How To Fold Shirts For Travel? - Know Here!

If you're travelling for business or you're going on holiday for a celebration, you might be wondering the best way to fold your shirts for travel to keep them wrinkle-free and save space. 

To fold button-up shirts for travel, we suggest following dress shirt packing steps such as buttoning up the shirt, folding the sleeves diagonal, folding them back up, folding the length of your shirt then flip, smooth and pack!

In our shirt packing guide below we will take you through our step by guide to folding your shirts crease-free, other packing techniques to save space in your luggage and some tips for packing clothes in your suitcase.

Our Guide To Folding Shirts For Travel 

Folding a shirt and packing it in your suitcase sounds easy right? But if you are not planning to pack iron and your accommodation might not have one, you want to make sure you are packing your shirts as crease free as possible.

Other packing techniques like rolling your dress shirt can help to save space, but a well-folded shirt is the only way you will keep them crease-free.

We've listed our step by step for folding your shirt the right way down below. 

• Step one - First of all, begin by buttoning up your dress shirt all the way then flip the entire shirt over onto its back.
• Step two - Place one hand on the neck of the shirt then fold the sleeve over onto the back towards the centre of the shirt, 1/3 of the shirt should be folded over from the front to the back. Repeat the shirt folding hack with the other sleeve.
• Step three - Now create another fold with the sleeve, place your hand on the shoulder of the sleeve then fold the cuff upwards in the diagonal direction, you aim to make a flat V-shape.
• Step four - Lastly, take the tail end of the shirt with buttons and fold it up to the collar, for longer shirts you might need to fold the shirt into thirds.

What Different Packing Techniques Are There For Packing Clothes?

A big disadvantage to packing a shirt with the steps above is that it will give you limited space in your suitcase, if suitcase space is often an issue when you pack then we would suggest trying out different packing techniques to create lots of space. 

Rolling 

Rolling is the best possible method if you have minimal space in your suitcase, by tightly rolling your clothing you can free up so much room, however, on delicate shirts especially the risk of creases is much higher.

Bundling 

Bundling involves packing one smaller item of clothing inside another and folding them, it's a popular packaging technique if you have a lot of clothes to pack which are different sized items, there is also less space for wrinkles. 

The only downside to this method of choice is that it is very time-consuming.

Vacuum Packing 

Vacuum packing beats the folding method if you have to pack a lot of irregular-sized clothes or long-sleeved clothes which can take up a lot of room. It essentially takes all the air out of the clothing and allows you to free up a whole load of space in your luggage. 

This does require you to invest in a vacuum packer however and is a little time-consuming.

Folding 

Folding your clothes when packing is a very popular method and can be useful for organising your clothes and planning outfits, it does however take up a lot of room in your suitcase and can come with all kinds of creases.

How To Get Creases Out Of Your Shirt Without An Iron 

If you've reached your destination only to find that your shirt still has a large number of creases despite packing it well, do not fret, there are ways to get the creases out of your favourite shirts with no iron required. 

•  Hang it up - Hang up your shirt as soon as you can, the creases should go after a few minutes to an hour depending on how many there are.
• Use the kettle - Yep, we know, a cup of tea and a crease-free shirt, what more could you want? Simply heat your kettle till boiling so as steam comes out the spout and hold the creased area on the shirt 12 inches away until they disappear (you could use a clothes steamer). 
• Try hair straighteners - Wipe the plates of your hair straighteners clean and use them to take the wrinkles out of your shirt collar!
• Get the blow dryer out - On a high heat setting around 2 inches away from the fabric hold your blow dryer on the problem areas where there are creases and watch them disappear!

Tips For Packing Clothes For Travel

Now we know the best way to fold a shirt for travel and some alternative methods for saving space, we've listed some other general packing tips below to keep your suitcase organised and utilise the space as much as you can. 

• Keep liquids sealed - There's nothing worse than unpacking your suitcase only to find that your aftershave or deodorant has leaked all over your expensive dress shirt!
• Write a list - Writing a list of what you need to pack and what you have packed helps you stay on track when packing and avoids you leaving anything behind.
• Place cotton wool with makeup - For any delicate makeup like powders and eye shadows, place a cotton wool pad in between the lid and the makeup to avoid anything smashing.
• Use packing cubes - Packing cubes help keep your suitcase neat and organised and stop your clothes from taking up too much room in your suitcase.
• Weigh your baggage beforehand - No matter the packing method you use, you can't change the weight of your suitcase, to avoid surprises we would recommend weighing your suitcase beforehand to make sure it's within the allowance.
• Utilise the hand luggage - Pack a spare change of clothes, underwear and anything important like medication in your carry-on luggage, this is back-up in case your main bag gets lost.
• Make it unique - Pimp your suitcase with luggage accessories like ribbons and labels, nowadays suitcases can look very similar, making it easy to grab the wrong bag by mistake if you are not careful, making your stand out will make it easy at the bag carousel.

Last Words

Overall, folding shirts for travel to keep them crease-free is easier than you think without step by step method above, just make sure to keep all the buttons done up and avoid rolling the shirt or bundling it since these methods can cause creases in your shirts. 

To save space we recommend rolling other clothes when possible, using packing cubes or vacuum sealing them, always weigh your suitcase beforehand however to check your bag is not overweight.