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Get one the best clothes steamers in 2024 and ditch your iron forever
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Tired of dealing with wrinkled clothes that never seem to straighten out, no matter how much you iron them? It’s time to buy a clothes steamer. These handy gadgets smooth out wrinkles, lines and creases from clothing so your duds look like you just brought them home.
They’re super simple to use, and also a safe way to eliminate wrinkles from delicate fabrics like silk and linen and even dry-clean-only items (including suits and dresses). They also come in handy for steaming window treatments and upholstery, including sofas and chairs. But that’s not all. They can even help remove germs, dust mites and bed bugs for a cleaner wardrobe.
Speaking of wardrobes: Need to tackle a large amount of steaming? You may want to invest in a steamer closet. These units, which plug into the wall, do the work for you. Hang up all of your items in the closet, then close the door. Choose a setting and the closet will get to work. They’re pricier options than their handheld brethren, but they can pay for themselves in no time.
The best clothes steamers in 2024
Read on for some of our favorite picks for the best clothes steamers in 2024 from brands like Conair, LG, and Samsung.
Best clothes steamer: Conair Extreme Steam fabric steamer with dual heat
Conair
You don’t need much out of a clothes steamer, as long as it can do its job correctly. The Conair Extreme Steam does a fantastic job at steaming clothes for a great price.
It offers 1,100 watts and heats up in 75 seconds with 15 minutes of continuous steam. It claims to remove 99.9% of germs with its steam pulse, and it can be used on a variety of fabrics, including cotton, wool, satin and silk. You can use the included three attachments (fabric brush, creaser and cushion brush) to handle different types of clothing.
If you don’t need a crazy amount of features and all you’re really worried about is cutting a nice silhouette in your clothing without wrinkles and other unsightly looks, go ahead and snag this one. This clothes steamer will be the best bet for most people.
Best quick-heat clothes steamer: Conair Turbo Extreme Steam handheld steamer
Conair
Need to get your clothes steamer heated quickly? This 1,875-watt model heats up in 40 seconds, providing 15 minutes of continuous steam. If you’re short on time, you can get your wrinkle-reducing job done in just minutes.
This handheld gadget effortlessly smooth out wrinkles in clothing and upholstery and kills 99.9% of germs, dust mites and bed bugs. You can switch through its five settings to find the perfect option for your wardrobe too, which can end up saving you some time.
Its 3-in-1 attachment comes with a silicone band that can help keep fabric taut so you get a better steam. It also offers a fabric spacer to help protect finer fabrics as well as a bristle brush to make sure each pass penetrates on heavier fabrics.
Quick, easy, and effective, this is one clothes steamer that’s about getting things done.
Best standing clothes steamer: Jiffy J-2000 garment steamer
Amazon
Serious steamers or anyone who needs a steamer for professional purposes should consider investing in a standing unit. This Jiffy J-2000 steamer a lot less expensive than you might think, and it has a much longer reach than smaller steamer units, too.
This model offers 1300 watts of steaming power, heats up in two minutes, and boasts a large reservoir providing 1.5 hours of continuous steam. It sits on wheels for rolling around the house.
This is the type of steamer you should seriously consider if you’re always ironing suit jackets, slacks or other professional attire. It’s easy to maneuver, has plenty of runtime, and gets the job done well.
Best premium clothes steamer closet: Samsung AirDresser
Samsung
Ever wish you could snap your fingers, and all the wrinkles and creases on your clothing would magically disappear? The self-cleaning Samsung AirDresser can almost do just that. You’re going to be paying a pretty penny, but it’s almost like soiled clothes go in, and pristine clothes come out, all with the touch of a button.
Plug the sleek unit into a wall outlet and fill up a refillable water reservoir for steaming. Once you start a cycle, the AirDresser begins steaming your clothes, reducing wrinkles and killing 99.9% of dust mites and bacteria. At the end of the cycle, the smart dresser gently heats your clothes to dry them.
The built-in deodorizing filter, meanwhile, eliminates 99% of odors from clothes, making it a great option for households with smokers or pets. If you want the best of the best when it comes to mass clothes steaming, this is the Cadillac you’ve been looking for. Just be prepared to pay for the privilege.
Best dirt-fighting steamer closet: LG Styler Steam Closet
LG
Like the Samsung AirDresser, the LG Styler Steam Closet uses steam technology to refresh clothing, bedding, stuffed animals or any other fabrics in your home. But this unit has a few unique features that might sway your buying decision.
Not only does it help eliminate odors and allergens, but it also features shaking hangers, which can help to knock off extra dust or dirt from your clothing.
That means one less extra step for you to have to deal with when you’re ready to clean. Say goodbye to beating your coats and jackets like rugs to get rid of that additional grime.
With the closet’s accompanying app, you can manage the clothing care settings to your liking. It’s perfect for larger families or anyone who needs to regularly steam a few different items at once.
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On Tuesday, a new Malcolm Gladwell book comes out. And if history is any guide, it will be a bestseller. “They’re stories about ideas,” he said. “They have characters. They have plots. I’m usually trying to say something about the world.”
His first book, “The Tipping Point,” published in 2000, established the Gladwell recipe: he explores a theme through anecdotes and little-known scientific studies. “‘Tipping Point’ was about the epidemic as an incredibly useful way of understanding how ideas move through society,” Gladwell said. “And epidemics have rules. Let’s learn the rules, right?”
His seven New York Times bestsellers have sold 23 million copies in North America alone. His fee for corporate speeches is $350,000. His fans have downloaded a quarter-billion episodes of his podcast, “Revisionist History,” and he founded a company called Pushkin Industries to produce it.
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In other words, Gladwell has come a long way from the small Canadian town where he grew up, son of a British father and a Jamaican mother, whom he describes as “subversive,” someone who would write notes to excuse her son from class with a blank space. “I would just fill out the date,” said the man who skipped a lot of school.
He attended the University of Toronto, but his best education was the ten years he worked for the Washington Post. “I knew nothing about newspapers,” he said. “I was so raw. I was 23, I think, or 24. Bob Woodward was two rows away from me. I learned at the feet of the greatest journalists of my generation.”
In 1996, Gladwell joined The New Yorker. He wrote about why, in the 1990s, New York’s crime rate plummeted in an article called, “The Tipping Point.” A book followed. It introduced a recurring Gladwellian theme: hidden patterns in the way the world works.
He’s a world-class contrarian, about college (“You should never go to the best institution you get into, never; go to your second or your third choice. Go to the place where you’re guaranteed to be in the top part of your class”); about working from home (“It’s not in your best interest to work at home. … If you’re just sitting in your pajamas in your bedroom, is that the work life you want to live, right? Don’t you want to feel part of something?”); about football (“I think the sport is a moral abomination”).
Gladwell says he enjoys being provocative: “Of course!” he said. “I like poking the bear. I mean, journalists should poke the bear.”
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Gladwell’s fans love his storytelling, and the A-ha! moments they bring. His critics, on the other hand, have described his writing as “generalizations that are banal, obtuse, or flat wrong,” and “simple, vacuous truths [dressed] up with flowery language.” “I’m with the idea that not everyone’s gonna like my work,” Gladwell said. “100% of people don’t like anything.”
In a 2021 “Sunday Morning” interview, Gladwell said, “I would rather be interesting than correct.” He called that “an overly provocative way of saying things! No, I think what I meant was, if I turn out not to be right, I’m not devastated. I accept that as the price of doing business.”
Gladwell often turns his mistakes into new chapters or podcast episodes. In “The Tipping Point,” he explained that New York’s crime drop was the result of “broken windows policing.” As he described it, “Little crimes were tipping points for big crimes.” But that philosophy led to New York’s policy of “stop and frisk.”
“Doing 700,000 police stops a year of young Black and Hispanic men is deeply problematic,” Gladwell said. “We were wrong. I was part of that. I’m sorry.”
Which brings us to the new book, “Revenge of the Tipping Point.” “The original ‘Tipping Point’ is a very optimistic, rosy book about the possibilities for using the laws of epidemics to promote positive social change,” he said. “In the last 25 years, I spent a lot of time thinking about the other side of that problem, which is, what happens when people use the laws of epidemics in ways that are malicious or damaging or self-interested?”
Little, Brown & Co.
The book’s stories range from topics as obscure as cheetah reproduction, to stories as big as the Holocaust. He writes that almost nobody talked about the Holocaust, or even called it that, until NBC aired a miniseries called “Holocaust” in 1978. “And what changed happened like [snaps fingers]. I mean, it was just there was a tipping point in our understanding of the Holocaust,” he said.
This book arrives at a tipping point in Gladwell’s own life. In a span of five years, he got engaged, had two children, turned 61, and moved from Manhattan to pastoral Hudson, New York. “It’s a lot to handle. There isn’t a single person who ever lived whose parents did not say, ‘This is a lot!'” he laughed. “I have become the person that, you know, I once despised, and nothing makes me happier.”
He also despises Ivy League colleges, accusing them of prioritizing their own reputations over focusing on their students.
Has parenthood affected his outlook on any of the things that he’s written about before? “Well, it’s prepared me for the possibility that I will be a massive hypocrite!” Gladwell laughed. “So, you know, it’s one thing to write about what you should do with your kids when you don’t have them.”
For all his success, Malcolm Gladwell maintains that nothing has changed in his approach, his work ethic, or his contrarianism. “It hasn’t changed what I do,” he said. “I don’t farm out my research; I still go on reporting trips. It hasn’t gotten old. In fact, my great regret is I don’t have time to do more.”
READ AN EXCERPT: “Revenge of the Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell
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Story produced by Wonbo Woo. Editor: Remington Korper.
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