Tell me if this has happened to you: you spent hours carefully folding your suit and dress shirts and arrive at your conference’s hotel that night, excited to unpack your wrinkle-free clothes.

But you unzip your bag and find your suit creased with a million wrinkles and looking like parchment paper. Even though you handled your carry on like it contained priceless Ming Dynasty china.

Now, instead of using the night to prep for your important business meeting in the morning or catching up on sleep so you’re fresh and sharp, you toil over ironing your suit and shirts.

Or you madly Google search for a dry cleaner who is a) open at midnight and b) can return your suit and shirts wrinkle-free by 7am tomorrow morning. This is no longer a restful or productive night.

Banish the endless circle of crossing your fingers that your suits and shirts will arrive at your destination wrinkle-free.

Instead, learn how to pack your suit so it always arrives wrinkle-free. So you can spend the night before in a more productive manner, like getting a good night’s sleep or some extra prep in. That way your meeting the next morning goes off without a hitch — and your suit and dress shirt are crisp.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • Some jacket materials will wrinkle easier than others. Check your jacket to make sure it’s made from specific fabrics that are more crease-resistant than others.
    Fabrics to aim for to reduce wrinkles in your suits:

    • Wool: keeps you warm in winter and is very wrinkle-resistant.
    • Lyocell: also known by its brand name, Tencel. Strong, soft, machine-washable and wrinkle-resistant.
    • Cashmere: Strong and warm yet lightweight and wrinkle-resistant. If it looks wrinkled, just lay flat or hang for a little while.
    • Polyester: soft and comfortable, plus durable and wrinkle-resistant.
  • Keep your expectations in check. It’s impossible to keep all wrinkles out of your suit when traveling. However, these are method to reduce the amount of wrinkles you’ll get.
  • Rule of thumb: minimize the amount of folds you put into a jacket. The less folds equals less places where wrinkles and creases can be created.
  • Test out your suit packing method a few days before your trip. This way you can find out if your suit will wrinkle, and have an opportunity to test out another way of folding it.
  • In a pinch: if you unpack and find your suit badly wrinkled, hang up your suit in the bathroom. Run your shower hot for 15-20 minutes to build up the steam. If needed, put a rolled up towel under the door to keep the steam in. The steam will relax some of the wrinkles from your suit.
  • When arriving at your hotel, immediately hang up your suit and shirts to let gravity work out any wrinkles that may have happened in transit.

3 methods of packing your suit to reduce wrinkles:

1. Fold your suit and dress shirts like your dry cleaner does, and reduce wrinkles in transit.

2. Roll your jacket

(Photos credit: Travel & Leisure)

roll 1

Hold your jacket facing away from you. Turn one half of the jacket, including the sleeve, inside out.

roll 2

Slide the right-side out sleeve into the inside-out sleeve and pull through. Fold the jacket sleeve across.

roll 3

Put a pair of rolled up briefs or a t-shirt under the shoulder pads (inside the jacket) to protect their shape.

roll 4

Lay the jacket flat and line up the lapels and collar. Roll the jacket around the briefs or t-shirt.

roll 5

Fold your suit pants in half lengthwise and roll around your jacket.

3. Fold your jacket and pants.

(Photos credit: Business Insider)

fold 1

With your jacket facing you, place your hands in the shoulders of the jacket.

fold 2

Put the two shoulders of the jacket together.

fold 4 - combine with 3

Fold one shoulder of jacket inside out over the jacket’s other shoulder.

fold 5

Fold jacket in half: the shoulders towards the end of the jacket.

Fold your pants in half. Fold pants in half again.

fold 7

Put folded pants in the fold of the jacket. It creates a cushion for the jacket that defends against wrinkles.

Or you could use SLICKS backpack with the Suitcover insert to keep your suits well-protected and wrinkle-free. It even comes with a handy system of folding your dress shirts to keep them wrinkle-free.

Then, when you reach your hotel, the Suitcover transforms to a garment bag that you can hang in your closet.

Plus, the Suitcover insert neatly fits into the SLICKS carry-on-sized backpack, available with the SUIT25 and BIZ25 option of the SLICKS backpack. So you’re still free to catch that taxi and not waste time with cumbersome baggage or delayed baggage claims.

What are your tips in keeping your suit wrinkle-free while you travel?