Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Foolproof way of folding shirts?
 Help! Can anyone suggest a foolproof way of folding men’s shirts so that they don’t come out of the suitcase looking crumpled.I fold them. I make sure they are either in the lid of the case or on the top. I make sure they are covered. And it matters not a jot. They always come out looking the worse for wear. (The United Airlines rep at London Heathrow suggested covering them with tissue paper – which I haven’t got with me...) OK, so as I go on the next few trips (see below) I am going to try out your suggestions and will report back. I promise – I will try them out. Suggest away: The Foolproof Way of Folding Shirts… Q 34 Comments
 Add a comment
Have you tried rolling them? I do it with shirts, pants and jackets and they end up fairly smooth. Lay the shirt front down, fold the sleeves over the back then roll up from the bottom. The jacket should be folded inside out with one shoulder in the other and then rolled. I fold the pants in half and then roll up from the knees.
Just get your butler to iron the shirts when you arrive at your destination.
That is the only way for a gentleman to be guaranteed a fresh crisp shirt. ;-)
Hey Richard,
really nice blog. What about putting the shirts between two plywood plates. Your suitcase might be heavier, but your shirts will hopefully be more accurate.
Folding Shirts - As allways, wikipedia has the answer: www.wikihow.com/Fold-a-Shirt . I travel a lot and always use this method. Very little ironing is then needed.
Fold each shirt neatly pack pack each into a plastic bag. There will never be'no creases' but this method dramatically reduces the amount.
Buy new shirts for each trip and throw them away at the hotel. You will always look super sharp, have less weight on the return trip and contribute to the clothing business.
Try using your shirts to wrap around everything else. E.G. in a deep rolling case, put the shirts in first, then when ther rest of your stuff is packed, fold the shirts around & over the contents. Not fool proof but does help.
I find an acceptable way of ensuring creases on fresh shirts are minimized is to ROLL your shirts. First fold your shirt length-wise (holding both shoulders together) then roll from the bottom up to the collar into a tube-like shape. They pack quite well this way.
Richard:
Try rolling your shirts. Fold them lengthwise holding the shoulders together then roll from the bottom up to the collar forming a tube-like shape. I find this quite appropriate and have minimal wrinkles upon arrival to my destination and pack very well this way.
There are lots of videos on YouTube to do this ... and some of them are pretty good. Do a search on Folding Shirts on their website!
Dear Richard:
Fold arms neatly across front of shirt. Like socker players when facing a penalty! Works every time. Happy traveling.
To prevent wrinkling, I fold the sleeves to the body, fold in half and them roll them up carefully and somewhat loosely.
Try a hanging/folding garment bag. Usually works well for extended trips. The least amount of folds on a shirt, the least amount of wrinkles. Give it a try and let me know!
One pilot in a small bizjet company wrote in her blog that the thing that works best for her is actually to roll up her clothes, then it doesn't come out as wrinkled as it usually does.
Hello Richard,
My name is Al and I'm from Boston. As you may have guessed, it's very difficult to watch your CNN shows out here in the States, so I travel to Tokyo monthly to get my share of them on CNNj. And yes, I have to fold shirts without ironing them. The one who helped me is my mother. Here are the steps: - Button the buttons down. - Turn the shirt over and lay it flat, face down on a flat surface - From the middle of the shoulder, fold a quarter of the shirt over on each side, with the sleeve resting on top of that quarter. - Overlap the quarters, one on top of the other. - Fold from the bottom up to the collar (a complete half fold of the shirt) - Fold again up, same motion, another half, in essence creating 4 quarters. - Turn over and put a pair of socks in the collar. Do many shirts and pack nice and tightly inside your suitcase. We did the shirt live for this posting. Good Luck! AL FROM BOSTON
Richard,
assuming your are mostly traveling light, with an onboard luggage trolley, that is a though one. Try coating the shirts while still hanging with a plastic bag (like the ones you get from the dry cleaners when they return your laundry), then fold the shirt and stick a slip of cardboard or thickly folded paper under the collar. Works for me most of the time. For long distance trips, I recommend using a clothes bag , using the same procedure, however, hanging the shirts into the clothes bag. Greetings from Munich Chris
The plastic bag that the cleaner covers my shirts with when I pick them up works great for me. Fold them in thirds, one, two, three and you are good to go...
Glad to assist.
Eagle Creek "Pack-it" folders are the solution....whether in a rollaboard of suitcase, they keep shirts beatifully crease-free and are a godsend.
I've always found during the past 20 years of travelling, that tightly rolling one's shirts, like one rolls a sleeping bag, avoids creases every time.
i second the rolling... but usually find it works best when I roll other things in the middle to make a bigger roll hence less little wrinkles (like a stuffed cannoli or bouche de noel if you will) example filling = t-shirts, socks, underwear as the base and then lay shirts flat, start at the bottom and roll the shirt up over the "cannoli" (tshirt) filling - wrapping the shirt sleeves up over the top. Other alternative (horror of horrors) is to start wearing clothes that are polyester blend. no wrinkles there my friend. but if you go overboard you could end up looking like leisure suit larry. if all else fails i've found the best method is to carry a miniature, yet powerful steamer - that always does the trick in case of stubborn wrinkles.
best, anne
Don't know much about folding, but why don't you hang them up (on arrival) in the bathroom. Close the door and turn on the shower, really hot as to create steam. They should unwrinkle by themselves.
Do let us know which method works best. Annika, Zurich, CH
Richard,
Use a Newspaper to Reinforce the folded shirt, this technique works even with a tight cabin baggage,on a long air travel. How to do this? Start folding the shirt as usual,upside down, place a newspaper (avoid flashy center pages, they may slip off)then fold 2/3 from shoulders to middle, the sleeves. After this place a second news paper and fold from bottom up. Thats it. The main area of visibilty that too with a blazer is collar till chest (the V shaped) and hand cuffs, This area should be safely folded without lines.. Happy Travelling Cheers, Vijay A Richard
Hi Richard,
I travel quite a bit--over 100k miles last year. I have two secrets to the holy grail of shirt crispness that you seek: 1. Start with the product itself--shirts. Buy wrinkle free shirts. Brooks brothers sells some great ones and during sale time you can get them 3 for about $150. This does not guarantee your shirts will come out looking wrinkle free by any means, but it does help. And (between you and I), I've been known to wear their shirts more than 1 day in a row on business, and have even been complimented on how nice my shirts look (on the second day, hehe) 2. Eagle creek makes a nice little shirt protector that comes with a plastic board inside with folding instructions. Yes, it does require a bit of work to get the hang of, but once you do, it's worthwhile. 3. I have heard that it also helps to keep tissue paper in between shirts. I don't have the organizational skills to keep tissue paper around the house but maybe you are more organized than I am.
I have a small steamer iron that I bought in Taiwan. It puts out a gentle steam that melts the wrinkles away really quick. It takes less than 2mins to do a shirt. Because it is just a heating element it can run on any power anywhere. Good Luck.
Richard,
Any travel light woman will tell you to shop for a new shirt when you arrive. You will be in the appropriate style for the country you are currently in and you can UPS them home to continue your traveling light. Another option would be to wear silk jersey.
Hi Richard,
I bought a tool some years ago and used it for all my trips since then. Depending on how filled my luggage is I almost never have to iron the shirts! And the best thing: it comes with a folding instruction :-) Pack-It® Folder by EagleCreek.
Business Travel: I usually drop off my shirts at the dry cleaners so they can fold them and cover them in plastic. It works very well. Eitherway I always make sure I stay in a hotel where they have an iron in the room. I hate ironing it but the results are far better than any folding technique. In the US most hotels have this but here in Europe they stil have to wake up and smell the coffee. When you ask for an iron they look like your from outer space! I'm allready happy that the drink are cold and some place actually have AC!
Take the iron with you!:)
Hi,
I've tried all of the above and there's only one solution I have found to be successful. Have your dry cleaner box them. That way, they're folded as they were when you first bought them, with a cardboard backing to keep the shirt's shape. It works perfectly and they pack flatly in your suitcase.
Hey Richard,
Several years ago I found in a German department store a zippered cloth bag designed just for this purpose. It holds up to about six shirts and has outside pockets for ties and socks and/orunderpants. My shirts now arrive everywhere in a very presentable way (not like they were just ironed, but certainly much much better than before0. You should try the accessory stands in German or other European department stores, youknow, where they have the locks, suitcase belts and money envelopes.
Good question! Try putting a t-shirt inside your shirt before folding it. The t-shirt absorbs some of the fold so it doesn't come out so bad. Then you can carry along one of those tiny travel irons to flatten out the little bits after you unfold the shirt. Cheers
I have my dry cleaner stuff the sleeves, and I leave the shirts in the dry cleaning bag and on the hanger. I then fold them once through the middle and put them in a wider suitcase on top of everything else. You can't typically carry on this type of suitcase, but it's worth it when you arrive and your shirts look nice! (It works best when you do this with several shirts in one bag instead of one or two.) Added Bonus: Your shirts are already on the hanger so you pull them right out and hang them up - no need to transfer to the frustrating hotel hangers!
If all else fails, you can always hang your slightly wrinkled shirt in the bathroom while you take a hot shower, and the steam should take care of any travel-induced wrinkles!
That is why they put irons in hotel rooms... there isn't a way to fold men's shirt and not have them wrinkle.
Richard!
Here is one website which provide diagrammatic demostration of folding cloths including Shirt. http://www.onebag.com/popups/bundle.html Hope this would help. |
ABOUT THIS BLOG
CNN International anchor Richard Quest shares his thoughts and opinions on the world of business travel.• Business Traveller ARCHIVE
• October 15, 2006• October 22, 2006 • October 29, 2006 • November 05, 2006 • November 12, 2006 • November 19, 2006 • December 03, 2006 • December 10, 2006 • December 17, 2006 • January 07, 2007 • January 14, 2007 • January 21, 2007 • January 28, 2007 • February 11, 2007 • February 18, 2007 • February 25, 2007 • March 11, 2007 • March 25, 2007 • April 01, 2007 • April 22, 2007 • April 29, 2007 • May 20, 2007 • May 27, 2007 • June 03, 2007 • June 17, 2007 • June 24, 2007 • July 15, 2007 • July 22, 2007 • August 05, 2007 • August 19, 2007 • August 26, 2007 • September 16, 2007 • October 14, 2007 • October 28, 2007 • November 11, 2007 • December 02, 2007 SUBSCRIBE
|
Hot Topics » Radovan Karadzic • Zimbabwe • Iraq • Environment • America votes • Olympics • more topics »
