Over-Rail Shoe Drying Rack, 15.7 in, Single or Double Tier

Wet trainers are the worst thing to dry indoors. They end up by the door for two days, the hallway starts to smell like a changing room, and somebody trips over them on the way out.

This rack hooks over the balcony rail and puts the shoes outside where air actually moves. The basket is wire mesh, so water runs straight through instead of sitting in the bottom, and shoes that would have taken two damp days indoors are done in an afternoon.

The hooks come in two openings. The slim one grips a window frame edge, about 0.8 in (2 cm). The wide one sits over a balcony rail up to 2.0 in (5 cm) thick.

How to choose: measure what you are hanging it on, then pick the hook to match. Then decide how many pairs you need out at once - the single tier holds one row of shoes, the double tier adds a second basket underneath so the same run of rail takes twice as many pairs.

Best for: apartment balconies, laundry windows, families whose school shoes all come home wet on the same afternoon, and anyone who runs or hikes and washes their trainers regularly.

Not ideal for: glass balustrades with nothing along the top, because the hook needs something to close around. Rails thicker than 2.0 in (5 cm). Indoor walls with nothing to hook onto. The maker does not publish a load rating, so there is no weight figure on this page.

In the box: one wire rack, 15.7 in (40 cm) long and 8.3 in (21 cm) wide, standing 10.6 in (27 cm) tall, in black or white. Single tier or double tier.