair at a glance, and stack neatly on a higher shelf so they stay out of the daily rotation but still easy to find. Cedar shoe trees are worth adding for good leather shoes, since they hold the shape and pull moisture out after wear.

Boots need their own approach. Stand tall boots upright with boot shapers (a rolled towel works in a pinch) so they don’t slump and crease at the ankle, and keep all the boots together rather than scattered around.

If floor space is tight, an over-the-door shoe organizer is the easiest win in a smaller men’s closet. It moves a dozen or more pairs off the floor entirely and is ideal for flats, sandals, and lighter sneakers.

One rule keeps the whole system working: most-worn pairs stay at floor or eye level, occasional pairs go up high, and you wipe shoes down before they go back so dirt doesn’t spread to the rest of the wardrobe.

Men need places to put certain items, such as cufflinks, wallets, watches, and others, so In a well-organized men’s wardrobe, go ahead and place either a shallow shelf or even a dish on the top of one of your shelves. This way, he can place the items there instead of clogging up his nightstand.

Shirts, especially dress shirts, should always be placed on the top rods, and make sure you use good hangers every time. Here at Tough Hook, we make hangers of all sizes that can easily accommodate all types of shirts, coats, jackets, including those that are a little heavier than normal.

Men’s pants should be folded lengthwise and hung on hangers, and both dress pants and casual pants such as jeans should be stored this way. Don’t fold pants and place them on a shelf. When they’re on lower rods, men find it easier to visualize which pair of pants goes best with the shirt that’s placed above it on the top rod.

Part of organizing a men’s closet involves learning what to do with ties. Most people organize ties in one of two ways: either hanging them in the hanging section of the closet or rolling them up and putting them in a drawer. Either way, sort them by color and by solid versus printed design so it’s easier to find them.

You might want to consider placing seasonal clothing in bins on the very top shelf of the closet. If you place items in clear bins, the clothes will be much easier to find when he needs them. Placing them at the very top of the closet gets them out of the way for the months he doesn’t need access to them.