While traveling is well worth the money and fills us with excitement to the bone, it can also be quite inconvenient. Especially when it's the matter of packing, it will always get on your nerves. And let's not forget how daunting it is to pack a suit jacket. Hit right in the heart, no?
Well, worry no more, because we've got it all sorted out for you. Just give this a quick read from top to bottom, and you'll be travel-ready in no time!
Checklist Before Packing the Suit
The first step to packing a suit along with your other clothes and accessories to ensure wrinkle-free travel is creating mental notes that you'll be following. For an easy way out, grab your phone and list these down on your notes app instead!
Consider What Else Goes into the Suitcase
To make sure that your suitcase has enough space to give your folded suit jackets the room to breathe and stay crease-free, this step is mandatory.
Now, you don't want to pack a suit in your already overloaded luggage, do you? This will not only ruin your suit jacket but also leave you with at least 20 minutes of extra work to steam it back to normal. So as to avoid such additional workload, it'd be best to mentally prepare what goes into the suitcase and make sure that there's adequate room for your suit.
How to Remove Suit Wrinkles and Creases
If you aim to travel light with the fewest clothing items in your luggage, you'll almost certainly have enough extra space to bring a steamer with you.
And so, it gets easier to make trips back and forth without having to worry about your suit jacket getting creased in the first place. It sounds pretty simple and straightforward, right?
Wise Tips for Traveling with a Suit
When you need to take a suit, or multiple suits, as a matter of fact, we'd suggest everyone pack them with the utmost care and attention.
To do so, our advice would be to use a carry-on bag or a large enough suitcase. That being the case, carrying big luggage might force you to spend some extra bucks if the weight is over the limit. Hence, a carry-on bag seems like the best bet. It'll allow you to transport your folded jacket without much hassle.
Another trick to keeping your suit jacket crinkle-free is using a protective plastic cover once you're done folding your suit. In such cases, you might want to grab a dry-cleaning bag from your dry cleaner or even a garment bag. Other materials, such as a simple plastic bag, will get the job done as well.
How to Pack a Suit Jacket: Keeping it Wrinkle Free
Let's talk about the real deal now: how to pack a suit. Just follow these simple steps below, and you'll be good to go in a matter of minutes.
The Traditional Style
We're all supposed to be accustomed to the shirt-style fold by now. Anyway, here's how to do it in a few quick and easy steps:
- Spread your suit jacket on a flat surface to get started. Make sure that the buttons are facing down.
- Fold one of the shoulders inwards to the mid-point of the suit's back. Sway your palm across the sleeves so they remain flat.
- Next, repeat the step with the other shoulder and ensure that both the sleeves are parallel and symmetrical to each other.
- Once done, fold the jacket in thirds, not crossing the hem under the suit's collar. Then simply flip it over and put it in your suitcase. And voila! You're all packed!
Pro-Tip: Keep the folded suit jacket on top of other clothes to prevent wrinkles as much as possible.
Tuck-in Method
This technique is by far our favorite! Firstly, it's quite effortless. Secondly, this method works like magic to protect your folded jacket from wrinkles. Stick to these simple steps to fold a suit jacket in the tucked shoulder fold process:
- As a staple, lay your suit jacket on a flat surface and fold the left shoulder to the back. The sleeves should remain diagonal to the outer edge of the suit, along the button line.
- The next step is to turn the right shoulder inside out and tuck the left shoulder into the right one.
- Then firmly secure the middle of the suit jacket's back with the help of one hand. With the other, fold it in half, lengthwise.
- Afterwards, fold it in half again, but this time horizontally. To finish off perfectly, use the suit pants to protect them even more. Just fold the trousers over the suit jacket, and it's done!
Roll Up and Go!
Another fine way to pack a suit jacket is the roll-up style. It is exactly the same as the tucked shoulder fold method; the only difference is that you roll the jacket instead of folding it.
The best benefit of this method is that you end up with more space for other clothes. Besides, you can even pack dress shirts with the suit jackets. All you have to do is lay the dress shirt on top of the folded jacket and roll it together.
Our only suggestion is to roll it in a firm yet gentle manner, as bundling it up too tightly will cause more wrinkles and creases instead.
Worry-Free Travel: Use a Garment Bag
We know how hard it can be to travel light and carry too many suits with you. Assuming that you're all ears to work smart and not hard, we'd ask you to carry one of your suit jackets and pants instead.
For this, pick up a garment bag and slide in your suit carefully, making sure that there are no folds or crinkles inside. Use a sturdy hanger to hang them in place and fold it in half. When leaving for the plane ride, simply carry it on your hands and hang it down on the car and then on the flight for ease.
This brings us to the end of our travel tips for packing a suit jacket. Everyone can agree that suits are a significant investment and, therefore, should be treated with care. No ifs and buts should be accepted in this case at all!
