Taking a winter jaunt somewhere down south? Or perhaps you have some business travel coming up soon? If packing a suitcase is in your future anytime soon, then be prepared to take some notes – here’s the best way to pack a suitcase.
- What to Pack: more tops than bottoms. Say your trip is for 5 days – choose 5 shirts and 2, no more than 3 bottoms. Fabrics like cottons and wools are more wrinkle-resistant.
- Rolling vs. folding? A mix of both works best. Tightly rolling your soft garments (like knits, cottons, t-shirts, jeans) protects against wrinkling, while stiffer garments like dress shirts and pants, skirts, and jackets should be folded. Sarah Shendow advises placing a tissue on the garment before folding, and fold ‘around’ the tissue will help reduce wrinkles in folded garments.
- What goes in first? Place your rolled items into the suitcase to create the base layer. Then, add a leftover plastic dry cleaner’s bag on top. The slippery surface will ensure that clothes don’t sit in one position long enough to create wrinkles – they’ll move around a bit. Next, layer on your folded items. When placing pants or skirts, alternate the waistband end so that they aren’t all stacked on top of each other – this will give you more space. Top with another dry cleaning bag.
- How about shoes? Plan to bring no more than three pairs – a flat or sandal, sneakers, and a dress shoe. Wear one of them. With the remaining two, stuff them with socks and small accessories – phone chargers, sunglasses, etc – and then put them in gallon-sized ziplock bag and place along the sides of your suitcase.
- What about a garment bag for my suit? You won’t need it – in the video below, Irvin Shendow shows you how to fold your suit jacket or sports coat, a method his father, Sam Shendow, taught him over 50 years ago.
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