Learn How to Pack a Suit Like a Road Warrior
How To Fold Your Suit to Avoid Wrinkles Traveling
Traveling with your suit can be an unavoidable fact of life for some men. Often, this comes with facing the frustrations of figuring out how to pack a suit so that it looks just as good as it did before you checked your bag. As suit connoisseurs, we can relate, and you’re not alone. Many, many men look for answers to solve this problem, our customers included, like Jason.L who asks, “I’m wondering how to pack a suit in a suitcase without it looking like wrinkled tissue paper when I get to my hotel.”
Let’s be honest, there are enough problems to face while traveling, so let’s make this one easy. Learning how to pack a suit is simple, that is, once you have the folding part down. We’ve broken down how we fold our suits for travel into an easy, four-step process.
The 4 Steps to Easily Pack a Suit
Step 1
The first step to packing a suit begins while holding the suit jacket upright. With the jacket at attention, pop in one of the shoulders and pull it inside-out as seen below (some choose to pull the entire sleeve inside out as well, but this is not necessary).
Step 2:
After that, you will want to fold in the opposite shoulder into the one previously popped inside-out until the entire length of the lapel is lined up nicely. Understanding how to pack a suit means realizing that in order to work with a small space like a suitcase, these alignments need to be clean, so make sure the lapel is, indeed, lined up.
Step 3:
Then, fold the suit jacket vertically so that everything is lined up to the width of one shoulder. Again, make sure that when you’re folding your suit for travel that these alignments are perfect in order to mitigate wrinkles.
Step 4:
The last step when folding your suit jacket for travel is to fold the jacket horizontally in half so that the top of the shoulders is lined up with the bottom edge of the jacket. After that, all you need to do is simply place your suit jacket inside whatever container you’re using to travel!
Good to Go!
There you have it, you now know how to pack a suit with the correct folding technique! That’s how to pack a suit in a suitcase Black Lapel style. The suit jacket is now ready to pack. Fold your pants along the crease and your suit should come out looking just as fresh at your destination as it did at your departure! Incidentally, this is also how your suit arrives fresh out of the Black Lapel box.
A Final Note About Packing a Suit
No matter how well you master folding your suit the way we’ve shown, you may still have slight wrinkles in your suit jacket when you arrive at your destination. No matter, as there are easy ways to solve any slight wrinkling (if any occurred). The simplest way is to hang your suit jacket in your bathroom while you’re running the shower, allowing the steam trapped inside the bathroom to correct any leftover wrinkles you may have.
Got any questions about this folding method? Need some travel suits to get your started?Leave a comment below or send us your questions at concierge@blacklapel.com!
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Thanks for the great idea
Thought I knew how to pack a suit in a case ( wrong ) packed my suit a week ago in with rest of clothes to see how they would fare given the distance travelling, South Australia to Los Angeles 15 days Cruising Hawaii,a week back in LA then back home to S.Australia, I was amazed that there was not a wrinkle at all, will feel relaxed knowing that my suit will be wrinkle free when on board ship. thank you for a great idea.
That’s some vacation for a suit! We’re glad you were able to put our advice to the test and still come out with a wrinkle-free suit.
Hi there,
Just to let you know you were featured on our blog!
Why thank you, Colleen. We’re honored. Not as honored as we would be if you, say, sent us some tickets to Hawaii to show off our packing skills, 😉 but honored!
What do you consider a long time to have a suit folded in this position?… I am mailing a couple suits home from another country and I looked on here for some advice.
Unless you’re talking about a very short trip, Julius, you’ll want to steam the jackets before wearing them when you return. Don’t worry, though, you won’t do any damage to the jackets by having them packed up for a few days while you ship them.
Will be flying from Georgia to Guam for a wedding in May. I will definitely be using this method to keep my stuff in decent condition. Luckily, I should arrive with enough time to hit up a dry cleaner if necessary. Now all I need to stress about is the flying with my wife and three children.
Wow, Georgia to Guam with three kids for a wedding! The bride and groom ought to buy YOU a gift. If you need to give them a hint, tell them Black Lapel offers gift cards ;-).
Come across this incredible website and ordered a steam shower and never ever glanced back, great information here cannot give thanks enough
Glad to be helpful. A steamer can be live saver, or at least a style saver! Keep it handy, use it often.
Thanks for that. It’s something I need to know ’cause we’re going to a Wedding in L.A.
Mike- Southampton, England.
Southampton to L.A. is a long trip, Mike. Now that you’ve got the jacket figured out, get some rest so you don’t arrive looking like YOU were stuffed in a suitcase for the whole trip!
Very quick and very helpful. Thank you ever so much!
Glad to help. Safe (and stylish) travels!
Just changed my life with this one! Can’t wait to pack…
Life changing? You better believe it! If anybody questions your packing skills, you have now earned the right to say…”Pack it up, pack it in / Let me begin / I came to win / Battle me? That’s a sin.”
Another tip that has worked for me business travelling for 20 years. First thing you do when you get to your hotel room – even before you unpack. Go to the bathroom, open the show curtain full and turn on the hot shower on full and walk out closing the bathroom door behind you.
Start you unpack etc and after 15+ minutes, get your suit(s) and put them on hangers with jacket and trousers separately and trousers full hung from the cuffs and hang them in the now steamed up bathroom (turn water off first). Close door behind you and leave till next morning when any travel wrinkles and creases will have dropped out…
Kev, thanks for sharing the smart tip! The old shower steam method is a classic quick fix when you find yourself with a bind with a wrinkled suit and no time for a visit to the dry cleaners.
A while back I purchased a roll-up carry on suitcase for keeping clothes wrinkle free on short trips – would it be preferrable to pack the suit jacket as outlined here, or is rolling it in my skyroll an okay option?
We prefer the method outline here as it not only prevents wrinkles, but is extremely efficient and easy to do. However, if a roll-up carry on suitcase works keeps your suit wrinkle-free, there’s no reason why you can’t opt for it on those shorter trips.
What about if a suit jacket doesn’t have shoulder pads? I find it much harder to do and can’t seem to get it right.
Nic, it may be a bit trickier to do with a suit jacket that doesn’t have shoulder pads (and a little flimsier), but the method is the same–pull one shoulder inside out (in your case, use your hand for extra support in lieu of the shoulder pad) and slip the other shoulder into it until the entire length of the lapel is lined up. Folding the suit in half should also help keep it place. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the tips! What do I do with the sleeves though? Do I just leave it as is when I start folding 1 shoulder into the other?
Ken, once you do the tuck, lay the jacket down flat and adjust the sleeves accordingly so they’re laying inside flat and neatly before you fold in half. Hope that helps!
Thanks for this. I have been using this technique for a while, but I wish that I had printed copies of these instructions to hand out on planes and trains. I cringe every time I see someone crumble up his suit jacket and place it in the overhead compartment. I am going to share this on my blog, in the hopes this tip will save a few wrinkled souls.
Print copies of The Compass for every plane and train…we like the sound of that! Thanks for reading and sharing Matthew!
THANK YOU! This is a lifesaver especially with more than one suit.
We’re real glad this helped Danielle!
Brilliant. I was in Melbourne airport and with the summer found that wearing a jacket through the flight would be top uncomfortable. Did a quick online search search and found your site. Folded the jacket as you suggested and put it in my carry on.
Thank you very much.
Glad we were able to help you out Shai!
I needed this last week. My jacket is totally wrinkled now. THanks for this post!
Glad it was helpful Riley!
I use this method but actually feed one sleeve through the other sleeve. Then, when its folded, its less likely to create wrinkles. I’ll also use the roll method using socks or shirts.
Amit – Not a bad idea with the sleeves! We’ll have to give that a try!
Please pack a shirt too!
Hey Jim, we plan on it! For now, check out this excellent video on folding and packing a dress shirt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDGWW7_O2sI#t=1m43s
Hope that helps!
Barney Stinson would be proud. Suit up !!
Haha agreed! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT_vf5ioXXk
It works extremely well – I have seen this tip eons ago in a book written by a butler (Stanley Auger?), and used it since. Thanks so much for bringing it to the surface again!
No problem Modernist! Just passing along the good wisdom!
Let us know if you ever find the title of that book. We’d love to check it out!
My mother taught me that technique over thirty years ago. Over the years I’ve passed it on to lots of people.
Simon, a mother knows best!
That’s the way I have been folding jackets for the past 40 years. Sales at J.Press Inc.
Brilliant.
What’s the longest that we could store our jackets as so without fear of wrinkling it?
Thanks Adrian! This method is probably better suited for packing your suit jacket during shorter trips. If you want to store your jacket for longer periods without it wrinkling, we recommend hanging your suit on a proper suit hanger in a cloth garment bag (with the zipper open to allow air). Hope that helps!
What’s the reason to allow air inside the garment bag?
Hey Michael, keeping the garment bag open will allow the suit to air out and remove any moisture that may be damaging over time.
I’d probably slide my folded slacks or a couple of t-shirts inside the last fold of the jacket, just to add a bit of crease protection.
I tried it today and it worked flawlessly. Amazing… thanks!
Glad it worked for you Sebastian! Thank YOU for reading!
A smart tip is to put a shirt or two in between the two folds when folding the jacket over. That way you avoid a sharp crease in the middle of your jacket when packing it in a full bag or briefcase.
Wonderful idea. How about the sleeves though? Do they stay unwrinkled too?
Great. But what do you do about the dress shirt!
Hey Dan, here’s a great method for folding and packing a dress shirt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDGWW7_O2sI#t=1m43s
I travel all the time and I see how wrong I have been in the past.
This is going to make my life so much easier.
Thanks Black Lapel!
Great tip… must share with my other road warrior coworkers.
Glad you enjoyed it Charles!
Exactly how my suit jacket was folded when I opened up the box last week. So, so pleased with the fit (like a glove) and the overall service; I’ll definitely be taking these tips into account the next time I travel with my suit!
Thanks BO! This comment really made our day! We’re so glad you’re pleased with the suit and experience!
that’s genius!!!
Thanks Sarah! We thought so too!