Meet Quick Hanger: The invention your shirts will thank you for

Inventor and entrepreneur Greg Niggel looked at a simple, everyday frustration — trying to fit a hanger into the neck of a garment without stretching or ripping it — and saw a product waiting to be built. Quick Hanger is a one-click clothing hanger that folds, designed for speed, simplicity, and style. Simply slip it into the neck of the garment you want to hang, then push the button, and the hanger takes shape. Push the button again to fold and remove — no wrangling and mangling involved. It holds everything from light tees to heavy coats, and it comes in a range of colors. It’s still in pre-order, which means this story is just getting started.

Getting the idea off the ground

In the past, Greg took one of his inventive ideas to an invention organization, only to get rejected — and then see it being sold on Facebook years later. Ever since that moment, he was determined not to let it happen again. When he had formulated the idea of Quick Hanger, he went straight to patent lawyer Greg Tinch, who validated that the idea was free to explore, which helped give the project momentum and accountability early on.

Greg’s first prototype was made right in his shed using a regular hanger. He cut off one arm and attached a spring, which allowed the arms to fold inward for easy shirt insertion — but the spring lacked enough “oomph.” He iterated from there, trying a bolt-and-nut mechanism, foam pieces, and even a ratchet-style design. From there, he brought in product design firm RPM Tech, a company north of Baltimore, to handle the engineering. After two prototypes and two years of development, the hanger is now fully injection-mold ready. While the mold tool itself is manufactured overseas, the injection molding, as well as the product assembly, will happen locally.

Product development challenges

On the mechanical side, getting the spring tension right was critical — too aggressive, and the arms would snap open and hit your hand. They also had to ensure the arms were perfectly co-planar and the hook was correctly positioned. 

Beyond the mechanical work, the biggest challenge has simply been time — everything takes longer than expected. Ordering custom springs, for example, was a surprisingly slow process. As a first-time founder and product developer, there has also been a fairly steep learning curve in the manufacturing process, shipping logistics, and coordinating across multiple vendors. 

One of the more fun challenges for Greg was picking colors. He’s an artist at heart and loves picking and mixing color options. Greg intends to offer two colors for KickStarter backers — white and red — and maybe even open up all other colors — light blue, pink, gray, black, and metallic steel blue — as an exclusive, fully funded Kickstarter tier.

Preparing for launch

Greg has been sending 3D printed prototypes out to friends and family to get real-world feedback, which has helped keep up momentum in the leadup to launch. The Quick Hanger has made its way to influencers in places as far as Spain and Italy. He’s also been working with informal to actively build up his Instagram and TikTok pages, identify new social media collaborators, and launch his Kickstarter campaign page, which is slated to go live this week! In the meantime, check out the pre-launch page over on Kickstarter.

The fun thing about the Quick Hanger is that it appeals to such a broad audience. Think about the guy with a closet full of golf polos he paid $80 each for. Or the sports fan whose game-worn jersey is crumpled in the back of his closet. Or the exec who carefully hand-washes a silk blouse or cashmere turtleneck, and wants to store it with the same level of intention. Quick Hanger is for people who’ve bought something they love and want it to last. Kickstarter backers will have the option to buy 1, 3, 6, 9 or 12 hangers!

Greg is ready for production — all they need is to get their project funded in order to turn on tooling!