Traveling for work or leisure means living out of a suitcase, and a well-packed bag can make or break an excursion, no matter how distant or long the trip. When it comes to packing dress shirts, there are many techniques and styles recommended for the savvy traveler to achieve an adequately packed suitcase.
Being able to fold a shirt properly can be a life-saver when it comes to space-saving in your suitcase. Not all folds are universal, so recognizing and executing the best type of fold for your individual dress shirts is a great skill to have at the tip of your hands. And it doesn’t have to be a bummer – think of it as suitcase origami for your wardrobe!
Some points you should consider when deciding how to fold your dress shirts for packing are:
- Shirt material
- Shirt style
- Shirt care considerations
- Age/wear and tear of the shirt
- Natural line and hang of the shirt
Regardless of the shirt style, there are some basic dress shirt folding to-dos that generally apply across the board. Master these basics and modify with extra add-ons that best complement your clothing and packing style.
Dress Shirt Folding Basics 101
Let’s walk through the basics of folding a dress shirt.
- Make sure your shirts are freshly laundered before you begin. Dress shirts fold best when they are clean, dry, and free of any detritus from previous wears.
- Start by laying the shirt down on a smooth, flat surface. Your shirt should be laid face down (in other words, with the shirt buttons or any face-front images and graphics touching the folding surface). Be sure to select a surface that gives you plenty of room on which to work. Folding surfaces should be clean, dry, and free of any materials that may stain or tear the fabric of your shirt. Examples of ideal folding surfaces: a folding table; a pull-out desk surface; a well-swept tile or hardwood floor.
- Spread out the fabric of the shirt as much as possible. Using your hands, gently spread the shirt across the folding surface, expanding the material to its full length. Be sure to include the collar and arms of the shirt, which you can spread out individually, one-at-a-time. Follow the natural line of the material and stitch as you stretch the material to its full length, but be careful not to pull too hard. The idea is to get the shirt as flat as possible without warping it out of shape.
- Smooth the shirt out against the folding surface to get rid of any wrinkles or creases. You may even want to iron your shirts before folding them to ensure they are as smooth as possible from the very beginning. Remember, any pre-existing wrinkles that are folded into your shirt when packed away will get worse in transit. Do yourself a favor and get in the habit of doing the front work of taking care of it from the start.
- Divide and conquer. Starting with the right side of the shirt, fold the material toward the center. Make sure the side hem lies about a third of the way across the back of the shirt in a straight vertical line. Smooth down the fold and lay the right arm sleeve horizontally across the back shoulders of the shirt so that it lies perpendicular to your fold.
- Making a diagonal crease at the shoulder, fold the sleeve back to the right. The sleeve should now lie even (or as even as possible) with the vertical right-side fold line of the shirt. This step works for both long and short sleeves: a long sleeve will generally reach the bottom of the shirt, while a short sleeve will rest somewhere around halfway down.
- Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the left side of the shirt. Double-check to make sure that your folds look even on both sides and that the sleeves line up vertically in length down the back of the shirt.
- Tuck your tails. If there is extra length at the bottom of the shirt, make a small horizontal fold upward over the bottom of the sleeve cuffs. Check to make sure the line of the fold is even and level.
- Fold the bottom line up to the collar so that the shirt is now in half. The shirt should now be in a flat rectangle shape. Smooth out any remaining wrinkles and flip the shirt over. Double-check to make sure the shirt is wrinkle-free and even along the edges, then place carefully in your suitcase. Shirts may be stacked on top of each other.
Depending on your particular style and amount of space you have handy, you may also want to consider alternative folding methods. These methods include the pinch and fold, the Japanese quick fold, or the rolling method.
And remember, like anything else, practice makes perfect. Do a few test folds before packing dress shirts away to travel, and before you know it, you will be a true dress shirt folding pro.