Everyone must adhere to a strict dress code during business negotiations and when participating in various events. And not only suits, but also shirts should be in perfect condition. You shouldn’t hope that they are hidden under jackets and are practically invisible; just iron the collar and cuffs. This is not the case, if the jacket is unbuttoned, all the folds and creases in the front and sides are clearly visible.
But on a business trip you don’t always have the time and opportunity to carefully iron things, so many people prefer to carry their business wardrobe with them in a “take it out and put it on” state. It’s just important not to wrinkle things on the road. To do this, you need to know how to pack shirts in a suitcase for a business trip. It is not difficult, does not require special skills or equipment, but only a little patience and attention.
Preparation
Before packing your things for a business trip, you need to prepare them: wash and iron them thoroughly. It is important to do this at least a day before departure. It is highly undesirable to fold only an ironed men's shirt, and under no circumstances should you pack wet items. They will have a large number of creases that will be difficult to remove.
The fabric must cool completely and then hang on hangers for several hours so that even small wrinkles are completely smoothed out and new ones do not form. Before hanging them on hangers, you need to fasten all the buttons from top to bottom. And only after that, having made sure that the clothes are in impeccable condition, you can start packing your suitcase. It must also be perfectly clean, and most importantly, free of foreign odors, which will certainly penetrate deep into the fabric during the journey. Some of them (for example, smoked meats, fish, some spices) cannot be removed even after washing.
How to pack short sleeve shirts
The following method is great for short-sleeve shirts:
- place it face down;
- divide into 3 parts vertically and bend the left side in a straight line;
- roll up the sleeve 2 times;
- do the same with the right side;
- fold the bottom to the sleeves;
- fold the item in half so that the bottom part connects to the collar.
Another method is suitable for polo shirts and T-shirts:
- place the product face down;
- grab the middle of your right shoulder with one hand and the lower part with the other;
- bend the right side so that the bend is parallel to the side seam;
- do the same with the left side: you will get a rectangle, and the sleeves will be located one above the other;
- take the bottom edge and bring it to your shoulders, and then turn the item face up.
How to fold shirts correctly (method 1)
There are several ways to fold a shirt in a suitcase so as not to wrinkle. If there is enough space in the suitcase, and it is important that the item looks as neat as possible, a men’s shirt is folded with a minimum number of folds:
- carefully place it on a perfectly flat surface, for example on a table, with the clasp down;
- fold the left side along with the sleeve over the back so that the sleeve is located diagonally across the back;
- lift up the main part of the sleeve and place it next to the side seam, the cuff should be level with the bottom edge;
- fold the right side in the same way;
- Fold in thirds lengthwise, starting from the bottom edge;
- turn the clasp upside down.
A piece of cardboard of the appropriate size placed inside the resulting package will help prevent the shirt from getting wrinkled. All that remains is to carefully pack it with the collar up so that other things do not squeeze the ironed men's shirt too much, but it does not move when the suitcase falls.
How to fold things correctly using the “twisting” method
Sometimes it is much more convenient not to fold a shirt, but to roll it up. This method is often used by those who do not like or do not have the opportunity to take large bags or suitcases with them on a business trip or vacation. This method allows you to significantly save space in your luggage and fit more things into a small bag.
However, you should understand that not all clothes can be styled this way. This is acceptable for a polo shirt or silk, cambric or other delicate fabric, but you should not put a jacket in a suitcase this way.
How to fold a shirt neatly (method 2)
There is another way in which the sleeve is correctly folded not in two, but in those places. This allows you to get a more compact result, which is important if you need to take a lot of things on a business trip:
- a carefully ironed men's shirt is laid out on a flat surface with the clasp down;
- the left sleeve is placed on the right side of the back so that there is a straight vertical line in the middle;
- the left sleeve is folded back and then folded again;
- the right half is folded similarly;
- roll lengthwise twice, each time tucking the bottom to approximately the length of your palm;
- turn the clasp upside down.
It is also advisable to put cardboard inside the package.
How to properly pack shirts in a suitcase if there are two or more of them? On top of each other, with collars up and in different directions. A thin strip of cardboard or thin hard object placed under them will allow you to pack the collars correctly without creasing them.
How to beautifully wrap a shirt for a gift
The first and most important point is the color of the packaging. Obviously, for example, a pink bag of flowers is not suitable for a gift on February 23rd. It is strictly forbidden to use colors that shade each other. This will spoil the idea of the future gift. The second aspect is the material. It can be simple paper, fabric, and much more. The most common types of packaging are:
Having the skills to carefully pack a shirt will always be useful both in everyday life and for decorating gifts for men.
Handwritten package
We draw the diagram onto cardboard, and then make folds along the dotted lines. Be sure to prepare the drawing in advance. The next step is decoration. This could be a beautiful ribbon, a special pattern or a “collar”. The result is an inexpensive and practical product.
Creative packaging lifts the festive mood.
For a gift with extras
The most creative option is a shirt bag. It's not that hard to do. Place the pre-prepared gift in the box and wrap it so that the butt seam is on the long part. The collar is made from paper of a different color. A strip 5cm wide is more than enough. Fold the edges and fold them in half along the long side. It should be glued so that it protrudes about one to two centimeters.
Here's how to wrap a shirt in gift paper.
Materials and tools
You don’t have to look for something special to decorate a gift. Ideally, everything can be made from scrap materials. The main thing is to add a pinch of love and creativity. The most commonly used materials are corrugated paper, fabrics, and decorative mesh. Felt, transparent film or burlap look no less stylish.
Cool packaging increases the value of the gift at least twice.
Glue, scissors and cardboard will greatly facilitate the packaging process. If accuracy and symmetry are important, then you can also use a ruler, flexible meter, tape measure, etc.
It's always nice to receive gifts. And a gift, exquisitely and inventively packaged, will be doubly rejoiced.
Clothes made from synthetic fabrics
On a business trip, it is much more convenient to take things made of synthetic fabrics that practically do not wrinkle. But they also need to be laid with care to avoid creases. It is advisable to carefully roll such items into rolls, which will allow them to be placed as compactly as possible, especially if you need to stack several shirts.
This is done as follows:
- carefully lay out a small terry towel on a perfectly flat surface;
- lay the shirt on top of it with the clasp down, having first fastened all the buttons;
- fold the left sleeve along the shoulder line, so that a straight vertical line is formed on the side;
- also fold the right sleeve;
- Roll the roll carefully, starting from the bottom edge. When twisting, you should not apply significant force, but the roll should be quite dense.
Upon arrival at the hotel, clothes folded in this way must be hung on hangers.
Shirt for the road. How not to wrinkle it in a suitcase
The first rule is that the shirt should be after washing. There is no point in laying wet and/or dirty. All the below methods do not work in this case.
If you follow simple rules, you can even take an ironed shirt out of your suitcase after a long trip.
NOTE! The fabric of the product must dry without assistance. Only natural drying guarantees a positive result. This requires at least 30 minutes
Sleeves up or down
Step by step this method looks like this:
- The right hand is at the middle of the shoulder seam. The left hem of the shirt is turned up towards the back area.
- Turn the sleeve to the other side. Be sure to ensure that the folds do not intersect each other.
- Similar actions with the second sleeve.
- Mentally divide the backrest into three relatively identical parts, then fold the product twice.
Before folding a men's shirt after the preparatory stages, it must be fastened with all the buttons, including the cuffs and collar.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION! You should start from the bottom, not the top
Then we turn the item right side out and adjust the collar. One of the best ways. Even a child can cope with it. Simple and at the same time practical.
The last step is to straighten the collar so that there are no folds or bends.
But all of this applies to a long-sleeved shirt. For short ones, this method looks a little different:
- Buttoned shirt with the back facing up.
- The sidewall is bent to the center line. A fold is made in the middle of the seam in the shoulder area.
- Similar actions with the opposite part.
- Fold at the bottom several times.
Folding a short-sleeve shirt beautifully is not difficult at all.
One of the most popular methods due to its effectiveness. If you follow all the recommendations, the risk of getting wrinkled clothes is reduced to zero. The only negative is its lack of compactness. A shirt folded using this method will take up a lot of space in your travel bag.
For the ideal appearance of the product, it is enough to know this folding method.
How to roll compactly
The step-by-step instructions for this method are extremely banal.
- Fasten all the buttons except the top part located on the neck and cuffs.
- Lay out the shirt with the shelves facing down.
- Mentally draw a parallel line to the side seam from the middle of the shoulder to the hem.
- Fold it towards the middle, holding the edges with your hands.
- Turn the sleeve the other way.
- Make a fold from the hem approximately the height of your palm.
- Roll into a neat roll.
Absolutely anyone can cope with this installation. In addition, its undoubted advantage is ease of transportation. Even the smallest suitcase will fit about 7-8 packed shirts. Ideal for outdoor formal events.
The result is a quickly compact roll that does not take up much space.
Down or up using paper. “Like in a store” effect
Place the buttoned shirt with the buttons down. For the top part, use A4 sheet. A journal or document tablet is ideal. Then fold one of the sides towards the center and apply the sleeve. The same actions are done with the second half. If the shirt is too long, then you need to fold its bottom edge. With short ones, this stage can be removed.
This method significantly saves time, allowing you to cope with a complex task in a few seconds.
The opposite side is placed on top, with preliminary bending along the edge of the paper. Afterwards, you need to remove the paper as carefully as possible. If all the rules are followed, the result is the same as what you see on the shelves of clothing markets and stores.
Among the advantages of the method, it is also worth noting that the resulting items are the same size.
The principle of laying on top looks a little different. Absolutely the same steps, only the sleeve is bent upward and then folded in half. There are many videos on YouTube showing this method in practice. So there shouldn’t be any special problems with it. If it’s not clear in words, in most videos everything is clearly shown and explained.
This is convenient for both transportation and simple storage.
Marie Kondo's method
One of the most sophisticated and beautiful styling methods. Loved by many for its simplicity and sophistication. It looks like this step by step:
- Unbutton your shirt and lay it down so that the buttons are facing down. One side is folded towards the center.
- The next step is to fold the sleeve in half.
- We do the same actions on the opposite side and with the other sleeve.
- The finishing touch is to fold the shirt in half.
IMPORTANT! It is necessary to bend the sleeve so that it is completely invisible from under the edge of the shirt.
Useful tips
When going on a business trip, you should think through your wardrobe in advance for especially important meetings and events. It is desirable that things combine as well as possible with each other and are interchangeable. To prevent them from getting wrinkled on the road, you should not fold the suitcase too tightly, making it difficult to close the lid. It is better to put only the most expensive and wrinkled men's clothing in it, and keep underwear and tracksuits in a bag. It is not recommended to transport shampoo, cologne, deodorant, and most importantly, food and bottles of alcoholic beverages next to your business wardrobe. Such dense objects can dent things. Often, when a suitcase is dropped, it breaks, opens, and expensive clothes lying nearby are damaged.
Transporting items made from thin, delicate fabrics requires special attention. How to fold a shirt in a suitcase so that it looks perfect? Use additional measures to protect against dirt and creases. The simplest thing is to wrap the item in thin soft paper. It is advisable to place it under each button so that under the pressure of other things and their own weight, marks do not appear on the fabric.
General recommendations
When getting ready to go on the road, they iron each item without distorting the folding of the longitudinal threads, that is, they smooth the fold strictly along the thread running from the center of the sleeve cap to the cuff itself. After ironing the shirt, you need to fasten the top button and hang the item on a hanger. Check the evenness of the lowered sleeves. Before folding, you need to let the shirt cool thoroughly.
Factory-made products are always packaged on cardboard; such packaging devices can be saved after purchase, but you can also make your own insert from improvised materials. This method was not conceived by manufacturers by chance. That's why a nicely folded shirt can be pulled out of its packaging at the store, thrown on, and headed to the office.
If you apply a little patience when folding, transporting shirts in a suitcase is not difficult. But they often travel with a travel bag. In this case, rolling is considered the most suitable. Regularly folding men's shirts will develop experience, and in the future it will be done automatically.
Several life hacks for folding
To avoid wrinkles on your shirt, you can use one of three folding options:
- using a special mechanical device;
- by preserving the substrate;
- rolling the thing into a roll.
There is fabric that wrinkles a lot, the last method is not suitable. You need to use other options for how to fold a shirt. If you put shirts in a closet, they should be placed in an even stack, and the collars on the items should be in a “jack”. Then the shirt will be perfectly ironed at any time.
Recently, mechanical means for folding any items have become especially popular: shirts, T-shirts, trousers, sweaters. Using the device has a number of advantages:
- time is saved significantly;
- there are no wrinkles on clothes;
- things in a stack are the same size.
To fold the product, you need to place it face down on the device and bend it to the middle of the side. After this, you need to fold the item in half.
Preserving the substrate
Using a cardboard backing, you can easily pack the shirt as a gift. You can even give such a thing without a box, wrapping the shirt in a beautiful fabric.
Folding is done on a sheet of cardboard, the width of which is equal to the width of the product, and the length is equal to a third of the length. After choosing a suitable sheet, you need to fold it in half and crease the middle well. The cardboard is located on the back. The top of the sheet should be near the collar. Then you can choose any of the folding options considered.
Other
If you need to take a lot of things on the road, you can use the roll-up option. It will help you arrange products and generally get ready quickly. The process includes three stages:
- Place the product face down.
- Fold the right sleeve up to the shoulder so that the edge is vertical. Do the same with the left sleeve.
- Roll the item starting from the bottom.
It is impossible to look presentable in wrinkled clothes. The person immediately seems sloppy. If for a number of reasons it is not possible to iron the shirt and immediately hang it on hangers, you can choose one of the ways to fold the shirt to keep it in perfect shape.
If you need to have several shirts on a business trip, then do the preparatory work at home.
1. Check carefully to make sure they are clean and free of stains. Especially often such things get dirty in the area of the collar and cuffs.
2. If you notice dirt or the smell is not very fresh, it is better to wash them. If there is a “no crease” function on the washing machine, then you need to use this mode.
3. To reduce wrinkles during drying, it is recommended to hang shirts with buttons fastened.
4. When using an iron, the shirt should be ironed in the steam mode (if it is made of natural fabrics). Start ironing from the collar. Next, iron the straps, the back, and finally the sleeves and cuffs.
5. After ironing, such items cannot be folded immediately, as they may still be damp from the steam and will wrinkle even more. To dry, it is better to hang them by the hangers on a hanger, while fastening all the buttons.
6. Only after complete drying can you think about how to put such things on the shelf.
Fast folding method
To avoid spending a lot of time packing, there is one way to quickly fold a shirt. This algorithm was invented in Japan and is designed for folding T-shirts.
The method consists of the following steps:
- Lay out the product with the front half up.
- Mentally draw two lines: one from the middle of the right shoulder from top to bottom parallel to the side seam. The top of the line will be indicated by point K, and the bottom by point M.
- Approximately in the middle of the shirt there will be a second line perpendicular to the first. The intersection of the two lines will be designated point C.
- The product is grasped with the left hand at point C, and with the right hand at point K. Make sure that the fabric is fully grasped (backs and shelves).
- The right hand is connected to point M in a straight line, moving over the left hand. Grab the shirt at point M with your right hand, not forgetting to grab the entire hem and back.
- Then the hands are straightened with a sharp movement, slightly shaking the thing and lifting it from the surface.
- In the correct position, the shirt should hang down with the free sleeve. It is laid so that the sleeve touches the surface first, and the rest is located on it.
How to quickly straighten wrinkles
Sometimes using all of the above methods does not help, and the shirt still wrinkles. In such cases, resort to steam treatment. The exception is linen material, which can shrink when exposed to moist air. If finding a steam generator or iron is problematic, you can hang your shirt in the bathroom and turn on the hot water. The door is closed for 10-15 minutes to prevent steam leakage. As a result, the fabric is smoothed out, and the shirt looks as if it had just been ironed.
These rules apply to any items you need to travel, and can also be used for home storage.
How to pack a product so it doesn't get wrinkled
On business trips you need to take a lot of things: in addition to clothes, you need to pack personal hygiene products and other accessories in your suitcase. There are high chances that the shirt will wrinkle. Therefore, it is important to know how to put shirts in a suitcase so that they look like they have been ironed. To do this, you can use available materials - cardboard, plastic holders or wrapping paper, as well as special devices.
To ensure that things look neat after transportation, it is advisable to place them in a suitcase with hard walls.
Using cardboard
Using a cardboard backing, you can beautifully wrap a shirt as a gift. Even without a box, the item will retain its shape, so it will not be a shame to give it as a gift. To make it more presentable, you should wrap the gift in wrapping paper or fabric and wrap it with ribbon.
To pack the shirt, you will need thick rectangular cardboard. If the back is divided into 3 parts, then the width should occupy the entire center, the height should be 1/3 of the length of the product. Then fold the cardboard into 2 parts so that there is a bend in the center. This will make the process of folding things easier. Packaging technology consists of the following steps:
- place the cardboard on the back, beginning at the collar;
- then follow the instructions depending on the chosen method.
To prevent your shirt from getting wrinkled in your suitcase, you can additionally cover it with cardboard on all sides.
In the form of a roll
Rolled items take up less space, but the likelihood that folds will form and the clothes will lose their well-groomed appearance is still height. Nevertheless, in a number of situations this particular method is needed, so it would be useful to know how to fold a shirt for travel in a roll correctly. The process looks like this:
- Place the product with the front side down.
- Fold the left sleeve along the shoulder line. The edge should be vertical. Repeat similarly for the right sleeve.
- Starting from the bottom, roll the product up to the collar.
In the process, you don’t need to put too much pressure on the folds, as all your efforts may go down the drain. The shirt should be placed in the suitcase with the collar facing up.
The rolled method is not suitable for wrinkled fabric.
Using a mechanical device
Progress does not stand still; enterprising manufacturers have developed a special device for quickly and neatly folding things. It's called a mechanical folder. The device consists of three parts. With its help you can fold any wardrobe item, including men's shirts. It is quite easy to use. You need to put clothes on the device. Then fold the sides one by one, then fold the product in half. This invention is useful for young people who have a lot of shirts in their wardrobe. But it has its drawback - quite often, folds remain when folded quickly.
Basic recommendations
Having arrived at the appointed place, you don’t want to run around looking for an iron, and you may not have enough time for this at all. In order for things to always be in perfect condition, they must be folded correctly, be it in a suitcase, bag or closet.
- After ironing, do not put things directly into a closet or bag; let them cool. The fact is that steamed and hot material is even more susceptible to creasing, and even if you fold the shirt perfectly and according to all the rules, you will take it out with unpleasant folds and creases.
- Having bought a new shirt, do not rush to get rid of the cardboard that is inside it. You can replace them with ordinary cardboard, which must be cut to the shape of the product. Use them after every ironing to protect your shirt from wrinkles.
- When packing things into a suitcase, wrap a light shirt with white paper, this way you will protect it not only from creases and folds, but also from stains.
- For people who are often on the go, they sell a special bag for storing shirts and suits, it’s called a portmant.
- Shirts should be stored on top of each other at home, but you should not put heavy items on top, even if you cannot completely get rid of wrinkled places, but you will significantly reduce ironing time.
- If it was not possible to avoid wrinkles, then you can iron the shirt without the help of an iron. After your morning shower, hang the product on hangers and place it in the bathroom. Hot steam will quickly straighten out any creases, and after just a short time the shirt is ready to go out.