Packing tips for wrinkle-free travel
As a frequent traveler, I want to share some packing tips that have helped me stay free of wrinkles. I have tried many methods including an classic method detailed on the Men’s Wearhouse site; steaming my clothes in the bathroom on arrival, voodoo, etc. None of these methods quite did the trick, even with wrinkle-resistant clothing (see my note at the end of this article).
My wrinkle-free status improved significantly recently, when I discovered Eagle Creek’s Pack-It Folders. These are phenomenal for keeping dress shirts, pants, and jackets wrinkle-free in your luggage (they also work with skirts, but I haven’t tried that).
Eagle Creek also offers Pack-It Cubes, which I use for general organization (you’ll see how it all works together to tidy up my suitcase, below).
The Pack-It Folders come with a sturdy plastic folding board, which has detailed folding instructions printed on it. The diagrams on the board guide you through the folding process, and are very easy to follow.
Folding a dress shirt with the Eagle Creek Pack-It Folder Click thumbnails for larger view
- Start by buttoning a few buttons on the shirt (I button the top, third, and 6th buttons), smooth it out, and place it buttons-down on a flat surface. Then, fold the right sleeve across and fold the sleeve down at an angle, as shown in this picture.
- Next, fold the other sleeve across the folding board, then angle the sleeve down just like you did for the first – as shown here.
- Next, fold the tail of the shirt up to the collar (the board forces you to fold it in the right spot), then flip the shirt over, place it in the center of the Pack-It Folder, and remove the board. You now have one neatly folded shirt.
- You can fold several and stack a number of shirts (the number depends on the size Pack-It Folder you are using). When you’re done, you place the folding board on top of the whole stack to help keep everything flat.
- Next, fold the flaps closed on the Pack-It Folder to make a nice, tidy bundle.
- The Pack-It Folder and the Pack-It Cubes work together to make a very tidy suitcase. And, when you reach your destination, you can unpack and things look almost as crisp and fresh as when you got them back from the cleaners. Click the image for a tagged version of what’s what in the picture.
Note: For maximum effectiveness, I recommend buying wrinkle-resistant dress shirts and pants. I prefer Lands’ End shirts as they come in exact sizes and are fantastic when it comes to shedding wrinkles. As a bonus, they are also stain resistant!
Guest author Dwayne Melancon is the creator of the Genuine Curiosity blog, featuring information on a variety of tips, lifehacks, gadgets, personal productivity and other useful topics.
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Comments
Eric H says on November 17th, 2005 at 5:37 am
Last year, before embarking on a trip to Europe, I bought a few shirts and some pants for casual-but-not-slacker business meetings. The one shirt that was specifically labeled wrinkle-resistant was the most wrinkled.
I have found that the most effective way to pack, both in terms of wrinkle minimization and space maximization, is to *roll* everything. Iron the shirts, fold the sleeves in, and then roll them with the collar ending up on the outside. Iron the pants, put the legs together, and roll them with the legs ending up outside. I also rolled a sheet of packing paper (like the kind that you frequently find inside new clothing) into them, but I’m not sure whether that helped or not (I had expert advice from a friend in the apparel manufacturing industry, so I have no reason to doubt it, but I didn’t conduct a controlled experiment).
I packed everything on that trip into a travel backpack from REI. It worked great for a 2-week hike/rail/car trip from Spain to London, with the business meetings in the 1st and 2nd week.
justincase says on November 17th, 2005 at 5:38 am
These Eagle creek folders sound very helpful, but lacking them I have another solution learned from camping/backpacking: rolling shirts and pants. I carefully fold the shirts (similar to what’s shown in the first step above, without the board), and then carefully roll from bottom to top (watch that the sleeves don’t bunch up). Pants work similarly, except that I roll from the waist – down. If done carefully (i.e., all seams nicely lined up), this approach avoids wrinkles and saves space in luggage.
justincase says on November 17th, 2005 at 5:40 am
Eric,
You scooped me! Like the idea of the paper, though. I’ve used dry cleaning bags for the same purpose.
Dwayne Melancon says on November 17th, 2005 at 8:57 am
I, too, was a roller once. I found that I often ended up with welded-in creases on my dress shirts. You had to be just right or it didn’t work – at least for me.
I am also an active Scouter, and I do use the rolling technique for that. But when you’re with a bunch of teen-aged boys and other guys who don’t shower for a few days at a time, the wrinkle-free lifestyle doesn’t seem like such a priority.
These folding packs are the first thing I’ve ever wanted to rave about for packing. It is worth the investment for me, since I’ve flown around 150,000 miles this year alone and this becomes sort of my “tools of the trade.”
Paige Windahl says on November 18th, 2005 at 9:32 am
As a woman who has traveled a good bit what I find is rolling works for knit wear and folding works for wovens and for anything that needs to have the wrinkles relaxed take a regular hangar and when you are ready to wear something , hang it in the bathroom with the shower as hot as possible. Wait ten minutes take it out smooth it and you are ready to go. If you are trying to re-crisp seams on slacks, lay them across the bed with the creases matched and firmly “hand press” them. By the time you are out of the shower they are ready to go!
Scott says on November 18th, 2005 at 8:07 pm
I second (or third) the Pack-It Folder recommendation. I used to roll, and then I tried the bundle method (as described in “The Packing Book,” Gilford), but I found the Pack-It Folder solution (which I have been using religiously for the last 5 years) to be the quickest and easiest — and my clothes aren’t any more wrinkled than with the other methods I used to use (maybe I never did it right, but my clothes *always* had some wrinkles no matter how I packed them).
There will, of course, be “hard lines” (some might call these wrinkles) on your clothes — especially the shirts — using the Pack-It Folder; however, if you hang things up as soon as possible after arriving at your destination, the wrinkles seem to diminish. Also, keep in mind that in some circles it is considered to be a mark of class to have hard “fold” lines on your starched dress shirts — many upper-crust dry cleaners fold starched shirts (similar to how they are packaged when you first bought them) rather than putting them on hangers.
I also use the “steam the suit in the bathroom” method. Some time ago, I found an article in a magazine that showed how to fold a business suit so that it could be carried (folded) in a regular suitcase or carry-on bag, rather than in a garment bag. Whenever I travel on business, I fold my suit and carry it in my carry-on bag (I travel with only a carry-on bag). When I get to the hotel, I unfold the suit (which is almost always heavily wrinkled by this time — which really doesn’t matter because soon the wrinkles will be gone), hang the coat and trousers in the bathroom, turn on the shower with the water set to the hottest setting, close the bathroom door, and let this run for 15-20 minutes. After this treatment, my suit always comes out looking as if it had just come from being pressed at the cleaners. You’ll need to let the suit “air out” for several hours after this “treatment,” so this is best done the night before you’ll need to wear it.
40something says on November 19th, 2005 at 8:44 pm
I agree completely on the pack-it folders (having used them for almost 10 years now). However, I’m still not happy with the shower solution for suits. Beside it being not very environmentally friendly (and I had a hotel room recently with a warning posted that excessive shower steam might cause the smoke detectors to sound an alarm), it doesn’t help when you need the suit rather soon after arrival. So I’m still looking for a solution to keep a suit as wrinkle-free as possible when packing it in a carry-on (I hate garment bags!).
Scott says on November 21st, 2005 at 9:08 am
@40something: You could always carry a travel steamer with you. I can’t imagine there would be any way to fold a suit without getting it at least a little wrinkled.
Having said that, I used to use a travel steamer but I was always less than satisfied with the results. I’ve never had any problems with the “shower” method and it always produced the best result for me.
I suppose another option would be to use the services of a “one-hour” laundry — assuming one is readily available at your final destination.
Dwayne Melancon says on November 25th, 2005 at 2:00 pm
For suit jackets, I don’t usually use the Pack-It. If I use my roll-aboard (smaller, carry-on sized suitcase) I either wear the jacket or simply fold it in half and place it on top of everything else.
In my larger (checked bag size) suitcase for longer trips, I use the suit carrier that clips and zips into the top of the suitcase. I find that I get fewer wrinkles by putting / leaving the jacket inside one of the plastic laundry bags they use on them at the dry cleaners.
Another thing I’ve found to be helpful is some anti-wrinkle spray that I got at Brookstone in one of the airports (you can also find it on Amazon. It’s small enough to travel with everywhere, and it works great for getting wrinkles out of suit coats. Simply spray it on the wrinkled area, smooth it out with your hand, and let it dry (about 5 mins). Seems to be water-based, and not “chemically.”
Dwayne Melancon says on November 25th, 2005 at 2:03 pm
Ooops. Forgot the link to the anti-wrinkle spray: Click here to view it
Jeff Brune says on January 16th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Has anyone tried Eagle’s Full-Length Folder? I am afraid to fold suits, and this is a two-fold hanging bag, that should fit into a carry-on. However, I wonder whether it is excessively bulky for the carry-on.
J Burne (no relation) says on January 20th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
I carry a tiny spray bottle in my Dopp kit, fill it with tap water at the hotel, and lightly spritz the wrinkles. It generally does an excellent job, depending mostly on the fabric.
My bottle is about the size of a lipstick; I got it at Muji.
Dwayne Melancon says on January 22nd, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Jeff, I haven’t tried the full-length folder. Given my experience with the other Eagle packing system components, I wouldn’t be afraid of it, though. If you try it, please let me know how it goes (here or via email, or on my blog.
And J Burne: Thanks for the tip – that seems like it would work very well.
Michele says on March 27th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I love the Eagle Creek packing cubes – I use them to corral small items like socks and then you are not searching through your suitcase for a pair, or running out because you can’t see how many you have left.