Customer Reviews

Rubbermaid 3F20 Configurations 20-Pocket Shoe Organizer, Natural

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My dad had been trying to store his shoes in a shoe pocket hanger he bought at a local home improvement store. His size 12 shoes torqued out of the pockets no matter how they were put in. Despite the thick nylon and sturdy construction, his old shoe organizer was tearing and dropping shoes onto the closet floor. I had actually bought this Rubbermaid shoe organizer to hold scarves, hats & gloves, because the pockets looked deep enough to hold our big scarves. When it arrived, and I saw the size of the pockets -- height and depth -- I tried Dad's shoes in it. They FIT! No torquing, no tearing, just nice, flat, secure storage. I'm buying two more, and I'm even writing a review, which I've never done before. It's really silly how happy this made me!

Pretty clever design, really. It opens up "four-slots-wide" and hangs over-the-door. Or it folds in half and hangs "two-slots-wide" on a closet rail. There's some velcro in place to hold the organizer shut/tight when folded in half.

The pockets are natural-colored canvas piped in mocha-colored canvas. The backing is a medium-blue nylon. I do have to wonder why the backing is not color-coordinated with the canvas. Perhaps the manufacturer had surplus blue nylon.

There are four grommeted holes across the top for hanging and it comes with two different metal hanger types to use depending on which way you want to hang it. Four hangers for over-the-door, one for each grommet. For hanging on the closet rail, it come with one closet rail hanger that has two hooks on the bottom, each to catch two of the grommets (The four grommets marry up into two touching pairs when the organizer is folded in half.).

I'm going with the closet rail approach. It was just a wee bit too wide for the back of my door. You'll want to measure and compare to the specifications before you buy if you are going to use it over-the-door. On the closet rail, it is a wee bit too long, just barely brushing the top of the carpet. The manufacturer ought trim an inch or so off its overall length somehow.

When I folded it in half the grommeted holes did not line up very well and I had to sort of force the hanger hardware into the grommets. There is a slight buckle (just along the top edge of it) because of that. Doesn't seem like punching the holes accurately would be a huge problem for the factory to get right. Perhaps the manufacturer had surplus blue nylon ... already punched and grommeted.

YOU WILL most likely care about whether it holds shoes well. I wear men's size 14 EEEE shoes and sneakers ... the sneakers, then, are especially big. I am using it with ONE shoe per slot (holding ten pairs in total). The shoes drop in easily without any forcing, sagging or such. They just drop right in and out. The pockets are plenty deep enough for these shoes. In this respect, it's a great item! I noticed reviews of of a lot of other shoe organizers here on Amazon talking about how the slots were really not big enough and so that is why I bought this one, and in that sense, I am quite pleased.

When I tried it as an over-the-door hanger, though, I did notice that the hooks were of a shape so that it just barely hangs on to the door. Let me try to clearly describe the situation. The over-the-door part of the hanger is square, two right angles ... think of it as sort of an upside-down serif L ... with a hook at the end of the long part of the L for hooking through the organizer's grommet. The L is wider than the doortop, leaving a gap between the back of the door (on the organizer side) and the long part of the L. And the very end of the over-the-door part, the lip on the short part of the L, the part that catches the far side of the doortop, that part is very, very short. The result of this is that, with the weight of the bag applied, the hook "pulls over the doortop" and the serif on the short part of the L just barely catches the door on the far side. I have to wonder if, with the weight of the shoes, it wouldn't be falling off the door a lot. And with the L tilted slightly across the top of the door, some doors might not even shut over it.

I think this probably could be remedied by bending the the long part of the L slightly inward toward the door so that at the long end of the L, the hanger is touching the door. You'd probably need to put them in a vise or something to bend them. Or an easier fix might be to put some kind of spacer behind/around the long part of the L to fill the gap. If were me, I would try some of that two-sided velcro strip stuff ... it has hooks on one side and loops on the other so that it will stick to itself, they have it in the notions department of Wal-Mart, etc. ... and run it round and round the hanger until it was thick enough to fill the gap.

Overall I am satisfied and I think it will work very well for me as I going to use it, but if they keep manufacturing this item, I hope they will do some "in-process" production line changes to address the issues I mentioned.

But, really, for under $20, you can't be making much of mistake buying this item ... because the shoes definitely fit well and easily in the pockets !!

As other reviewers have stated, this is a fantastic quality item. The pockets are sturdy, and can easily fit one pair of women's pumps per pocket. Clogs and boots, however, require 2 pockets. Not a big deal - it's great to get them off the floor and organized. I cannot give 5 stars since hanging over the door causes one problem: I can no longer fully shut the door. This is OK when I am by myself, but when I have guests, I need to take the organizer down from the door. This is leading to wear and tear on the loops where the over the door hinge slots in. For now, this is doing its job - but further down the road, I think I am going to look for a sturdy shoe cabinet instead. I hate not being able to close the closet door tight.

I have a vast and varied shoe collection. This organizer finally got them off the floor of the closet where they used to sit in a huge cluttered mess.The 20 pockets are very sturdy and roomy. I managed to fit more than one pair of women's size 8.5s in most of the pockets. In fact, I fit 32 pairs of shoes in it! I opted to hang it over the door of my closet and the door still closes comfortably. The only problem is that it didn't fit all my shoes but that's really my problem...lol. I will most likely end up getting another one..

This shoe organizer is wider that the typical one you find on the shelf next to the hangers in the store. The canvas material is durable. I wish this came in other colors rather than just the blue nylon backing.

The noteworthy thing is that this holds men's shoes. Women's dress shoes fit two to a pocket, and men's shoes fit one per pocket. This is the first organizer that I have found that holds a larger shoe. That's why I have to rate this item top stars.

The pocket shoe organizer needs sufficient height so that it won't drag on the floor. I've only found 1 closet (our hall closet) that has adequate height for it.

I purchased several of these to try to form some semblance of order out of a chaotic closet with enough shoes to rival Imelda Marcos. This shoe bag is terrific as far as the size of its shoe pockets - I have been able to fit a pair of size 7 1/2 women's shoes in each pocket including pairs of shoe boots. For size 10 1/2 men's shoes, only one shoe fits in each pocket but this is a vast improvement over previous shoe bags. The material that comprises it seems to be sturdy and well constructed however it is not heavy and may not have the durability of duck canvas. My previous shoe bags were nylon and lasted about four years before the pockets began to slowly rip away. The problem I have with these shoe bags is that one can hang it on a closet rod via the hanger as shown in the pix, however, I prefer to hang these on a wall or the back of a door. There are metal "over the door" pieces that are to be used for this purpose, however, they are not fashioned well. I could not close the door using these pieces. Instead, I substituted the "over the door" metal pieces from my previous shoe bags and they worked well. Now I have used up all my former shoe bag metal pieces and am trying to figure out how to hang the newest shoe bag. I think one will need to use needle nose pliers to bend the metal into a more usable shape. It is unfortunate that this one aspect detracts from my review since other than this complaint, I am very pleased. Recommend with caution - you may need to modify the hanging mechanisms.

It is seldom when what you see pictured fills the bill perfectly. No more messes on my closet floor.

use this product for storing gloves, mittens and other winter gear in the back hall closet

This shoe organizer is perfect. I ordered one and immediately ordered a second. If I knew it was this easy to organize my shoes I would have done it much sooner. The rack did not work over my door but was perfect over the rod in my closet. My shoes are a women's size 6.5 and each pocket holds a pair. With my shoes paired in individual pockets it is very easy to grab exactly what I want. Before I was digging through the bottom of my closet trying to find the match to the heels I wanted to wear to work that day. Now they are both where they belong. It is so easy to find them and put them back at night. Not only does it make life easier to find my shoes, but they stay nice and clean and free from marks An extra bonus is that I can now walk into my small walk in closet. I highly recommend this inexpensive shoe rack.