How to Keep Your Business Clothes from Wrinkling in Your Luggage

Originally posted on https://advancomlatam.com/147/how-to-keep-your-business-clothes-from-wrinkling-in-your-luggage/

Opening your suitcase to a bunch of wrinkled business clothes can be a huge nuisance. Read on to learn how to keep your clothes wrinkle-free when traveling.

Packing is arguably the most annoying part of travel, whether it’s for business or for personal reasons. How well you pack plays a big role in how much you end up enjoying your trip.

This is especially true when you’re on a work trip and need to look your absolute best. You can afford a few wrinkles when walking around a new city with your friends or going to dinner with your family. When you’re doing business, though, you need to make sure you look sharp from head to toe.

Here are some tips to help you prevent wrinkles in your business clothes when traveling.

Before you even put something in your suitcase, take a moment to look at the tag. What’s your favorite dress shirt made of? Can you find another professional dress that isn’t made out of cotton?

Fabrics like wool, cashmere, and knits do a great job of holding up without wrinkles while traveling.

If you’re going to a warm place and you need clothing that’s more lightweight, pack items made with a polyester or spandex blend. This will help you reduce the chances of wrinkles and allow you to better take care of any that may occur.

If you can’t help but bring a bunch of pieces that are prone to wrinkles, take your time while packing.

Try to overlap delicate items so they’re not rubbing up on themselves as your suitcase goes from place to place. Wrap them around other clothing items that are less prone to wrinkles. This gives your delicate pieces a bit of a cushion.

Another way to protect your business clothes from wrinkles is to roll them rather than overlapping them.

Roll your pantsuit from the top of the waist to the hemline when you’re ready to put it in your suitcase. Fold blouses over once then roll them from the top down.

If your go-to business style is dress shirts and nice jackets, this may not be the best option for you. It does work well for laid-back trousers, light sweaters, and accessories like ties and dress socks, though.

The thing about business clothing items like a dress shirt is that they’re prone to wrinkles even when they’re sitting in your closet. This is why most people get their shirts dry cleaned. It’s also why you should keep your dry cleaning bags before you go on a trip.

There’s no need to take your clothes out of their nice, protective dry cleaning bags after they’ve been ironed. All you need to do is lay them flat in your suitcase with the bag still in place.

You may have some adjusting to do depending on how big the suitcase is and the size of the dry cleaning bag. But this is a much better alternative to taking off the bag and just hoping for the best.

There is one alternative to dry cleaning bags that may sound more appealing to you: tissue paper. That’s right — the same old tissue paper you use when stuffing gift bags can do wonders for you when preparing for a business trip.

You just have to learn how to fold your clothes the right way.

Try to mimic how your dress shirts are folded when you buy them and how you see people fold trousers and jackets. The same rules apply for ladies’ clothing, but you may have more fabric to work with depending on the cut/style of your outfit pieces.

Still, this is one of the best travel hacks you can ever learn. It may take you some practice to get just right, but when you do, you can trust that your business clothes will always travel wrinkle-free.

Keep in mind that you can use all the wrinkle-free tips you want, but you’re basically asking for wrinkles if you stuff your suitcase. You want to give your clothes room to breathe and move around a bit.

Putting too much pressure on them with excessive packing will actually encourage more wrinkling to occur. It counteracts all the hard work you’ve put in to arrive with professional clothing that’s ready to go.

If you’re still worried about having a bunch of wrinkled clothes when you arrive at your final destination, just buy a garment bag. Garment bags are one of the smartest purchases you can ever make if you’re always on the road.

It’s a suitcase and a protective item all in one. You can pack it with small things like underwear, toiletries, and undershirts, but also trust that your dress shirts/ladies dresses will be perfectly fine.

The garment bag looks and feels like a normal suitcase on the outside, but it’s a wonderful wrinkle solution on the inside.

If this purchase seems a bit excessive for just one or two outfits with, get a cover for your clothes. Many airplanes have coatracks at the very front where you can hang your cover. This separates your business outfits from the rest of your clothes, and it helps prevent wrinkles.

The best way to prevent wrinkles when traveling with business clothes is to learn from experience. You probably won’t get this right on the very first try, and that’s totally fine. The more you find yourself on business trips and early morning flights, the better you’ll be able to present yourself wherever you go.

For more packing tips for all kinds of clothing items, click here.