Swag Storage Solutions
You want to Tillmans the crib, plus rare Japanese clothes get easier to find, why is everyone reading Moby-Dick right now, & more
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— Jonah & Erin
In today’s Plane:
There’s an excellent, cognoscenti-revered Japanese slow-clothes brand that’s been making great pieces for men & women for a minute, but it remains a relative challenge to find in the U.S. and enjoys ~none of the buzz that, e.g., the gifted whippersnappers at Auralee do. Thankfully, one of NYC’s most increasingly ill shops just started stocking them IRL and online.
There are space-maximixing “closet hacks,” and then there are extremely cool-looking objects that happen to double as storage solutions. We can’t resist the latter, and Erin just discovered a trove.
Everyone is reading Moby-Dick, including yours truly, making this a perfect time to tap in with Ishmael, Ahab & Queequeg a.k.a. “The Pequod Gods.”
Dope fleecy wool beanies.
And more!
Let’s get to it —
A reader wrote in the other day asking for storage hacks:
“Closet efficiency and maximum usage tips plz xo” — sarahstarfruit
This reader has exposed a peculiar state of affairs: As lifelong slapper enthusiasts, Erin and I both own more clothes than the average civilian probably does, and yet, despite our small number of small closets at Spyplane HQ, we’ve also proven constitutionally averse to Storage-Maximizing Mindset.
My father, Papa Spyplane, is the type to get those enormous plastic bags where you fill them with, say, sweaters and winter coats, secure a vacuum cleaner to a one-way valve, suck all the excess air out, and keep that s--t highly compressed and filed away for ~8 months of the year. This is a sensible route you could consider taking.
For my part, the only bit of Closet Efficiency Brain I inherited from him is a so-called Magic Hanger, which sometimes come in more “designed” iterations, like the ones pictured below left, but mine is just a cheap, sturdy black plastic version, like the one below top right. He gave it to me when I was in high school, and I suddenly realize I’ve owned it longer than almost anything else…
The idea is that you activate the dead-zone vertical space in your closet and fit 4-5 shirts where typically only ~3 would hang.
Even now, though, my eyes start to glaze over. We’re willing to cede this territory to the tireless posters of the TikTok and IG Reels “storage efficiency” universe, where — in addition to tips on how to fit 40 pairs of jeans into carry-on bags or whatever — I’m sure there are all kinds of ingenious tricks for closets, too…
If you have tried-and-true storage methods of your own, please let us know in the comments and spare your fellow Spyfriends the misfortune of looking at TikTok.
However!
Erin did recently come across a fantastic, unassuming source for humble, deeply charming, very sick-looking objects that also happen to be “storage solutions” that will make your house look very swag. No one is checking for it: