shoe storage: for the love of shoes

Our top tips for storing shoes.

According to a UK study, the average woman owns 20 pairs of shoes but wears only five of them regularly. Plus nine in ten admitted to owning at least one pair they have never taken out of the cupboard. This is something many of us can relate to – as the cliché goes women tend to love shoe shopping!

Regardless of how many pairs you own, shoes should be properly stored so they hold their shape and last the distance. Throwing them in a pile on the floor of your wardrobe is not a great idea – not only will pairs be harder to locate but they will also lose their shape and be more easily damaged.

In an ideal world, we’d all have super-large walk-in robes with rows and rows of Kardashian-style shoe storage, however, the reality for most of us is limited shoe storage space so clever solutions and a little creative thinking are required.

The first step when you’re organising your shoes is a thorough de-clutter. If the shoes don’t ‘spark joy’, out they go. The same goes for the shoes that don’t fit properly, hurt to wear, haven’t been worn in years or don’t go with any of your clothes. If they’re in good nick donate or sell them. If they’ve seen better days it’s time to lay them to rest.

Imagine how much easier it will be getting dressed if you can immediately see your options and the pairs are together. There’s no question this is one of the joys of quality, well-designed storage.

Once you’ve reduced your shoe assortment to a chic minimalist capsule collection it’s a good idea to divide them into two main groups; shoes you wear all the time and shoes you wear less frequently. The shoes worn less frequently like super-high stilettos, formal shoes, etc should be stored in harder to reach places eg on higher shelves.

The more-often worn shoes can then be further sorted into groups like work shoes, trainers, sandals, etc. The idea is that these groups of like-shoes should then be stored together. And once you know how many shoes you have to store you can work out how much, and what kind of storage you need.

7am wardrobes can custom-design and build a wardrobe to accommodate shoes in ‘shoe towers’ – towers with angled shelves so shoes are well-protected and easily-seen and accessed. A wardrobe with a top shelf is great for storing rarely-worn shoes in clear plastic tubs. If you’re really stuck for space, lining shoes up against the wall, under your hanging clothes is fine.

Some of our favourite shoe storage ideas and tips include:

Store seldom-worm shoes in clear, plastic storage bins on hard-to-reach shelves.  Attach photos of the shoes in each tub on the outside of the tub for easy access.

Kmart clear plastic storage bins: $16 for 4.

These transparent shoes boxes from Kmart are stackable and offer the best protection from dust and sunlight. Best of all, a pack of four will only set you back $9.

Over door hanging storage – (Howards Storage  World) is a handy way to create extra storage.

To keep boots upright and maintain shape, stuff with boot shapers, or use empty plastic bottles or rolled up magazines or cardboard.