About Us
We've been making clothing preservation easy since 2014. Our signature padded hangers are hand-assembled to make sure they are perfectly padded for preservation, storage, and display.
Our products are preferred by museums, textile conservators, and boutiques around the world. All Hangerbee products are heirloom safe, so you can be confident knowing that your clothing will be properly preserved for many years to come.
We offer hangers in eight sizes and a variety of colors, as well as Padded Hanger Kits, garment bags, preservation supplies, and more.
Because if a garment is important to you, it’s important to us.
It all started with a WWI Uniform.
Then another. And another.
Hangerbee founder and museum consultant Lindsey Smith has worked "behind-the-scenes" at dozens of museums. After years of visiting and working with many museum collections, one thing kept sticking out. Many garments - including antique WWI uniforms - were being stored on ill-fitting wire hangers. The hangers were damaging the garments, but museums had no easy solution to this big problem. There were no well-designed, museum-quality, padded hangers available to purchase.
Lindsey knew she had to do something, so she developed her own line of museum-quality padded hangers and padded hanger DIY kits. Hangerbee's product line now includes an array of textile preservation supplies and accessories. Our products can be found in all 50 states and in countries around the world.
A "Hanger Bee" brings people together. It’s an easy way to preserve clothing. And it’s also a lot of fun!
Our name was inspired by the Quilting Bee, a popular 19th century social event that brought women together to work on quilting projects.
Lindsey padded her first hangers alongside museum staff and volunteers in 2002. The "bee" was fun, but padding hangers was a slow and frustrating process. There had to be a better way!
Hangerbee launched our first DIY Hanger Kits in 2014. Our Kits help museum volunteers and staff have a good time together while assembling streamlined, artifact-safe padded hangers for their much-loved garments.
There are no employment opportunities at this time.
With 25 years of experience working in all areas of museum artifact and heirloom preservation, Lindsey Smith loves to help people interpret, preserve, and better understand the objects that make up our world. An increasingly sought-out public speaker, Lindsey has spoken to dozens of groups across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Her programs are designed to be informative, thought-provoking, and fun. The more laughs, the better!
Lindsey received an MA in Historical Administration and completed advanced coursework in archives and records management. Past jobs include: Director of Collections, Exhibits, & Archives, University Archivist & Rare Book Librarian, and Collections & Exhibitions Manager. Lindsey spent a decade as a museum exhibits and collections consultant, and served on the Governor-appointed Iowa Historical Records Advisory Board.
In 2014, Lindsey launched a textile preservation supply company that Vogue calls a “Vintage Garment Care Essential”. Hangerbee's signature product, a line of preservation safe, museum-quality garment hangers, can be found in museums, boutiques, and closets around the world.
For more information, please visit www.exhibitsmith.com