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How to Pack a Suit for Travel Without Wrinkling It

What’s the best way to pack a suit? Whether you’re trying to pack for your airline carry-on, or simply get your suit to your wedding in pristine condition, the last thing you want to do is damage it or crease it so it can’t be worn on the other side. Today, the team of expert tailors from Oliver Wicks takes an in-depth look at how to properly pack your suit for convenience and safety, without having a wrinkled mess to sort out at the end of the trip.

The Right Bag

A little helper, pro tip: check you have everything, pro tip: know your jacket, every fold - think “roll”, not “crease”, the classic way, using a dry cleaning bag, the inside-out shoulder, for a carry-on bag, shoes, belt, and accessories, preparation.

Did you know that the number one cause of wrinkles and other issues when packing a suit, for airline travel particularly, is simply overpacking? Because of those funky weight limits, we cram as much as possible into each bag, and it is really not the way to go with something as expensive and important as your best suit. Years ago, we’d use a garment bag to carry the suit onto the plane separately, but with carry-on luggage becoming ever more limited, that’s no longer quite as practical as it once was—you probably need more than just your suit and laptop on the plane, right?

Garment bags certainly still have their uses—if you’re traveling by car, for example, one will be invaluable to help your suit arrive in one piece. And you may like to use one to hang your suit in when you arrive at your destination. But for airline travel, we advise ensuring you have a high-quality, sturdy piece of luggage instead. One with sufficient room to fit all your items in without cramping them. Make sure it has a hard shell or stiff sides to protect your suit and other items from the jostling in the cargo hold. It’s important to make sure that the suit that fits you also fits your luggage well, so you don’t damage the garment. This preparation will pay you back when you look fitted, tailored, and amazing on the other side.

If you’re able to squeeze it into your luggage allowance, a small hand garment steamer will be the single best investment you can make. If you can’t, there are some workarounds—hotels often have ironing services, or you can do a lot with some hanging time in the steam of a hot bathroom. But the ability to properly de-crease and care for your garment on the go will be invaluable to you.

Next, make sure you really do have your full suit. Do you want to hear fun stories of guests, grooms, and businessmen who’ve landed to find one cufflink, a shoe, or a belt missing? Sure, that’s fun! Do you want to be that guest, groom, or businessman? Not so much.

Dressing is a pretty instinctive act, especially if we often wear a suit, but you’d be surprised how many little details you can leave out of the mix in a rush. And if you’re not wearing a suit often, unfamiliarity will catch you. So, take some time before the rush of packing to itemize everything and make sure you have every detail—from the jacket, suit pants, and dress shirt right through to belts/bracers/cummerbunds, shoes, socks, cufflinks, pocket squares, ties or bow ties, and any accessories that you plan to wear. We suggest making a list and ticking it off as you pack for extra peace of mind.

How to Actually Pack Your Suit

A close-up shot of a suit's jacket, combined with a red tie and a red handkerchief

Now you have everything you need for suit packing, let’s get to the nitty gritty—how are you going to make this stiff, bulky, and expensive item fold up neatly and safely? Don’t worry—it can be done, we promise! Learning how to pack a suit for travel is surprisingly simple.

If, however, you’re really not able to squeeze your suit into the luggage space you have available, you can always consider wearing it to fly. After all, men and women alike used to dress up for travel! While it comes with an element of risk (a bit of turbulence and your inflight meal might end up in your lap!) , it will ensure your suit gets there. However, the rigors of travel will leave small creases, so don’t expect it to be ready to wear—luckily, your hand steamer will help with that!

By far the hardest part of a suit to fold is your jacket because it has the thickest fabric and most complicated construction. Take a moment to examine exactly how your jacket is built. Whether it has a full or half canvas, for example, will drastically impact your ability to fold it, as well as how badly affected it will be by the process.

So, get to know your suit a little and you’ll feel more confident about selecting the best packing method. Knowing what suiting fabric was used in your suit will also help you determine how it will hold up in travel.

We are going to focus on packing the jacket for now—we will touch on other parts of the suit under different headings below. Knowing how to pack a blazer for travel is the toughest part.

Huh? We’ll explain…

When folding a letter to fit inside an envelope, you’ll fold the paper on itself, and run your finger down the fold for a nice flat crease. Take note - Try to avoid doing this with garments.

Instead, try to make gentle, loose rolls. When it’s time to unpack, this will lower the chances of having any crease/fold marks left in the jacket, which would be equally as bad as wrinkles, thus defeating the purpose of trying to pack carefully in the first place. In many cases, a deep crease is actually harder to rectify than wrinkles.

This method is very efficient, creating a neat square, but it will involve the most folds as you are packing your suit jacket both horizontally and vertically, so keep that in mind.

Face your jacket down on a flat surface
Fold one shoulder into the midpoint of the back, sleeve flat along the back
You may need to fold the sleeve back toward the outside
Mirror the other side
Now you have the two sleeves parallel down the center back of the jacket
Fold the hem to just under the collar
Slide your hand under the folded jacket and flip it (lapels will be up, facing you)
Place it on top of the rest of your packed luggage, lapels up for minimum damage

In addition to your jacket, you can pack your vest this way, as there are just no sleeves to fold.

This method will protect the fabric better, and can cut down on creasing, but is a larger fold in the end. You can use a traditional suit garment bag, or a thin dry cleaning bag—both work.

Hang the suit inside the garment bag, with the hanger
Lapels should face you
Gather the bottom hem of the jacket and fold it up to the collar
Think of it like a taco shell shape with the lapels and front of the jacket inside and the back outside

This has similarities to the classic method. It is best for satin/silk-lined jackets as it will cut down on creases a lot. If you were wondering how to pack a tuxedo in a suitcase, this could be your method of choice.

Spread the suit jacket on a flat surface with lapels down
Fold one shoulder to the center midline, with the sleeve back
Fold it back toward the outer edge as needed
Now, turn the other shoulder inside-out
Insert the first shoulder into the “pocket” created
Bring the inside-out sleeve toward the center
Fold the jacket in half down the center
Fold the bottom to the top
(Optional) Encase the folded jacket in a dry-cleaning bag

Place it into your suitcase, on the top to avoid additional pressure. There are some variants of this “pocket” method you can try, too.

If you have limited space, for example, when packing a suit in a backpack, or if you want to know how to fold a suit in a carry-on, this is for you.

Pop both shoulders of the jacket inside out
Fold it in half so the lapels touch (the lining will be on the outside)
Fold it again, in thirds

It is ready to pack. This one is easier than it sounds, so try the following video if you need a visual—it also shows you how to fold the trousers, which we are about to cover.

Now your jacket is done, let’s get the trousers packed. You can use any of the jacket folds we’ve covered here for this.

Simply lay your suit pants out folded in half lengthways (one full leg visible)
Place the folded jacket in the middle, around knee height
Fold the cuffs up and over the jacket, then the belt section (in thirds)

Now your jacket and pants are in a neat square, ready to pack.

Remove your collar stays before packing, so they don’t bend. Also, take off any boutonnieres, collar pins, etc. so they don’t get pressed flat or pushed into the wrong sections of material.

Spread out your dress shirt face down on a hard, flat surface, buttoned up
Fold the sleeves toward the center, up the middle
They’ll look crisscrossed.
Now, fold the cuff straight up the back on both sides to meet the collar
Fold the shoulder of each side to the centerline (meet in the middle)
Now, fold the hem to the collar

Need a video? Try this one :

Invest in a drawstring shoe bag to pack your dress shoes . You can see these simple bags in the following make-your-own video , but they can be bought commercially, too. Grocery bags will do, but c’mon—let’s be elegant.

The bag will keep wax, polish, and any dirt from impacting the rest of your luggage. Ideally, use two and pack the shoes individually at the bottom of your bag. If necessary, you can pack them in one together—place the soles on the outside, and the shoe heel to toe. This may crush them together a little, though.

You can roll up socks, ties , belts , bracers, pocket squares, and other accessories and place them in the shoes for safekeeping and extra space.

However, we do not advise storing cufflinks, watches, or other expensive and small jewelry items in your shoes. Those are best placed in your carry-on luggage in a small, discrete bag for safety. They should not be checked due to theft risk. You can grab a cheap woman’s jewelry roll to keep them safe and easy to find. There are many styles of these—you can see one in the following DIY video . A drawstring bag or old sock will do in a pinch but if you let the individual pieces move against each other, they could scratch or catch.

Packing a Suit—Dos and Don’ts

Lava red striped navy silk tie by Oliver Wicks

Now you know how to pack a suit for a flight, let’s look at some travel dos and don'ts.

Take the time to pack properly—the tired traveler on the other side with a near-immaculate, safe suit will thank you!
Steam your garment before you go—just make sure it dries
Consider taking a garment bag along to place the suit into when you unpack
Unpack your suit as soon as you can and hang it
Place your suit on top of your luggage, and your shoes at the bottom
Throw some spare (clean) plastic bags and a dry cleaning bag into your luggage. They fold to nothing, weigh nothing, and will be useful for storage and hanging when you arrive
Bonus point if you can arrange for the airline to slap a “Fragile” sticker on your suitcase.
Never pack a damp garment, ever—mold and damage happen quickly
Don’t crush, tightly crease, press, or force your suit, as this can do long-term damage
Don’t place items on top of it in the bag
Never place shoes on top of garments—not even your unmentionables, let alone your suit!
Don’t leave pins, cufflinks, boutonnieres, and other sharp or metallic items in packed suits—they can snag, catch, and cause damage
Never pack valuable jewelry and accessory items in checked luggage

Now you know how to pack a suit for travel like a true pro! Your investment garment will arrive as safely as it left, and you will have minimal work getting it ready to wear on the other side.

Don’t be disheartened if your suit still arrives with minor wrinkling. It’s often an unavoidable aspect of traveling, but follow these steps and you will greatly reduce the problem. If possible, it is always a good idea to have a plan on how you might deal with minor issues at the other end.

Need some more helpful tips and tricks like this? Remember, the Oliver Wicks newsletter will bring them right to your mailbox, weekly. All you need to do is head to the bottom right of any of our website pages—it’s free! You’re also welcome to reach out with any questions you have to the helpful Oliver Wicks team at [email protected] at any time—we love to hear from you!

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How to pack a suit for travel and avoid wrinkling

By Ryan Wagner on November 24th, 2017

Do you know how to pack a suit for travel and minimize wrinkling? The last thing you want when traveling for business or pleasure is to arrive at our destination only to discover that our nice suit has been seriously wrinkled.

Ron and I have traveled with our suits for many years now. Unfortunately, the best way to travel with a suit is simply to not put it into any piece of luggage. Period! Ideally, you transport it in a garment bag and hang it from something. But when most of us travel, we use the overhead compartment on the plane.

So, you usually have two options. Either you wear your jacket onto the plane and wear it while seated, or you pack your suit in a bag. None of us really enjoy wearing a suit jacket during a three hour flight, but if you did, I don’t think it’s the worst idea because you would probably only see minimal wrinkling. For a short flight, taking your jacket off, gently folding it in half, and laying it across your lap is a smart move.

But most of us will need to actually pack our suits at some point. Therefore, how should you do it?

Luggage options

When you have a great looking suit it doesn’t feel natural to stuff it into a piece of luggage. If you’re checking your bag, your best bet is to find a piece of luggage that folds over onto itself. This way, you’re basically just folding your suit once. This is Ron’s go-to strategy and he’s had great luck with it. Here’s a great bag by David King & Co that we like. Slightly more compact, is an innovative design by Biaggi. It’s a bit of a tri-fold design. I haven’t tested it myself, but it has some great reviews and will apparently work for carry-on, although it looks a bit large for my taste. We also sell a lightweight bag perfect for storage and travel within your suitcase.

I have a soft-sided Tumi bag and so as long as no other flyer puts anything on top of my bag, or otherwise compresses it, I’m in good shape. After landing, the first thing that I do is remove my jacket and put it on. If you have a hard shell piece of luggage, be careful to not over pack. There’s a good chance that your jacket will be compressed and come out pretty wrinkled.

When you arrive at your destination, take out your suit right away and hang it up. Fine quality fabrics are likely to return to their normal lengths. You can also hang your suit up in the shower and give it a bit of a steam. Or, call up the concierge and have them give it a proper steam treatment. But the thing to remember is that even a badly wrinkled suit will normally come back to life overnight.

How to pack a suit for travel, other opinions:

From Business Insider: How to pack a suit for business

From GQ: How to fold and pack a suit

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How to Pack a Suit for Travel (Step By Step Guide)

Written by Becca

Updated on February 16th, 2024

How do you fold a suit without it wrinkling, and pack it into a packing cube in carry-on luggage? Here’s my best foolproof way to pack suit pants and a suit jacket for travel.

This article may contain affiliate links. We earn a small commissions when you purchase via those links — and it's free for you. It's only us (Becca & Dan) working on this website, so we value your support! Read our privacy policy and learn more about us .

Table of contents

Take inventory of your travel suit components first
How to pack a suit
How to pack a suit in a backpack
Keep improving on your travel suit-packing skills
Invest in a wrinkle-free travel suit (and wrinkle-free dress shirts)
Last idea for avoiding wrinkles: wear your suit instead of packing it
Best ways to pack your travel suit, a conclusion

Traveling with a suit can be a challenge. There are a lot of different pieces to worry about and having something folded in your bag for an extended amount of time can cause wrinkles.

If you’re not sure if you’ll have an iron or aren’t comfortable with one, you risk wrinkling your clothes before you need to wear them. Or worse, you can crease your pants and have them look like a mess.

Luckily for you, Dan has traveled with a suit many times, and we’ve perfected the way that we pack, fold, unfold and unpack it. And lucky for Dan, I love folding clothes and efficiently packing, so I’ve perfected a way to pack his suit.

Yes, you’re reading correctly. I (Dan’s wife and best travel partner) am in charge of folding and packing Dan’s suits.

It’s because:

I really enjoy folding things, and I am a compulsive perfectionist
Dan does not enjoy folding things, and knows I will do a stellar job.

At first, I was Googling search queries like “How to fold a suit, “How to fold a suit in the best way,” and, “How to fold a suit so that you avoid wrinkles.” The answers are far and wide and come in the form of videos, articles and lists. In fact, the hardest part is actually folding the dress shirt, but we won’t get into that.

One thing that does solve the problem is having a wrinkle-free suit like the Bluffworks Gramercy Suit . I’ll be using this suit that has wrinkle-free properties in all the photos you see in the notes that follow.

Get an immediate 15% off, with our exclusive Bluffworks discount code (one-time use per customer)! Use code halfhalftravel15 at checkout.

Get the deal

Read on to learn how you can pack your suit to prevent wrinkles and save some space while you’re at it!

Take inventory of your travel suit components first

A suit usually has two pieces, the jacket and the pants. If you’re super fancy, maybe you have a vest, but if you have any experience with suits, you know that these are reserved for tuxedos or for people who truly enjoy wearing suit vests.

Other components of having a suit ready for travel are the following (I write this out as a travel suit checklist because there have been times when we get to our destination and realize Dan is missing an undershirt or a belt… you get it).

White undershirt (like these white cotton undershirts by Hanes )
Belt (brown belt for a gray or navy suit, and a black belt for a black suit)
Suit socks (Dan likes fun socks from time to time, but you can’t beat a pair of versatile gray socks)
Suit shoes (again, brown dress shoes for a gray or navy suit, and black shoes for a black suit)
A nice watch to go with your suit
Dress shirt (we recommend the Meridian dress shirt from Bluffworks )
A skinny tie that matches your suit outfit, with a backup in case you attend multiple events and stain one with wine, ketchup or hot sauce
A packing cube for everything to go in (we recommend the BluffCube or any of these packing cubes )

If you love diving into travel apparel, check out the aspects of Bluffworks pants I mention in my guide to the best travel pants for men .

How to pack a suit

Learn the quick steps you need to take to learn how to pack a suit. More detailed information about each step is below!

Lay flat & button the suit jacket
Fold the suit jacket in half
Fold both suit jacket sleeves in
Fold the jacket thirds, and in thirds again
Slide the folded suit jacket into a packing cube!
Start folding the suit pants and zipper them closed
Hold up the travel suit pants
Fold them exactly in half
Fold in the crease seam
Start the suit pants thirds-folding
Fold up another third, and finalize
Slide the folded suit pants a travel packing cube

Suits are tough because they are unlike the things you usually take on a trip: T-shirts, shorts, bathing suits, jeans, joggers , hoodies, etc.

With a suit, you’ll probably either be wearing it at a business event at which you need to look legitimate (industry conferences, client meetings and more), or at a dressy event at which you’ll be in photos (weddings, wedding rehearsal dinners, religious events or services, holidays).

Wrinkles are a traveler’s worst nightmare, especially when the hotel room is missing an iron, you’re staying with a friend who doesn’t believe in irons, or your Airbnb doesn’t have one at all. I actually don’t recall much ironing during trips, and if I needed to iron something, it was definitely one of Dan’s button-down dress shirts .

I learned a few folding rituals from Marie Kondo, and as for the rest of how I pack a suit into a packing cube, I use common sense and see what works time after time, because we travel for weddings so seemingly often.

Here’s the most foolproof way to pack a suit for travel, as shown in these photos of the method that works for us and Dan’s suits for a no-nonsense wrinkle-free result.

Step 1: Lay flat & button the suit jacket

This may sound simple, but trust me: lay the suit out flat so that there are no wrinkles in the back of the jacket. With this step, you’re setting yourself up for success in being cognizant of wrinkles, the size of the garment, and how it folds.

Step 2: Fold the suit jacket in half

I don’t believe in that common method of “turn one sleeve inside out and put it inside the other sleeve.” I think that may work for some people, but it makes me a little uncomfortable. I’m very delicate and respectful of clothes and their builds.

So with step 2, fold the suit in half and make sure that the sleeves match up.

Step 3: Fold both suit jacket sleeves in

Here, fold both sleeves on top of the already halved body of the suit jacket. Be mindful of the crease where the sleeves meet the jacket body.

Step 4: Fold the jacket thirds, and in thirds again

One of my favorite Marie Kondo techniques is the folding in thirds so that clothing does not get too bulky. It also evens out the creasing so that you’re not folding any garment too tightly.

In this step, eyeball a 33% fold, and then another one, so that you are folding the jacket into a small square.

Step 5: Slide the folded suit jacket into a packing cube!

Like we mentioned above, we like the Bluffworks packing cube , which was designed for suit jackets, suit pants and dress shirts. It has some cool features like a compression strap and a side zipper, so it’s really the whole deal.

I find that with the jacket folded into thirds, it slides right into a packing cube so that I have peace of mind.

Step 6: Start folding the suit pants and zipper them closed

We’re ready to start with suit pants now. The first step is to zip up the fly of suit pants so that the fly won’t open and get a weird crease that would totally mess up a group photo at a destination wedding.

Step 7: Hold up the travel suit pants

Yes, that’s it! Just hold them up so that you can assess how much extra fabric there will be to fold, and get the hang of what you’re working with.

Step 8: Fold them exactly in half

This is the beginning of a Marie Kondo move: fold the suit pants exactly in half, and be precise. There is no room for error. Make sure you take the intersection of where both legs meet, and pull it out to pinch flat.

Step 9: Fold in the crease seam

Take that crotch crease and fold it in, ever so slightly. If you’re visual like I am, picture that by folding in this part, you’re creating a completely rectangular shape.

In the build of the pants, this is the only part that is not part of the large rectangle that would otherwise be a perfectly quadrilateral shape of pants shapes.

Step 10: Start the suit pants thirds-folding

Now that you’ve achieved the quadrilateral overall suit pants shape, start folding down the top third.

Step 11: Fold up another third, and finalize

Fold up the second third, and if space permits, fold the suit pants in half so that they fit in the packing cube, and also will not wrinkle.

Step 12: Slide the folded suit pants a travel packing cube

Incredibly, you can get those suit pants into the same packing cube as your suit jacket. If you’re feeling motivated, try to also fold your dress shirt and lay it in its folded form on top of both suit pieces.

Using the Bluffcube from Bluffworks to pack a suit.

How to pack a suit in a backpack

For the times when we’ve only traveled with backpacks (which is often), we’ve had to figure out how to pack a suit into a backpack. Dan uses his Peak Design 45L Travel Backpack for basically every trip we take, whether road trip or flight. It’s a great piece of luggage. One benefit is that it opens clamshell-style, so we can put his packing cubes in and stack them neatly, rather than shoving them into a backpack that opens top-down.

For getting that suit to stay wrinkle-free and neat when folded up for packing, I use the magazine folding method for the dress shirt. I then put the dress shirt into a large packing cube, or if we have a smaller packing cube available, I give the shirt one “hamburger fold” to keep the fold lines straight.

For the suit pants, I tuck in the inseam and do a quadruple fold, ensuring that all the pants lines stay neat and lined up. I put the pants into a packing cube with one of Dan’s ties, folded up neatly.

For the suit jacket, I fold it in half vertically, and line up the arms, folding them in. Luckily with the Bluffworks suit jackets, they don’t wrinkle, so they help keep us low-stress when we know we have a wedding to attend and we may not have time to iron everything.

With all parts of the suit going into packing cubes , we stack those in Dan’s backpack and everything arrives without wrinkles at our destination. If you have a top-loading backpack, make sure your packing cubes stay flat, rather than sagging or collapsing, which might wrinkle up the suit components.

Keep improving on your travel suit-packing skills

Based on the size of your suit and its material, you will probably need to experiment and find the best way to pack your suit and its accessories. This is far from a one-size-fits-all process, just like suits themselves, which need to be altered and fitted periodically over time.

As promised, we’re going to dive into the best travel suit that will guarantee you a wrinkle-free pack.

Having an anti-wrinkle suit has done Dan rather well in weddings we’ve attended in Los Angeles, Chicago and even our own wedding in New Jersey (we did have to transport the suit from NYC to NJ, after all, and it certainly got packed up!).

Invest in a wrinkle-free travel suit (and wrinkle-free dress shirts)

As for a wrinkle-free lightweight travel suit that looks fantastic, we couldn’t recommend the Gramercy suit from Bluffworks enough.

We roughly fold it in a packing cube from Bluffworks, and take it out right when we get to our destination. It comes out wrinkle-free with no fuss.

We’ve never even come close to thinking, “Wow, this could really use some ironing” — far from it. This suit comes out without wrinkles the first time.

The Bluffworks travel button-down dress shirts are even better. They are wrinkle- and spill-resistant, which makes them perfect multipurpose clothes to pair with a travel suit.

One of the practical use cases for the Bluffworks suit shirts is being able to roll up the sleeves without causing any wrinkles.

Dan is able to roll up the sleeve in the middle of an event, take off the shirt at night, roll it into a ball and wear it the next day like it’s brand new. (Just kidding — he doesn’t have a real reason to roll up the shirt into a ball, nor would I let him, so that was just being dramatic).

Interested in the wrinkle-proof travel dress shirts? See our rundown of both the Meridian shirt and Zenith shirt, here .

Last idea for avoiding wrinkles: wear your suit instead of packing it

Sometimes the easiest method is the one that’s been staring right at you: you don’t need to pack your suit if you wear it during your travel day.

If you’re flying, you can wear your suit directly on the plane. You may want to pack a fresh shirt or wear a nice T-shirt instead, because some people sweat on planes or get smelly.

This might be another plug for my favorite travel suit, but quite honestly, if you were to wear the Bluffworks Gramercy suit on a plane, you’d probably walk off that plane in a wrinkle-free suit. I’m not joking. It’s hard to believe, but this suit just won’t wrinkle or crease! It’s incredible that it looks great 100% of the time.

Best ways to pack your travel suit, a conclusion

A final way to take your suit on a trip would be to bag it up in a tote so that it doesn’t get compressed among your luggage. I can see this being a backdoor route to avoiding both packing it into a compressed packing cube and/or wearing the suit on the flight.

To conclude, here are our three ways to avoid wrinkles by taking a suit on a trip:

Use the 12-step method to fold up the suit into a travel packing cube
Wear the suit on a plane (or train, bus or car ride)
Loosely fold a suit into a tote bag so that it doesn’t get too compressed

Like we mentioned, the way for the most stress-free suit-packing experience is going to be by owning a wrinkle-free travel suit. If you’d like to find out more about the best travel suit I’ve found, read more at my Bluffworks Gramercy travel suit review .

The Gramercy Collection

Look the part and get the suit. The Bluffworks Gramercy Suit is a great addition to your collection.

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Pinterest image from the 'How to pack a suit for travel (Step By Step Guide)' article on Half Half Travel

How to bring a suit on a plane (and look like a total boss doing it)

One of the biggest challenges in a traveler’s life trying to is figuring out the formula for arriving in style with clean, wrinkle-free clothes. Some types of clothing are easier to manage than others, but I’m about to discuss the biggest challenge of them all: how to bring a suit on a plane without destroying it (or your sanity).

Long story short, the easiest way is to use a hanging bag specifically made for suits. However, you can also pack it in a traditional suitcase, roll it, or even wear it.

There’s a lot more to it than that though, and the following is an insanely detailed overview of all the techniques you can use to keep your suit in great shape. Even after a long flight!

The best (and safest) ways to bring a suit on a plane

As I’ve already mentioned, you have several different options for how to bring a suit on a plane. I’ve tried everything over the years, and the the following 4 methods are what have worked best for me:

1. Use a high-quality hanging bag

The best option for traveling with a suit is a hanging bag. It’s specifically designed to hold suits, jackets, and other items that are difficult to pack into a suitcase. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to check with your airline first, as a hanging bag might count as your one permitted carry-on.

If you do use a hanging bag, you’re better off bringing it on the plane instead of checking it. That’s because most luggage handling systems (and personnel) will be too rough on hanging bags, which have soft sides that will wind up getting crushed by heavier luggage.

You have two choices for storing a hanging bag on a plane:

Ideally, you can hang it up in one of the closets , which are typically in the First Class and Business Class sections. However, closet space on a plane is limited and might only be available for passengers sitting in those sections.
If you can’t store your hanging bag in a closet, the next best storage location is the overhead compartment. Fortunately, most hanging bags fold in half, saving space without wrinkling the suit. Try to place your bag on top of any other luggage in the bin.

2. Pack it in your suitcase

As long as you pack carefully, you can put your suit in a regular suitcase. Here’s how:

First, pack the suitcase with your other clothing.
Then, turn your suit inside-out.
Place one shoulder of the jacket into the other shoulder.
Move your rolled-up socks into the shoulders to help keep the suit wrinkle-free.
Now you’re ready to pack the pants. Fold them at the seams.
Then, place them into the suitcase with the waist flush with one side. Let the legs hang down off the other side.
Put your dress shirt on top of the pants with the sleeves crossed and folded.
Next, put the jacket on top of the shirt.
Finally, fold the pant legs back into the suitcase, covering the jacket.

The same technique can be used if your luggage happens to be a cardboard box. Yes, it is possible to check a box as luggage (and I highly recommend it if you are transporting precious cargo such as a suit).

3. Roll it up

If you want to pack your suit in a suitcase, but you don’t have much room to spare, you can roll up each part individually. The rolling method takes up the least amount of room in your luggage. However, wrinkles are more likely with this technique than any other, so make sure you roll carefully.

First, steam the suit to remove all wrinkles. Then, place each item on a hard surface, such as a kitchen table. Roll each item separately.
Make the roll as tight as possible. Pull sections taunt before wrapping, and try to line up the edges of the material evenly as you go.
Tying the roll with a ribbon can help keep it tight during travel.
Place the rolls into your luggage. Try to pack other clothing tightly around each roll to help keep everything secure. Alternatively, you can place the rolls in the webbed compartment of your luggage.

4. Wear it (like a boss)

If your flight will be short, you can skip packing the suit entirely and instead wear it on the plane. It’s an excellent option if you plan to head to a function immediately after landing.

Before sitting, take off your jacket. Ask the flight attendant to hang it up in one of the plane’s closets. If that’s not possible, lay the jacket across your lap for the duration of the flight.

Wearing your suit on the plane is easy but does pose certain risks. Sitting in a cramped airline seat, especially for a long time, can make your suit look wrinkled and worn. Fortunately, if you’re only on board for a few hours, wrinkling should be limited to around the waist area, which is generally covered when you’re wearing the jacket.

Also, make sure you avoid food or drink during your flight. One clumsy spill can ruin your entire appearance, as you might not have time to find a dry cleaner once you land.

Products to make traveling with a suit easier

Most methods for how to bring a suit on a plane are based on technique. However, there are a few pieces of gear can make travel easier:

Hanging bag

Frequent travelers will likely want to invest in a high-quality hanging bag. The PLX Hanging Garment Bag and the Misslo Travel Garment Bag are both affordable and well-made choices perfect for travel:

Great for traveling: Each non-woven bag completely covers garments, helping protect valuable clothing from most environmental conditions.
Completely cover clothing in 40” x 24” bags: Each bag is designed to completely cover each garment for maximum protection.
Store all of your coats, suits, blouses, tuxedos, uniforms, winter coats, fur coats, costumes, dance recital clothes, pants, slacks and dresses up to 36” in length depending on the hanger.

43 Inches long zipper suit garment bag with 3.5 gusset which holds 3 suits and 1 dress while traveling with ease.
Wardrobe bag carrier with 5.4 wide square see-through window allows you to see which the garment is inside without opening the bag.

Note: you’ll want to avoid hanging bags made for home storage, as they’re usually too flimsy for the demands of air travel.

A portable steamer can remove wrinkles from your suit quickly and easily. The Hilife Handheld Garment Steamer is durable, portable, and weighs less than two pounds.

240ML capacity, lasts for 15 minutes of continuous steaming.
700W Steamer produces soft and long-lasting steam; 9ft Power Cord.
Whats in the Box: 1 Hilife clothes steamer, 1-cup, 1-brush, Power cable, user manual.

Another excellent option is the Polardo Portable Travel Steamer , a lightweight, cordless steamer that you could even use in an airport bathroom.

Polardo Hand Held Portable Travel Garment Steamer

Advanced heating element & metal steel head ensure great performance & reliability.
NANO water filter lets you use tap water, with no risk of calcification. Handheld garment steamer always stays cool on the outside & can be put on any surface. Automatic shutoff.
Electronic pump system & innovative steam channeling design. Steam evenly from any angle.
Use it upside down with no water spitting & leaks, while ordinary unsafe steamers cannot be tilted over 45 degrees.

Anti-wrinkle spray

If you don’t want to travel with a steamer, you can instead bring along anti-wrinkle spray, such as Grandma’s Secret Wrinkle Remover Spray . A few quick sprays will remove wrinkles and odors.

Grandma’s Secret Wrinkle Remover Spray, 3 oz (Pack of 3)

No More Wrinkles! Grandma’s Secret Wrinkle Remover is a convenient way to look fresh and wrinkle-free in no time! Just a spray and you're on the way!
Easily removes wrinkles & odors. Just a few sprays and you’re ready to go. Safe on virtually all fabrics.

To save space in your luggage, you can pour some liquid from the original bottle into a smaller spray bottle.

One final tip (for when all else fails)

Despite your best efforts, your suit still might get wrinkled during the flight. Fortunately, sprucing it up is usually a painless process. In fact, you can turn any shower into a makeshift steamer (it’s my favorite method actually). Here’s how:

Hang your suit on the back of the bathroom door.
Turn on the shower as hot as possible.
Leave the curtain pulled back or the shower door open.
Close the door, keep the shower running, and let the steam build up in the room for at least 15 minutes.
Switch the shower off but leave the suit hanging in the bathroom. By the time the steam clears, the suit should be wrinkle-free and ready to wear.

Other stuff you might like:

Can I bring pepper spray on a plane? (Asking for a friend)

How to use Uber at the San Diego Airport (caution: it’s a bit different)

How I usually end up with empty seats next to me on flights

Comments (2).

My friend does this all the time. Here’s his secret: he just wears the suit.

Oh, right, I should also mention that he’s a pilot.

Scott (SANspotter)

Haha, yup, wearing it is always the best option.

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How to Pack a Suit in a Carry-On Bag

Travelpro Travel Expert Editor

Travel Planning

Sometimes, packing for a trip requires more thought than just piling folded clothes into your carry-on. When your plans include attending a meeting or special event, you may wonder how to pack a suit without causing wrinkles or damage.

Good news: With the right technique and the right luggage you’ll know exactly how to pack a suit in a suitcase.

Choose the Right Carry-On Bag

Suits are an investment, so you’ll want to make sure your luggage is built to protect what’s inside. If you travel often for events that require formal attire, consider an expandable carry-on with some compartments built in—bonus points if it comes with a drop-in, fold-out suiter to keep clothes wrinkle-free during travel. Need to pack more than just a suit? Avoid all wrinkles by learning how to fold all clothes for packing .

Conserve Space

When packing a suit in a carry-on, don’t compress it. It will likely take up the most space in your bag, therefore it’s best to keep your other items to a minimum to minimize wrinkling. Opt for lighter fabric clothing and limit the pairs of shoes you pack. Check this guide on how to pack your carry-on for more helpful packing tips.

How to Pack Dress Shoes

First, decide how many pairs of shoes you need for your trip. Ideally, if you’re traveling with just a carry-on, you’ll want to pack your dress shoes and wear your casual shoes to the airport. Consider using shoe bags to protect your shoes from scuffs and your clothing from getting dirty. Stuff the packed shoes with socks and underwear to maximize space and help the shoes hold their shape.

How to Fold a Suit

If you have to fold your suit to pack it, doing it right will keep you looking sharp and wrinkle-free.

Step 1: Fold the trousers horizontally and lay them on a flat surface

Step 2: Turn the suit jacket inside-out and pull it closed so the lapels meet

Step 3: Place the jacket on top of the trousers

Step 4: Take the bottom third of the jacket and fold it upwards. Then, take the top third of the jacket and fold it down — similar to how you would fold a letter

Step 5: Fold the bottom half of the trousers up and over the folded jacket; fold the top half of the trousers down to complete

Step 6: Place the folded suit in a packing cube to place in your luggage

How to Fold a Dress Shirt

Step 1: Before folding, button the dress shirt all the way up to the collar

Step 2: Place the dress shirt face down on a flat surface with the arms stretched out to the sides like a “V”

Step 3: Take one sleeve, fold it along the crease of the shoulder, and place it diagonally across the back of the shirt, keeping it nice and straight

Step 4: Repeat this step with the opposite sleeve so they cross in the middle of the back

Step 5: Now fold the bottom of both sleeves upward so the cuffs meet the collar

Step 6: Fold the right and left sides of the shirt inward so they meet in the middle

Step 7: Fold the bottom and top thirds of the shirt in to meet in the middle of the back; make sure the shirt collar is laying flat

Investing in a Garment Bag

The best way to travel with a suit is by using a garment bag <>, which keeps clothes hanging while packed — no fancy folds necessary. Go a step further with a rolling carry-on garment bag with lots of built-in compartments for ultra-organized packing.

With the right tools and a few tips, you’ll be traveling in style and arriving without a wrinkle.

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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.

hand holding up a suit jacket showing how to fold a suit jacket

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!

hand holding up a suit jacket folding the shoulder portion of the suit jacket

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.

folded suit jacket on top of a wooden surface

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 [email protected]!

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83 thoughts on “Learn How to Pack a Suit Like a Road Warrior”

The local cuisine you described sounds so tempting. One of the best parts of traveling has to be tasting new foods and flavors!

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Thanks for the great idea

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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!

How to Travel with a Suit: Essential Tips and Tricks

How to travel with a suit? Traveling with a suit can be daunting, especially if you are unfamiliar with the process. Whether you are traveling for a business meeting or a special occasion, it is essential to have your suit looking sharp and wrinkle-free.

In this blog post, we will discuss all the essential tips and tricks that you need to know for traveling with a suit.

From selecting the right travel bag to understanding how to pack your suit effectively, we have got you covered. We will also provide some expert advice on maintaining your suit while traveling and optimizing its storage in your luggage. So, sit back, relax, and let us help you make your next trip with a suit hassle-free!

Table of Contents

Essential Tools for Traveling with a Suit

How to travel with a suit, When traveling with a suit, a garment bag is essential for protecting your suit jacket and keeping it wrinkle-free.

Packing cubes are ideal for organizing your suit pants, dress shirt, and accessories within the limited space of your luggage.

Investing in quality fabrics for your suit jacket and pants is a good idea to prevent wrinkling and creasing during travel. Additionally, using a suit jacket hanger and shoe bags can help maintain the shape of your jacket and protect your dress shoes from damage.

Selecting the Right Travel Bag

When traveling with a suit, a hard-shell suitcase provides added protection, safeguarding your nice suit during transit. Opt for a compact garment bag that fits in the overhead compartment for convenience and limited space.

Using plastic bags to separate suit components within your piece of luggage is a good idea, preventing any mishaps. Remember, a durable garment bag with proper lining is the last thing you want to pinch on, ensuring the safe arrival of your custom suit.

The Role of Suit Accessories

How to travel with a suit, When packing your suit, consider using dress shirt face covers to prevent wrinkling and packing dress shirt accessories such as collar stays to maintain the shirt’s form. Additionally, you can minimize creases in the suit jacket by folding it on a flat surface and applying proper steam treatment.

To compress your suit for packing, utilize accessories like garment bag hangers, and for added protection, make sure to use a dry cleaning bag to safeguard your suit jacket.

Effective Methods to Pack Your Suit

How to travel with a suit, When traveling with a suit, reducing wrinkles is essential. Folding the suit jacket face down is the easiest way to minimize wrinkling. Keep the folded suit pants flat to avoid creasing during travel. Packing the suit jacket in a garment bag, right side out can prevent wrinkling.

Utilize plastic bags to separate the suit components within your luggage to maintain its form. A garment bag folded suit is an ideal method to ensure your suit stays wrinkle-free, offering convenience and peace of mind.

Understanding Your Suit’s Fabric and Fold

Understanding the specific fabric of your suit is crucial for tailored packing. Different fabrics have unique requirements for proper storage and travel.

When folding a jacket, especially custom suiting, ensure it receives appropriate steam treatment upon arrival to maintain its pristine condition. Use plastic bags to shield your suit trousers from wrinkling in the limited space of your luggage.

It’s a good idea to invest in professional steam treatment for your suit pants, especially if they are custom. Consider garment bag folding for your suit jacket, especially with custom suiting, to prevent unsightly wrinkles.

The Art of Rolling vs Folding

When traveling with a suit, the art of rolling vs folding comes into play to minimize wrinkling. Rolling your suit pants can effectively reduce creases during the journey while folding the suit jacket right side out is ideal for avoiding wrinkles.

Using plastic bags to separate the suit components, whether rolling or folding, is a good idea, ensuring they remain in top condition. Additionally, consider garment bag folding, especially for the suit jacket, to prevent any unwanted creases.

Tips on Packing Separate Suit Components

For organizing your suit components, use plastic bags to prevent wrinkling. Keep your dress shirt accessories, like cufflinks, in separate plastic bags for better organization. Ensure the crease-free state of your folded suit jacket by using garment bag accessories such as hanger straps.

Plastic bags can effectively compartmentalize your suit pants, shirt, and accessories, helping you stay organized throughout your trip. Maintain the flat, folded, and crease-free state of your suit pants by utilizing plastic bags for separation.

Maintaining Your Suit While Traveling

How to travel with a suit, dealing with creased suit pants? Opt for a steamer to quickly release wrinkles. Ensure proper steaming for a garment bag folded jacket, particularly custom suiting.

Safeguard suit trousers from wrinkles using plastic bags in your luggage. Prevent wrinkling by folding the suit jacket inside out. Make use of garment bag accessories such as hanger straps to keep the suit jacket free of wrinkles.

Dealing with Wrinkles and Creases

When traveling with a suit, dealing with wrinkles and creases is crucial to maintaining a professional appearance.

A hot shower, plastic bags, and a steamer can effectively release wrinkles from your suit jacket, pants, and shirt. It’s essential to unpack your suit as soon as you arrive to prevent creases from setting in.

Additionally, garment bag accessories such as hanger straps can help keep your suit wrinkle-free during travel. A steamer is the best option for quickly releasing wrinkles from custom suiting and other delicate fabrics, ensuring that your nice suit looks impeccable upon arrival.

Preserving Your Suit in Different Climates

Preserving your suit in various climates is essential for maintaining its pristine condition during travel. In hot climates, consider using a lightweight garment bag to shield your suit from excess moisture.

Additionally, laying your suit jacket flat and packing it in plastic bags can help prevent wrinkling. Upon arrival, ensure that your folded custom suit receives proper steaming to refresh its appearance.

To further protect your suit, promptly unpack the jacket, trousers, dress shirt, and accessories upon reaching your destination. Lastly, utilize plastic bags to safeguard your suit trousers from wrinkling within limited luggage space.

Optimizing Suit Storage in Your Luggage

When traveling with a suit, it’s essential to optimize suit storage in your luggage. Use packing cubes to keep your suit jacket folded and compact, along with plastic bags for protection. Place your folded suit pants flat at the bottom of your piece of luggage and pack your dress shirt face down to avoid creases.

Additionally, consider using garment bags for extra protection, especially for a custom suit. These strategies will help keep your suit looking sharp and wrinkle-free throughout your journey.

Positioning Your Suit for Minimal Damage

When packing your suit, start by placing it on a flat surface to avoid unnecessary wrinkles. Ensure the suit jacket is positioned right side out to maintain its shape during transit. Utilize garment bags to protect your suit jacket and consider using plastic bags to cover dress shoes and accessories, preventing any potential damage to your suit. To optimize storage space and minimize damage, employ packing cubes to compress your suit efficiently.

Is it Better to Carry Your Suit in a Backpack?

When traveling with a suit, it’s important to consider the best way to carry it. Assess your backpack’s capacity and use garment bags or dry cleaning bags to protect your suit from wrinkling. Ensure there is enough space in your backpack and use proper folding techniques.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to pack a suit for travel?

To pack a suit for travel, use a garment bag to prevent wrinkles. Fold the suit jacket vertically and place it in the garment bag with the sleeves inside out. Pack the pants separately by folding them in half and stacking them. Fill any empty space with soft items to prevent shifting during travel.

Are there any tips for minimizing wrinkles in a packed suit?

To minimize wrinkles in a packed suit, use a garment bag to protect it from other items. Fold the jacket inside out and place it on top of other clothes. Roll the pants separately to prevent creasing. Upon arrival, hang the suit to let any wrinkles naturally fall out.

What are some options for transporting a suit without a garment bag?

If you don’t have a garment bag, there are still options for transporting a suit. You can fold it properly and pack it in a carry-on bag, or roll it and pack it in a backpack or duffel bag. Another option is to use a vacuum-sealed storage bag to compress the suit for easier transport. Consider using wrinkle-free fabric or investing in a portable steamer to remove any wrinkles upon arrival.

How can I maintain the appearance of my suit while traveling?

To keep your suit looking sharp while traveling, use a garment bag to prevent wrinkles and damage. Neatly fold the suit without overpacking, and hang it as soon as you arrive to let any remaining wrinkles fall out naturally. Consider using a travel steamer or iron on low heat for touch-ups.

When traveling with a suit, it’s crucial to remember that proper care and packing techniques can make all the difference in maintaining its pristine condition.

Choosing the right travel bag and suit accessories can help protect your suit from wrinkles and damage. Understanding your suit’s fabric and fold, as well as mastering the art of rolling versus folding, can help save space and minimize creases.

Additionally, knowing how to deal with wrinkles and creases while on the go, and preserving your suit in different climates, are essential tips for suit maintenance during travel. Whether you choose to position your suit strategically in your luggage or carry it in a backpack, these tips and tricks will ensure that you arrive at your destination looking sharp and stylish.

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Ferona Jose is a passionate travel writer and blogger at Travelistia. She has traveled throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas. Her writing focuses on cheap travel destinations, travel experiences, cultural insights, and travel hacks.

How to Pack Your Suit for Travel

Traveling with your suit can be intimidating, especially if you’re not just driving a few hours down the road.

If you are traveling by car, the answer is obvious: simply hang it up in the garment bag. But if you’re flying, you have a choice to make: garment bag, or folded into your luggage?

This really comes down to how many bags you want to bring.

Garment Bag

Hang everything up, secure it in the bag, and fold it in half. You can easily stow the folded bag overhead on airplanes, or politely ask your flight attendant if there’s room in a closet for it to hang unfolded.

Warning: Not all airplanes have closets, so if you go the garment bag route, expect to stow your suit in the overhead compartment.

Packed In Luggage

If you do it right, your garments will remain as wrinkle-free as they would in a garment bag—after all, it’s called a suit -case. We recommend packing an important suit (think weddings) in your carry-on, just in case your checked bag is lost.

Option C: In The Black Tux Box

We specifically designed our boxes to be perfectly sized, and durable enough to protect your suit during a flight. They’ll fit in the overhead bins on most airplanes and have a nifty handle that makes them easy to carry. Just pack your suit, covered in the included garment bag, into the original box that it came in, and strut onto that plane like you own it (even if you’ve got a middle seat in coach).

Pro tip: Remove your suit from the box as soon as it arrives to avoid wrinkles or creases setting in too deep. Then, just before you leave for the airport, put it back in the box.

And even if your suit does pick up a few wrinkles along the way, just hang it up overnight. The merino wool our suits are made of is wrinkle resistant, which means the wrinkles will gradually fall out of the fabric once it’s freed from the fold.

Now that you know how to pack a suit, learn how it should fit: read our guide to talking to tailors .

How to best pack and fold a suit for travel

You’ve been called in to interview for your dream job in your dream city. You’ve already booked your flight and you’ve chosen your all-star suit with the perfect fit. You’re going to rock the interview. Time to pack. But wait, won’t folding your immaculately pressed suit in your suitcase ruin it? Now what?

That’s why learning how to fold a suit for travel is a must-have skill that not many people actually seem to know.

Wearing a suit during your travels can sometimes be necessary , whether it is for a job interview or simply because you want to just look absolutely incredible on your trip. The problem arises when trying to figure out how to fold a suit for travel. Clumsily stuffing your suit without care may introduce permanent creasing to your beloved suit.

READ MORE : We also share the ultimate packing list for your next trip abroad

Read on to learn the 3 best ways to fold a suit for travel.

Easy steps to fold a suit jacket for travel

3 best ways to pack and fold a suit for travel

Method 1 – fastest and simplest way to fold a suit jacket for luggage
Method 2 – reduces creasing as no foldings of the suit is required
Method 3 – best way to fold a suit for travel with a duffel bag

Method 1 – how to fold a suit for travel in six seconds

Step 1: Put your suit jacket on a hanger
Step 2: Pack your jacket in a dry-cleaning bag
Step 3: Fold the jacket in half from top to bottom (not from the sides) making sure you fold the sleeves as well
Step 4: Lay in your suitcase

This method is simple to get your suit packed with as few folds as possible. It is also very quick, making it one of the best ways to pack a suit for travel.

Method 2 – how to roll a suit jacket in the suitcase without folding

Step 1: Similar to method 1, lay your jacket on a flat surface with the back facing up
Step 2: Work one jacket shoulder inside out and tuck the other shoulder into it
Step 3: Starting from the top, carefully roll the jacket until you reach the bottom

This method effectively reduces creasing by eliminating the need for folding. Additionally, you can tuck other items inside the roll. Just pay special attention not to add too many items or else you encourage the formation of wrinkles.

The downside: the roll will have more volume than folding, which will require a bit more space when packing a suit.

Method 3 – how to fold a suit for travel with limited space

Step 1: Take your suit jacket and pop both shoulders inside, not the whole sleeve
Step 2: Fold it in half so that the lapels touch
Step 3: Fold it twice, in thirds, so there are three equal lengths one on top of the other

This method is perfect for packing a suit if you are carrying a smaller duffel bag or a carry-on as it reduces the amount of space the suit takes up. This method makes travelling with a suit easier for those on short trips or one-day trips who need to carry a suit with them. When you need to wear the suit jacket, just pop out the shoulder and give it a shake and you’ve got a wrinkle-free suit jacket ready to wear.

You’ve now learned the tried-and-true best ways to pack a suit for travel. But that’s just half the battle. What should you do after you’ve arrived at your destination and unpacked? Check out the following tips to eliminate any possible wrinkles and preserve the integrity of your beloved suit jacket.

Tip 1: Minimize the amount of time your suit stays packed in the suitcase when you travel with a suit. Once you arrive, remove your suit jacket as soon as possible and hang it on a proper coat hanger.
Tip 2: Use the hotel iron to gently press out any wrinkles on the suit. Place a cotton sheet underneath your suit jacket while ironing. Don’t get tempted to slide your iron across the fabric; instead, gently press and hold for just a few seconds at a time, then release.
Tip 3: If you don’t have access to a quality iron, hang the suit in the bathroom and turn on the hot water to create steam. The steaming effect should help reduce wrinkles.

7 Key things to remember when folding and packing your suit for travel

The fewer folds, the better.
Avoid stacking other items on top of your suit.
Use a flat surface to fold the suit if you can.
If you have a garment hanger, use that instead.
Use the plastic cover from your dry clean to hang over your suit.
If possible, wear your suit during travelling instead of packing it.
Choosing the right suitcase can make an impact on preserving your suit. Opt for hard-cased suitcases instead of soft-cased ones.

Take care of your suit, and your suit will take care of you

Packing a suit for travel isn’t impossible. Sometimes it is necessary to travel with a suit, such as for work. Other times you just want to look amazing during your vacation by wearing your favourite suit. By paying special attention to how to fold a suit for travel, you can end up with a suit looking just as good as before you packed it.

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How to Pack a Suit When Traveling

November 18, 2018

Business Travel

Business meetings, weddings, funerals—there are many reasons to travel with a suit. No matter the cause of your trip, you want to arrive looking your best. So how do you accomplish this when your suitcase seems determined to wrinkle all of your clothes? Here's how to pack a suit when traveling to minimize wrinkles and arrive looking effortless.

Choose the Right Suitcase

The two biggest variables that cause wrinkles are the type of suitcase you have and the way that you pack your clothing. In the old days, my Dad used to travel with a garment bag. Unless you're flying Business or First Class , today's planes do not have vertical storage to protect your clothing.

When checking a bag, suitcases can just as easily end up on top of the pile as on the bottom. Soft-sided suitcases tend to get smushed under the weight of your fellow passengers' luggage. All that weight on a soft suitcase then leads to wrinkles. For this reason, it's better to travel with a hard-sided suitcase that will protect your belongings.

I've also discovered a relatively new breed of suitcases called "suiters." These specialized hybrid suitcases have a section that folds out and are designed to protect your suits and dress shirts from wrinkles.

Packing, Perfected

There are plenty of opinions on the best way to pack your suit when traveling. No matter which option you decide works best for you, just remember that the fewer folds your suit jacket has to endure, the better.

The Inside-Out Method

With the inside-out method of packing a suit, turn your suit pants and jackets inside out, then fold as needed. This way, the most wrinkles will be on the lining. Additionally, the exterior is protected from stains and transfer of odors from the other clothing in your suitcase.

The Mix and Match Method

The fewer clothes you try to stuff in your suitcase, the better. By selecting multiple-use pieces, you won't need to pack as much . Extra room in your suitcase gives your clothing room to breathe and resist wrinkles that may form.

For instance, choose a jacket or sports coat that goes well with two or more pairs of pants. Similarly, pack more shirts and ties than suits. With the right shirt and tie combo, nobody will know that you wore that suit two days ago.

The Packing Cubes Method

Packing cubes are amazing at organizing a suitcase. They keep your belongings from shifting as your suitcase gets rolled, tossed, and tumbled along the way. Packing cubes keep your belongings tightly contained, which minimizes wrinkles.

The Rolling Method

I'm ok with rolling jeans and t-shirts, but I can't imagine rolling a suit. Rolling can harm the shoulders of a coat, so I wouldn't recommend rolling anything but the trousers.

If you must roll your jacket, stuff the shoulders with socks and underwear. This will help keep the garment wrinkle-free and protect the form of your coat. For pants, fold them in half to preserve the crease with legs aligned. Then roll tightly, starting at the bottom rolling up towards the waist.

The Overlapping Method

Here, the goal is to minimize hard folds to prevent wrinkles. With the overlapping method, you place the bottom half of the garment in the suitcase and cover it with less-important clothing to form a cushion. Fold the top half of the garment so that it is bending around the cushion.

You can use this technique with multiple garments. Think of north, west, south, and east on a compass. Go around the circle with each layer. Insert the other clothing, then fold the top halves over the "cushion."

The Paper and Plastic Method

This one may seem a bit odd but totally makes sense. One of the major causes of wrinkles is the movement of clothing and friction. By keeping pants, dress shirts, and suit jackets inside the plastic lining from the dry cleaner, you allow the clothing to float which eliminates the friction. When you eliminate friction, you eliminate wrinkles.

If you don't have any dry cleaning bags, trash bags can work in a pinch. Just make sure they aren't scented. For best results, insert a sheet of tissue paper before placing it in the bag. This keeps it from flattening during travel to further prevent wrinkles.

How to Get Rid of Wrinkles

As you place clothes into your suitcase, start with shoes, undergarments, workout clothes, and toiletries first. Essentially, clothing that you aren't concerned about wrinkling should go at the bottom. Clothing that is most wrinkle-prone should be closest to the top of the bag. Packing this way also helps you stay organized and find what you need quickly.

Even with all of this preparation, wrinkles do happen. It's not the end of the world though. If there are wrinkles in your pants, dress shirt, or tie, use a product like Downy Wrinkle Releaser. It comes in a travel size, so you won't lose it going through airport security.

For regular travelers , it’s worth investing in a small, portable steamer. They are fairly compact and work wonders on wrinkles. Be careful with your jackets though. Use the steamer only for spot treatment. Steaming near the shoulders can blow out seams and affect a suit’s shape and the way it hangs.

In the worst case scenario, the old-school method of hanging wrinkled garments in the shower can also work. Keep the exhaust fan off for the best results. Ten to fifteen minutes later, your clothes should have fewer small wrinkles.

Arrive Looking Sharp and Wrinkle-Free

While traveling, remember that bags get lost and flights get delayed. To reduce the disruption that these problems can cause, wear one of your suits on the flight to your destination. You can wear the same outfit again or grab a fresh shirt and tie from a local department store should the worst happen.

I incorporate several of these packing methods to minimize wrinkles when I travel. I use packing cubes for socks and undergarments, then add plastic bags from the dry cleaners before overlapping shirts and pants. This approach gives me the best chance of arriving wrinkle free.

When I arrive at the hotel, I immediately unpack and hang my suits and shirts. If something is wrinkled, I hit it with the Downy Wrinkle Releaser giving it time to relax before it is called into duty. In the event that my clothes are just too far gone, I use my favorite travel credit card to pay for laundry services. This way, I still earn travel points for my purchase, as frustrating as it may be.

Written By:

For the past 20 years, Johnny Jet averaged 150,000 miles and 20 countries a year. He has been featured in many major publications and appeared on ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC and PBS.

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How to Fold a Suit for Travel

Last Updated: February 21, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Caitlin Jaymes . Caitlin Jaymes is a Closet Organizer and Fashion Stylist based in Los Angeles, California. With a background in Fashion PR and Fashion Design, she specializes in creating wardrobes for her clients with pieces they already own. She has experience working with celebrities, editorial shoots, and men and women of all ages. Caitlin uses fashion and organization to help instill and influence confidence, ambition, and stress-free lifestyles for all her clients. She runs her business by two guiding principles: “fashion has no rules, only guidance on how to look and feel your best” and “life has too many stressors, don’t let clutter be one of them.” Caitlin’s work has been featured on HGTV, The Rachael Ray Show, VoyageLA, Liverpool Los Angeles, and the Brother Snapchat Channel. This article has been viewed 232,570 times.

Business travel requires you to look your best. Unfortunately, most business attire is prone to wrinkles. Suits, dress pants, and collared shirts often wrinkle in a suitcase and need to be pressed upon arrival at your destination. While the best way to carry business attire is generally in a garment bag, with smart folding techniques, this becomes optional, rather than mandatory. Avoid paying for dry cleaning at your destination by learning to properly fold your suit.

Folding a Suit Jacket

Step 1 Clean and press your suit before you travel.

If you're pressed for time, you may want to iron the suit yourself. If you do so, ensure the lapels are well-ironed - it's possible to hide wrinkles elsewhere on the suit, but nearly impossible to hide them on the lapels.

If you're using a plastic bag, try to trap a little air in the bag with the suit. This protective "bubble" can prevent the other clothes in the suitcase from pressing into the jacket, eliminating wrinkles.

Step 8 Unfold your jacket at your destination.

For persistent wrinkles, try hanging the jacket in the bathroom. When you take a shower, the warmth and steam will loosen the fabric, helping to release any difficult wrinkles.

Folding a Collared Shirt

If you happen to have extra dry cleaning bags, you may want to lay one squarely in the middle of the back of the shirt. This prevents the shirt from pressing against itself while folded, reducing the chance of wrinkles.
At this point, a good rule of thumb is that the shirt's shoulders should now be shortened so that only an inch or two of material is left on either side of the collar.

Step 4 Consider packing the shirt as-is.

If you have a bag that's big enough to hold the shirt in its current partly-folded state, use it. If not, you can try bunching up the bottom of the shirt in the bag - since this part of your shirt will be covered by your jacket, it's not as important for it to be 100% wrinkle-free.
If you laid a dry cleaning bag in the middle of your shirt at the beginning of this method, it will protect your shirt from pressing against itself at this point. You can also get a similar effect by slipping a flat cardboard insert between the two halves of the folded shirt.

Folding Trousers

Step 1 Fold the pants along their pleats.

You may also fold the pants in half vertically to further save space.
One great idea for pants folded horizontally is to "sandwich" them within the two sides of the folded suit jacket. This provides them the protection of the inside-out jacket fabric as well as the jacket's bag.
↑ Caitlin Jaymes. Closet Organizer & Fashion Stylist. Expert Interview. 16 December 2019.
Videos provided by Morts & More
http://www.blacklapel.com/thecompass/ask-a-black-lapel-stylist-how-to-fold-a-suit-jacket-when-traveling/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2K6I1XqCSs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWz6aJPae7s&feature=related

Expert Q&A

If possible, carry your suit in a garment bag. Many luggage companies make rolling garment bags that are ideal for business trips. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 2
Fold suit pants by rolling them carefully. This will avoid creases that are created with traditional folding. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 3

Things You'll Need

Plastic dry cleaning bag

About This Article

To fold a suit jacket for travel, start by turning the jacket inside out to protect the outer fabric. Next, put your hand inside the coat and push them into the shoulders so the lining pops out, which will make the jacket easier to fold. Just fold the jacket in half lengthwise, then fold it in half again horizontally to make a square. To fold pants, start by making a vertical, lengthwise fold along the pleats.Then, starting at the bottom, roll the pant legs into a tight bundle. To learn how to fold a collared shirt, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to pack a suit when you’re traveling light

Travel can be stressful at the best of times, and it's made worse when you're trying to leave multiple huge, heavy bags around with you. If you're going on a trip, learning to pack efficiently and to bring just the essentials on the plane with you will make your trip smoother and more pleasant. You'll also save on the increasingly costly fees for checked bags or carry-on luggage that many airlines now charge.

Fold it down, pack it away

Send it in the mail, just wear it, use a traditional suit bag, how to travel with multiple suits.

However, packing gets more tricky when you're trying to bring smart clothing like a suit with you, such as if you're heading to a conference for work or to a special event like a wedding. You might be able to scrunch up a couple of t-shirts into a ball and toss them into a bag, but you don't want to take the same approach to your suits. If you need to travel light and pack a suit, however, it is possible to do that and save yourself both hassle and expense.

What You Need

Suit roller bag

Mailing supplies

Regular suit bag

It does take a bit of time before you learn how to pack for your travels in a convenient way, maybe even need a helpful guide in order to get you started. Lucky for you, we've gathered the five best ways to take a suit with you on a short trip. Take your pick of the method that works best for you and never have to stress about that part of traveling again.

Assuming you're traveling with carry-on luggage, the kind that will fit into most overhead bins, you're going to be able to pack a suit with relative ease.

Step 1: Fold the suit in half along its back axis so that its shoulders are touching. The trick to making sure it arrives relatively wrinkle-free, however, is to follow the lines of the suit, meaning its seams and sleeves.

Step 2: Fold one-half of the jacket inside out so that the liner is exposed.

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Step 3: Make sure both sleeves are smooth and flat and then fold the jacket in half over your forearm. It will now be in a slender, rectangular package ready to be laid down in your bag.

Step 4: Smooth your suit pants, fold them in half, fold them again, then put them on top of the jacket. All done!

Sure, you could buy a fancy suit roller bag and save yourself some time, but there's really no need for such a specific accessory. But it's easy to roll up your suit for compact, efficient travel without the need for any additional travel luggage. And that's kind of the point here anyway.

Step 1: The secret to the rolling technique is to make sure your suit is folded in half across all its natural seams and with its sleeves as flat as can be.

Step 2: Next, find something roughly tubular around which to roll the suit. Ideally, use a pair of non-dress pants for this, as any garment rolled tightly will wrinkle. Use your best jeans to make the central tube, for example, then carefully roll your suit jacket around them. Follow that with your suit pants.

Step 3: Tuck everything into a t-shirt and secure the bundle with a belt, or just stow it in a bag. This tube of clothing should easily fit in most backpacks .

Strange as it is to believe, it's much cheaper to send a Priority Box via the United States Postal Service than it is to check a bag with most airlines.

Step 1: Plan ahead by about three days and mail your suit to your hotel.

Step 2: Pack it using the same process as outlined in the fold it down method, tuck the suit into a large Priority Box, and send it along for cheaper than what the airline would charge.

If you need to bring a suit along for your travels, one way to keep it in relatively good shape is to just wear the thing while you're on the plane. Change at the airport and shove your casual clothes into a bag, then as soon as you get off your flight, change again, draping your suit over your shoulder on a hanger. Your slacks and blazer will be fine for a few hours on your person without looking soiled, especially if you're just sitting there in your seat.

Packing a suit bag is intuitive enough that you don't need step-by-step instructions. Why isn't this the first option, though? A suit bag will only protect your slacks and blazer if the bag itself is properly handled. Once it's stuffed into a bin or crushed under another bag, there goes all your proper planning.

Step 1: Politely ask the flight attendants if they'll let you hang your suit bag in that handy storage closet near the front of the plane.

Step 2: If that doesn't work, carefully slide your unfolded suit bag atop other passengers' roll-aboard luggage.

Step 3: As a last resort, after takeoff, retrieve your folded-up suit bag from the overhead bin or from under the seat in front of you and unfurl it across your lap and knees.

For some events like work conferences or travel to different climates, you might need to pack more than one suit. In this case, think carefully about which suit to wear and which ones to pack.

Step 1: It's a good idea to wear a lightweight suit for travel — something like linen is very comfortable to wear and creases in an elegant rather than a rumpled way, so that's always a good choice for a travel outfit — and carry other, heavier wool suits in a garment bag. Wool doesn't crease as easily as other fabrics and you can get any minor creases out when you arrive by hanging the suit up in your bathroom while you take a shower as the steam will help the fabric to relax.

Step 2: If you're going to travel with multiple suits then investing in a garment bag will make your life much easier. You can find garment bags with plenty of pockets so you might even be able to fit all your clothes and accessories for a trip into one garment bag and one carry-on bag, which will help you travel light. Hard shelled suitcases may not be necessary for a work trip and you can save yourself the extra fees from the airline and extra weight from heaving around a large bag by using a soft garment bag instead.

Step 3: The real difficulty when packing multiple suits is generally not the suits themselves but the multiple pairs of shoes you might need to go with each suit. Shoes are bulky and annoying to pack, and if you let them bounce around in your garment bag or suitcase they will cause bad creasing, not to mention getting your suits dirty. Always put your shoes into their own bag — even a plastic bag will do — and put them in your carry-on bag instead of in with your suits to keep everything neat.

The next time you have to take a quick, last-minute trip , or you're just really struggling with designating space in your luggage, look over our tips for how to pack your suit. Not only will your suit arrive in one piece, but you'll be able to wear it without needing to get it pressed.

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How to carry your Suit on a Plane: No Wrinkles and Shrinking

Packing clothes while traveling is something that most people struggle with, especially if it’s formal clothing. While you don’t need to worry about cramping tracksuits and t-shirts in your travel bag, packing a suit can be a challenge. The last thing you want is a creased suit when arriving at your destination.

Table of Contents

The Right Way to Carry Your Suit on a Plane

While there are many travel hacks that give you tips on how to pack as many clothes as possible in your luggage, most of these methods will result in a creased shirt. So, how do you carry your suit on a plane without causing it to get creased?

Follow these steps for the proper way to pack a suit for plane travel.

Get the Right Travel Bag

There’s no use trying to pack a suit for plane travel if you have a bag that’s too small or the wrong type. If you’re using a carry-on pack or suitcase, make sure it’s big enough so you don’t have to fold or roll the suit when packing. However, avoid heavy suitcases as you may not be allowed to carry them with your hand luggage, which can waste precious time when traveling.

However, if you want to travel light and avoid creasing your shirt, then you’ll need a garment bag. These bags are designed for individual suits and prevent the suit from getting creased. Some garment bags are designed to allow you to hand clothes upright when moving the bag around and have fastening clips to prevent the shirt from folding if it’s placed in the plane’s luggage.

If you’re trying to travel light or are in a hurry, a carry-on garment bag is ideal. This is a hybrid between a regular carry-on bag and a garment bag and is the best way to travel fast without needing to check-in luggage.

If you need to travel regularly for work, a carry-on garment bag is ideal for carrying a suit or two. However, if you only travel occasionally and have enough time to put your suit in the luggage section, then a regular garment bag will suffice.

Be sure to measure your luggage in the right manner .

Use a Hanging Bag

Some garment bags will come with a built-in hanger but you’ll have to use a suit hanger with most. Take a quality suit hanger (preferably one made from thick plastic) and carefully place the pants on the bar. Try not to fold the pants when placing over the bar as it may cause creases.

Avoid leaving anything in the pants’ pockets and always remove the belt before hanging the pants. Also, ensure that the pants are evenly placed on the bar of the hanger or it may fall off in the garment bag. A helpful tip to prevent the pants from falling off the hanger is to use small clips to keep them in place.

Once you’re done with hanging the pants, place the shirt over it without pressing too hard or causing wrinkles. Place the coast over the shirt and close the hanging bag. If you have a suitcase large enough to put the hanging bag without folding it, then it’s great. If not, you can gently fold the bag in half. Don’t completely fold the bag and try to leave some space along the crease so the suit doesn’t get ruined by a fold line.

If you’re traveling in business class, you may have the option of a hanger section where you can simply hang your hanging bag. If not, the next best option is to get a suitcase large enough to place the suit inside without folding.

When taking a hanging bag as your carry-on luggage, always consider the size and weight limits as not all airlines will permit you to take these bags as hand luggage. If possible, take your suit as hand luggage as luggage handlers are known for mishandling bags, which may cause your suit to get creased. If not, make sure you have a quality hanging bag that will protect the suit, even when the bag is thrown around or placed upside down.

Related: Use Polo Shirts When Traveling to Make Room for More Luggage

Roll Your Suit Before Packing

While it may feel great to get a separate hanging bag to carry your suit on a plane, not everyone has the luxury of traveling with a single suit or paying for extra luggage space due to the additional bag. If you want to travel with a suit without causing creases but have limited luggage space, the best option is to roll your suit.

Contrary to what most people may think, rolling a suit doesn’t necessarily cause creases or shrinking. If done right, it can be the best way to carry a suit when traveling without needing a separate garment bag.

Here’s how to roll a suit properly for airplane travel:

Iron the suit properly to remove any wrinkles.
Place the pants on a hard flat surface and fold it vertically in a symmetrical pattern. Pull tightly at each section of the fabric and roll it as tight as possible beginning from the bottom upwards.
Do the same with the shirt and coat and pack each garment tightly in a bag. Don’t place the rolled sections in a loose bag or they may get wrinkled.
When rolling the suit, try to roll it as tightly as possible to prevent creases.

This method can be time-consuming, but it’s much better than folding and you won’t have to iron your suit upon reaching your destination.

Suggested Reading: Why Do My Feet Swell When I Travel?

Place the Suit in a Large Suitcase

If you don’t have time to roll your suit and don’t want to carry an extra hanging bag, you can pack it with other clothes in a regular suitcase. Try to get a large suitcase so you don’t fold the clothes as many times. If you fold the suit right along the creases and pack it properly, you’ll minimize the chances of it getting wrinkled.

Here’s how to pack a suit in a suitcase without causing shrinking or wrinkles:

Pack all your other clothes and belongings first. If you’re packing non-clothing items in the suitcase, pack them first and put the clothes on top. Leave the suit for last.
When you’re ready to pack the suit, take the shirt, pants and coat and turn them inside out to minimize the chances of wrinkling.
Fold the pants along the seam and place them in the suitcase without folding.
Fold the shirt along the crease with the back side facing inwards. Cross fold the sleeves inwards without causing a fold line.
Lastly, take the coat and place clothing inside the shoulder section before folding it along the crease. Place it on top of the shirt in the same manner as you placed the pants.
Try to keep the suitcase just full enough so the suit doesn’t get displaced when handling. You can even add foam, wrap or more clothing to fill it.

While it’s unlikely that you’ll get this technique perfect the first time, you’ll gradually master it after a few attempts. This method isn’t the easiest, but it’s the most practical, especially if you’re traveling with more than just hand luggage.

Wear the Suit

If you aren’t traveling far and need to keep your suit wrinkle-free, the best solution is to wear it! Traveling with a professional style is always a great idea and most quality suits become comfortable after a while.

However, you’ll have to take care not to spoil the suit when wearing it on a plane. Take off your coat when sitting down and keep it on your lap. Also, take care not to spill food on the suit when eating, since many airplanes can have quite restricted seats.

While this isn’t always feasible, it’s a great option if you’re a frequent traveler or need to attend a function shortly after landing.

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What to do If Your Suit Gets Wrinkled During the Flight?

Sometimes no matter how many precautions you take, your suit may get wrinkled at some point when traveling. Even if you’ve packed it perfectly, creases may form due to rough luggage handling or for some other reason. This won’t be a major issue if you can get it ironed upon reaching your destination.

However, if you can’t access a steamer or have your suit ironed after landing, you’ll need to consider alternatives to get rid of the creases.

Here are some methods to get rid of wrinkles on a suit when traveling:

Carry a small iron : If you’re a frequent traveler and your suits usually get creased during flights, carry a small iron in your luggage so you can remove creases before attending your meeting or event.
Carry a handheld steamer : While these steamers are expensive, they are also the best way to quickly remove wrinkles from suits without causing any damage.
Wrinkle-removing spray : These sprays have mixed reviews but some travelers paradise them as game changers for crease removal, so it’s worth a try.

If you pack your suit correctly, it’s unlikely to get creased, but it’s best to be prepared anyways.

Final Thoughts

Carrying a suit on a plane without causing wrinkles or shrinking is a major challenge for travelers. The best solution by far is to place your suit in a garment or hanging bag and bring it along with your hand luggage. However, you can also roll it tightly or pack it in a large suitcase to prevent creasing.

If you’re in a hurry and the flight is short, the best option is to simply wear a coat! Also, be sure to read our guide on folding shorts for travel to save space .

How to Carry your Suit on a Plane: No Wrinkles and Shrinking- FAQs

The best way to carry a suit on a plane is to place it in a hanging bag. These bags allow you to hang the suit vertically and some can be folded and taken along with hand luggage. You can also carry the suit in a garment bag or pack it in a large suitcase.

The best way to prevent wrinkles when packing a suit is to roll it tightly. Not only will this prevent wrinkles but it helps reduce the amount of space your suit takes so you can pack more luggage. This method also allows you to pack the suit with other clothes and you won’t need a separate hanging or garment bag.

While some people recommend placing your suit in a steam shower, the best method to remove creases from suits when traveling is to use a handheld travel steamer. You can also pack a small iron although it’s not always feasible.

Middle East Editor | Frequent Traveller |

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Packing Tips

How to Pack a Suit in a Carry On

Published September 26, 2019

Written by:

Bennett Collins

Awkward Instagramer, hater of air travel, and intense lover of donuts, Bennet spent most of his 20s, as a nomadic...

Fred Perrotta

Co-founder, tortuga.

Fred Perrotta is the co-founder and CEO of Tortuga. His first backpacking trip to Europe inspired him to start the...

Jeremy Michael Cohen

Jeremy Michael Cohen is a co-founder of Tortuga. He also works as a screenwriter and director. Aside from travel and...

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If you’re like me, you’re at the point in your life where weddings are taking up your weekends and work is taking up your weekdays. How should you dress in formal settings? How do you do it when you have to travel there?

Believe it or not, you can pack a suit in a carry on bag . I once packed a suit in my backpack, flew to London for three weeks, then flew back to the States for a wedding where I wore that same suit without ever ironing it.

Before we begin, I have one, overarching piece of advice. Do not overpack your carry on when you’re trying to preserve the wrinkle-free integrity of your jacket, pants, and shirt. Even if you fold and pack everything correctly if any portion of the suit is crushed under pressure for long durations of time, you will get wrinkles. Don’t take the risk. Leave the extras at home when you have to pack a suit.

Disclaimer: The following advice is for when you do not have time or the ability to iron, steam, or dry clean your suit.

Let’s get to it.

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How to Pack a Suit Jacket and Pants

Normally, we suggest wearing bulkier items on the plane instead of packing them. Plenty of people would recommend this for a suit too. However, wearing your suit during your flight will result in wrinkles. Placing it in the overhead bin is even riskier. In this case, we recommend packing the suit, even if it takes up a lot of space in your bag.

For your suit to arrive sharp and wrinkle-free, pack it properly in your bag . You have two options for how to pack your suit.

The Folding Method

The fold method is the most popular, proven approach and the one I used for my trip to London and back. Even Brooks Brothers recommends this method.

I used this “lining out” method where you tuck one of your jacket’s shoulders into the other one.

Here’s a second, similar method where the finished product looks ready to be displayed in a store. Watch through the end of the video for a bonus tip on using a plastic bag, with a bit of air in it, as a cushion. The air pocket provides a buffer and prevents your suit from getting smashed or wrinkled.

The Dry Cleaner Bag Method

If you don’t have much else to pack in your carry on , or you’re willing to sacrifice space for a nearly wrinkle-free suit coat and pants, the dry cleaner bag method is the simplest and most efficient method.

Very simply, keep your suit coat and pants in the plastic dry-cleaner bag, hung on a hanger, and fold the suit in half horizontally. This method will keep your folded jacket protected in your suitcase rather than leaving it unprotected in the overhead compartment. GQ has a good walkthrough complete with GIFs.

Using a dry cleaning bag is not an efficient use of space. If you have to travel for a longer period and carry more than just your suit, the fold method is the better option.

How to Pack a Dress Shirt

The shirt is arguably the trickiest thing to pack. The end of the video above shows one method that leaves your shirt perfectly folded and ready to be displayed at a department store.

If you need extra help, we have a whole separate article on how to do this well. To distill this article into its main points:

Fold, don’t roll, your shirt
Lay the shirt on a flat surface and fold the arms into the middle, halfway up the sleeves
Fold in each side 3 inches and then fold the shirt in half from the bottom once, and again for a tighter fold
Shirts made of wrinkle-resistant fabrics like merino wool or polyester are better than non-iron materials that have a “spray on” chemical coating

Bonus Tip #1: I take out the collar stays (the plastic or metal pieces that go into the collar wings) to avoid bending them.

Bonus Tip #2: If you’re packing more than one shirt, layer them facing opposite directions.

How to Pack a Waistcoat and Cumberbund

There’s a time and a place for a three-piece suit, just as there are occasions that demand a cumberbund. Those are typically the occasions when packing a suit carries even more stress, since those events are more formal than business-related, suit-worthy occasions.

The good news is that neither of these items is complicated to pack.

Waistcoat: Make a fold along the vertical center back seam and then a horizontal fold (just two folds altogether).
Cumberbund: Roll it instead of folding it and stick it in a shoe.

How to Pack Dress Shoes

Truthfully, I think packing dress shoes is a risky thing to do and these are the only item of your suit outfit that I would wear on the plane. Pack your casual shoes instead. That way, you know your shoes will be in good condition when you land. Plus, cleaning your shoes is much easier than cleaning a full suit.

If you’re going to pack your dress shoes, make sure they’re stuffed so they don’t collapse and crease. Stuffing them with dress socks, a rolled-up tie, or your cumberbund is helpful.

How to Pack Ties, Socks, Belts, and Accessories

A wrinkly tie or another accessory can ruin all the hard work you put into having a perfect-looking suit. You have to nail the details if you want to look great.

Packing accessories is straightforward. Roll your ties and belts. Roll or fold your socks, as you wish. Pack all of those in your shoes (if you packed them).

Keep your pocket square, cufflinks, suspenders, and any other accessories to your suit in a separate bag that keeps them together and easy to find.

Don’t cram your suit into an overpacked bag if you’re trying to avoid wrinkles. Spend a few minutes learning the advanced folding and packing methods from the videos above. Smooth out the wrinkles in your clothes then pack them. Take your time. By investing a few extra minutes in upfront work, you’ll save yourself more work on the back end when you’re supposed to be enjoying your trip.

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How to pack a suit jacket (the right way).

If you're planning to travel in the near future, you might be wondering how to pack a suit jacket . Whether you're traveling for business or leisure, you may need to bring a formal outfit. While you can stuff t-shirts and other casual garments in your luggage, suit jackets require a little extra care. Stuffing a suit jacket inside your luggage will typically result in wrinkles that are stubborn and hard to remove. You can still pack a suit jacket, but you'll need to take a different approach so that it doesn't develop wrinkles.

Choose a Wrinkle-Resistant Suit Jacket

For starters, you should consider choosing a wrinkle-resistant suit jacket. Wrinkle-resistant suit jackets live up to their namesake by offering a high level of protection against wrinkles. They aren't necessarily immune to wrinkles; all suits and other garments can develop wrinkles. Nonetheless, wrinkle-resistant suit jackets are made of a material that naturally resists wrinkles.

Suit jackets made of synthetic blends are wrinkle resistant. Synthetic blends, of course, are materials consisting of a synthetic fabric that's mixed with an organic fabric. It's not uncommon for suit jackets to feature a small amount of nylon, polyester or lycra, for example. These are synthetic fabrics. Assuming they are mixed with an organic fabric, they will create a synthetic blend that protects the suit jacket from wrinkles.

Clean Beforehand

Regardless of what it's made of, you should clean your suit jacket before packing it. Packing a dirty suit jacket is never a good idea. Even if it only has superficial dirt, it may develop stains during transit. Superficial dirt can work its way deeper into your suit jacket. Upon arriving at your destination, you may check your suit jacket to discover unsightly stains on it.

Different suit jackets have different cleaning requirements. You may be able to wash your suit jacket at home by placing it in the washing machine with the cold water setting, followed by air drying it. Alternatively, you may need to get your suit jacket dry cleaned. Refer to the care tag on your suit jacket to determine the safest way to clean it. By cleaning your suit jacket beforehand, you can rest assured knowing that it will develop stains during transit.

Rub With a Dryer Sheet

In addition to cleaning your suit jacket before packing it, you should rub a dryer sheet on it. Why is this important exactly? Rubbing a dryer sheet on your suit jacket will leave it smelling nice and fresh. More importantly, perhaps, it will neutralize static electricity.

Suit jackets can develop static electricity. Static electricity is particularly common when suit jackets are packed in luggage or bags. As your suit jacket rubs against the sides of a luggage or bag, it may develop static electricity. A simple way to protect your suit jacket from this phenomenon is to use a dryer sheet. Rubbing a dryer sheet on your suit jacket will coat it with an antistatic compound that neutralizes and prevents the buildup of static electricity.

Use a Garment Bag

The safest way to transport a suit jacket is to use a garment bag. Avoid placing your suit jacket in a suitcase or similar piece of luggage. Instead, place it in a garment bag. A garment bag will preserve the shape of your suit jacket while simultaneously protecting it from damage.

Garment bags are large, heavy-duty bags that are designed for garments. You can use them for just about any type of garment, including suit jackets. Most garment bags even support the use of a clothes hanger. Rather than just placing your suit jacket inside of a garment bag, you can use a clothes hanger. The clothes hanger will help to retain the shape of your suit jacket.

Fold When Storing in Luggage

If you're going to transport your suit jacket in a piece of luggage rather than a garment bag, you'll need to fold it correctly. There's a wrong way and a right way to fold a suit jacket when packing it. Unfortunately, most people use the wrong method. How do you fold a suit jacket when packing it in luggage?

Start by lying your suit jacket on a flat surface, such as a table or ironing board. Next, fold it in vertically in half by bringing the arms together. You can then fold your suit jacket horizontally in half so that it turns into a small square-shaped package. When finished, place your folded suit jacket in the luggage. Using this folding method will protect your suit jacket from wrinkles. A garment bag is still a better solution, but you can fold your suit jacket by following these simple steps.

Bring a Lint Roller

When traveling with your suit jacket, you may want to bring a lint roller. It's an otherwise simple tool that can make a big difference in the appearance of your suit jacket. Your suit jacket may develop lint during transit. Whether you store it in a piece of luggage or a garment bag, there's always the chance of lint accumulating on it. Fortunately, you can clean your suit jacket in just a few minutes by running a lint roller over it.

Lint rollers consist of handheld rolls of one-sided tape. As you press and roll it on your suit jacket, the adhesive side will pick up any lingering lint. Once you've arrived at your destination, go over your suit jacket with a lint roller. It's a quick and easy way to clean any lint off your suit jacket.

In Conclusion

When traveling out of town, you may want to bring a suit jacket. It will allow you to create a formal outfit that looks professional and clean. Keep in mind, though, that you shouldn't just stuff your suit jacket in a piece of luggage. You should either place it in a garment bag, or if you're going to use a piece of luggage, fold your suit jacket.

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How to Fly with a Suit

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As someone who has traveled extensively with clothes in a garment bag, I can say that it is definitely possible to fly with a suit. However, there are a few things you need to know in order to make the experience as smooth as possible. Since flying with a garment bag is different for each airline, I always reach out to the airline before bringing the bag with me. It gives me peace of mind. I don’t like running into surprises once I arrive at the airport. In this guide, I’ll explain how to fly with a suit and provide a variety of options to make things easy for you. If you’re curious to learn more, check out the content below.

The Bottom Line Up Front

Yes, you can fly with a suit. However, doing so may not be as cut and dry as you’d like. In most cases, you can fold your garment bag and store it in the overhead bin.

Options for Flying With a Suit

Check your garment bag.

A common option for flying with a suit is to put it in a garment bag and check it as luggage. This is the best option if you have a lot of bags, since you can include the garment bag as part of your checked luggage. However, I urge you to be careful with this option. Don’t assume that you can check the garment bag. Ask the airline ahead of time.

Furthermore, your suit could get lost. Just like checked luggage can get lost, so can your garment bag. If you’re not willing to take that risk, don’t check it. If you decide to check your suit, use a hard bag. A soft-sided garment bag is easily tossed around, which could ruin your suit.

Here’s a pro tip: include a copy of your itinerary inside the garment bag. That way, the airline staff will know where it needs to be sent when it arrives at your destination.

Ship Your Suit Ahead of Time

If you choose to ship your suit ahead of time, there are a few steps to follow. Make sure that the shipping company has a good reputation and that they offer insurance in case of loss or damage. This option is a bit extreme, but it comes in handy if you don’t want to bother with checking your suit or carrying it on the plane. You can ship via FedEx or UPS, and they’ll ensure that your suit arrives at your destination.

Wear Your Suit On the Plane

Another option is to wear the suit on the plane. This is not always a good idea— especially if you are flying on a smaller plane. However, it’s worth trying if you won’t have a lot of time after getting off of your flight. If you choose to wear your suit on the plane, try to avoid wearing anything too tight or too bulky under the suit. I also suggest only trying this option if you’re in Business or First Class. Economy is tighter, which means your suit is more likely to wrinkle due to lack of space.

Also, be prepared for some extra scrutiny from airport security personnel. They may want to take a closer look at you if they see that you’re wearing a suit. You may have to remove your belt, jacket, and other accessories. This is just a precaution because suits have hidden pockets and creases. It shouldn’t take them too long to clear you through security.

Two Ways to Pack a Suit

If you’re heading out of town for a trip, you’ll need to pack your clothing carefully to avoid wrinkles and creases. I’ve figured out a couple of methods that work fairly well. Here’s how to do them:

Fold It Lengthwise

First, lay your suit jacket flat on a bed or other surface. Then, fold the sleeves in, so they’re lying parallel to the body of the jacket. Next, fold the jacket in half, lengthwise.

Now it’s time to fold the pants. Start by folding them in half, lengthwise. Then, fold the legs up, so they’re lying parallel to the waistband. Finally, fold the pants in half again, widthwise. When you’re finished, your suit should be neatly folded and ready to pack into your luggage. Just be sure to wrap it in a garment bag or other protective covering to keep it clean and free of wrinkles.

With a little bit of care, you can easily pack your suit into a suitcase without worry.

One of the easiest ways to fold a suit is to simply roll it up. This method is quick, easy, and doesn’t require any special skills or equipment. To roll a suit, first lay it flat on a smooth surface. Then, fold the arms in towards the body of the suit. Next, fold the bottom of the suit up towards the waistline. Finally, roll the suit from the bottom up, making sure to smooth out any wrinkles as you go.

This method is great for traveling, as it doesn’t take up much space in a suitcase or carry-on bag. However, it’s important to note that rolled suits can sometimes become wrinkled, so it’s best to hang them up as soon as you arrive at your destination.

My Favorite Garment Bag Types

There are many types of garment bags available on the market, and it’s hard to know which one is right for traveling. Luckily for you, I’ve tried different types. Below are the ones that I like best:

1. Rolling Garment Bags

This type of garment bag functions much like a suitcase. It has a handle and wheels, which makes it easy to travel through airports and hotels. One of the best things about rolling garment bags is that they often come with a detachable shoulder strap. This means that you can carry it like a suitcase or wear it like a backpack.

One thing to keep in mind is that rolling garment bags can be bulky and difficult to pack in small spaces. If you’re traveling by airplane, make sure to measure the bag to make sure it fits in the overhead bin.

2. Tri-fold Bags

Tri-fold garment bags are a good option if you’re looking for something compact and lightweight. These bags can be folded into thirds, which makes them easy to store in small spaces. Tri-fold bags are also great because they often come with multiple compartments. This means that you can keep your shoes and other items separate from your clothes.

One downside of tri-fold bags is that they can be difficult to carry. Most don’t have handles, so you’ll have to carry them over your shoulder. Additionally, the lack of wheels makes it harder to maneuver through airports and hotels.

3. Hanging Bags

If you’re looking for a garment bag that’s easy to use, then a hanging bag is a good option. These bags have a hook that allows you to hang them in a closet. This makes it easy to pack and unpack your clothes. Hanging bags also often come with multiple compartments, which is great for organizing your belongings.

One downside of hanging bags is that they’re hard to travel with. Hanging bags are sometimes bulky, which makes them difficult to pack in small spaces.

My Favorite Garment Bag Brands

1. samsonite ascella x softside luggage.

I really like this Samsonite garment bag. It’s spacious and has a lot of compartments and pockets for organization. The fabric is also really nice and feels durable.

One thing I don’t like about it, however, is the price. It’s definitely on the more expensive side compared to other brands. But overall, I think it’s a great bag and would recommend it to others. But you’ll definitely get your money’s worth if you travel a lot.

2. UniqueBella Garment Duffle Bag

This option is a great mid-range choice. It’s not as expensive as the Samsonite bag, but it’s still a high-quality option. Not to mention, it’s super easy to carry. It’s designed with a shoulder strap and handles, so you can wear it a few different ways. I also like that it comes with a pouch that holds your shoes.

3. Zegur Suit Carry-on Garment Bag

This Zegur garment bag is another fantastic choice, especially if you’re looking for something affordable. It’s made from high-quality materials, and it’s super durable. Plus, it has a ton of compartments and pockets for organization. This bag also comes with a handy travel strap, so you can easily carry it on your luggage.

4. Degeler Carry on Garment Bag

I really like this Degeler garment bag. Much like this Samsonite, it’s a bit expensive, however, it’s larger in size. It’s perfect for long trips, or if you need to pack a lot of clothes. This bag is designed to carry three suits on one hanger. Plus, it has compartments for other items, like ties and socks!

Guidelines for Flying with a Garment Bag

Every airline has a different guideline for flying with a suit. Here are a few of the most popular airline rules:

1. American Airlines

When flying with American Airlines , soft-sided garment bags must be no more than 51 inches / 130 cm (length + width + height). You can take them on the aircraft as your carry-on item.

2. Delta Airlines

Delta Airlines doesn’t have specific rules for flying with a suit in a garment bag. However, their carry-on policy states that you’re allowed one personal item and one carry-on bag. So, as long as your garment bag meets the size requirements of no more than 45 inches, you should be fine. To be on the safe side, reach out to Delta directly.

3. Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines also doesn’t have any specific rules when it comes to flying with a garment bag. However, they allow garment bags as a replacement for carry-ons. The dimensions must not exceed 10 x 16 x 24 inches. However, if your garment bag can fold up and fit into the overhead bin, it should be fine.

4. United Airlines

United is another airline that allows garment bags as long as they meet carry-on requirements. For United Airlines, their dimension restrictions are 9 x 14 x 22 inches. Again, you can always fold your garment bag and place it in the overhead bin.

I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to reach out to the airline directly. Since most airlines don’t have a specific garment bag policy, you want to make sure that you ask before showing up at the airport.

FAQs – How to Fly With A Suit

Answer: There are a few ways to avoid wrinkles in your suit. First, you can choose a suit made of wrinkle-resistant fabric. Second, you can hang your suit on a hanger when you travel. Third, you can pack your suit in a garment bag. Finally, you can steam your suit when you arrive at your destination.

Answer: Most airlines allow you to bring a suit in a garment bag without charging an additional fee. However, it is always best to check with your airline before you travel.

Answer: No, it is not mandatory to check your garment bag. However, some airlines may require you to do so if your bag exceeds their size limits. Again, this is one of those situations where the answer might differ from airline to airline. Don’t assume. Be sure to ask before you bring a suit with you.

My Final Thoughts on Flying With a Suit

Flying with a suit isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it’s doable. I suggest neatly folding it in your suitcase and knocking the wrinkles out once you get to your destination. I find that easier than stuffing a garment bag into the overhead bin. And, of course, it prevents you from having to wear an uncomfortable suit on the plane.

Well, I hope these suggestions help to make your journey easier. Happy Traveling!

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Travel + Leisure / Brian Kopinski

While we wish all of our travel plans exclusively involved wearing our most casual outfits with our feet dangling over a warm body of water, sometimes our global adventures call for more formal attire. Whether that’s a work conference, business meeting, or a loved one’s wedding (maybe even your own destination nuptials), some of our trips require us to pack a suit. As packing for travel becomes more and more stressful, especially as it pertains to luggage requirements, picking the right suit to travel with can be equally puzzling. Luckily, it’s a problem that’s not impossible to solve. “When it comes to a travel suit, the fabric is the single most important factor,” says Proper Cloth head of design Chris Callis, who travels with a suit every month. “You want something that’s resistant to wrinkling and has comfortable stretch.” We suggest making the most out of your travel suit by picking one that can easily be worn as separates when paired with the right pants or top.

We’ve rounded up 12 of our favorite suits to consider for the next trip where you may need one. They include varying degrees of stretch and crease-resistance, but they all get high points for style.

Best Overall

Canali classic fit wool suit.

Classic Italian tailoring in a wear-forever color can’t be beat.

It’s a major splurge.

Our pick for the best overall travel suit is this classic single-breast option in black that you can wear to anything that requires such a garment. (And given the price, you will want to wear it everywhere.) The flawless Italian construction from the master tailors at Canali means exceptional fit (think: just the right amount of room where you need it, like across the shoulders). And there’s just a bit of texture on the wool to give it some visual interest without it looking too trendy. If you take care of it, it’s really the kind of suit you can wear forever. We love the idea of pairing these trousers with a white T-shirt and sneakers for an easy-going outfit as well.

The suit is 100 percent wool so you know you’re getting quality, breathable natural material. It’s not going to be 100 percent wrinkle-free, but a quick steam right after taking it out of your suitcase should do the trick.

The Details: 100 percent wool | Sizes 36 to 52 US

Best Budget

Uniqlo airsense relaxed pants.

The material is super lightweight and stretchy, plus the entire suit is under $200.

The exaggerated lapel size skews trendy rather than traditional.

Uniqlo can always be trusted for their slick, affordable basics. And this lightweight suit in a classic fit comes with so many fantastic details that could truly have made it much more expensive. The proprietary AirSense textile is lightweight, stretchy, moisture-wicking, and wrinkle-resistant. Plus, the more casual vibe of these garments means you can easily wear each separately, but put a shirt and tie under the Uniqlo AirSense Blazer , and you’re ready for a dressier moment as well.

The Details: 100 percent polyester | Pants: XS to 3XL; Blazer: XXS to 3XL

Proper Cloth Irish Linen Bedford Suit

Proper Cloth

The silky texture makes for a gorgeous drape.

Linen is notorious for wrinkling.

Let’s get it out of the way: linen will wrinkle. But we still love the idea of it for travel, because linen screams vacation. You’ll have to work a little harder to make sure it’s in presentable condition, but once you overcome that hurdle, think about how sharp you’ll look in this beautifully tailored suit from Proper Cloth.

It’s got a soft drape and a silky touch so you know it’ll sit on your body just right. The fine Baird McNutt linen (some of the best in the world) is super breathable so it’s the perfect choice for a summer wedding, or if you just want to look your best for a trip to the tropics. It comes in seven colors, but we’re partial to the casual elegance of this faded brown tobacco hue. And Proper Cloth will let you customize the suit, too.

The Details: 100 percent linen | Jacket: Sizes 28 to 64, Length: short, regular, or long, Fit: extra slim to classic; Pants: Sizes: 26 to 60 waist, 26 to 44 inseam, Fit: extra slim to classic

Banana Republic Signature Herringbone Suit

Banana Republic

The herringbone is the perfect step up from classic navy or gray.

The jacket is unlikely to look great as a separate.

There’s something about this wool suit from Banana Republic that feels simultaneously formal and casual. The more modern, fuller cut is very stylish, but we love the old-school vibe of the herringbone pattern. The unexpected use of a heavier flannel gives this a very hardy feel, too, and that’ll be great if you want to wear the Signature Herringbone Suit Pants on their own for a more casual affair with a sweater or even a polo shirt.

The Details: 100 percent virgin wool |Pants: 30 to 36W, 30 to 32L; Jacket: 38 to 46, short, regular, long

Best Three-piece

Polo ralph lauren stripe three-piece suit.

Polo Ralph Lauren

It’s classic American menswear done right.

It’s pricey.

A pin-stripe wool-cotton suit with pleated pants and a matching vest is an unbeatable combination — it'll give off a confident vibe for your next business meeting. And Polo Ralph Lauren includes a twist by softening the shoulder seams so that they’ll drape beautifully into the sleeves. We also love the slim cut of the trousers for its elegant silhouette. And the vest will look fantastic on its own over a crisp Oxford shirt and a fantastic-fitting pair of jeans.

The Details: Wool-cotton blend | 34 to 48, short, regular, long

Best Cotton

J. crew ludlow slim-fit suit jacket.

For off-the-rack, the tailoring on the Ludlow is fantastic.

It doesn’t have a ton of stretch.

Crafted from medium-weight cotton from a renowned mill in Italy, this suit is one of J. Crew’s most enduring pieces. In fact, for the price (the entire set is under $500), this suit could cost a lot more. The slim fit gives it a very modern edge, too, which means the suit offers countless styling options. We love this blazer with jeans or even shorts for a sharp-but-casual outfit; while the Suit Pants are easy to pair with a myriad of tops, too.

The Details: 100 percent cotton | Pants: 28/32 to 38/32; Jacket: 34/S to 46/L

Best Size-inclusive

Bonobos jetsetter italian wool suit.

It comes in slim, standard, and athletic sizing.

It’s not tailored to your specific measurements.

Bonobos’ Jetsetter suit is made for travel, since the hint of elastane gives it stretch and some wrinkle resistance. But what we really love about it is how size-inclusive the suit is. For one, it is available from 36-short to 48-long and can be made in slim, standard, or athletic frames. No, that will not cover every single body type, but that covers more than what you would expect from an off-the-rack purchase.

The Details: 98 percent wool, 2 percent elastane | Blazer: 36S to 48L; Pants: 28 to 40, tailored, slim, athletic

Best Wrinkle-resistant

Suit supply havana blazer.

Suit Supply

The four-ply wool is naturally crease-resistant.

It’s a little pricey.

For this slim-cut wool suit, Netherlands-based menswear brand Suit Supply uses a high-quality Italian fabric with a ton of premium details: four-ply for durability, a slightly looser weave for breathability, and a tightly twisted yarn that’s naturally crease resistant.

We love how the very sleek silhouette (no shoulder pads and just a few discreet pockets) makes this a formalwear workhorse, but you can make a look more casual (but still incredibly put together) by wearing the blazer or Vigo Pants separately.

The Details: 100 percent wool | Blazer: 32 to 50S; Pants: 26 to 44S

Best Versatile

Theory mayer slim fit suit pants.

Bloomingdale's

A stretchy navy wool blazer is a wardrobe workhorse.

It’s a bit pricey.

Adding Lycra spandex to virgin wool gives this classic, slim-cut suit a fair amount of stretch, which means you can wear it on the plane. (Think of the big-time upgrade possibilities in a travel getup like this!) But the fabric actually comes with a ton of other modern benefits, too: the breathable textile helps regulate body temperature. Plus, it’s moisture-wicking and anti-odor. But the best perk for frequent travelers is that it is wrinkle-resistant. So both the Chambers Blazer and pants are ready to go as soon as you get off the plane, boat, or train.

The Details: 97 percent virgin wool, 3 percent Lycra spandex | Blazer: 34R to 48L; Pants: 28 to 40

Best Sustainable

Pangaia tailored trousers.

Pangaia is known for using recycled or responsibly sourced materials.

It has a baggier silhouette, which may not be for everyone.

This slightly oversized suit (made of organic cotton) from eco-friendly brand Pangaia offers a trendier take on the standard black suit, but the fantastic tailoring will have you looking dapper in any scenario. The back vent, concealed button plackets, and notched lapel are all hallmarks of classic formalwear, but some of Pangaia’s more innovative touches are there, too, like the use of peppermint oil to prevent odor, which means you can wear these pieces many more times before you need to clean it.

This is particularly great given how versatile both items are. The Oversized Tailored Blazer can make for a stylish oversized statement with a pair of jeans. And the unfussy drape on these pleated trousers are the perfect of-the-moment pants to throw on with your favorite T-shirts.

The Details: 100 percent cotton | Blazer: XXS to XL; Pants: XXS to XL

Best for Summer

Todd snyder italian seersucker madison drawstring seersucker suit.

Todd Snyder

The easy-breezy seersucker in this unexpected shade is incredibly chic.

It’s a lot more casual than a standard suit.

Other than linen, our favorite summertime textile is lightweight seersucker. The puckered fabric can actually hide wrinkling a bit, but this Todd Snyder set also comes with some stretch to make it a comfortable all-season option. (The black is an unexpected color for seersucker, and from afar, it will read like a standard suit — especially because of the waist-defining fit.)

We love it with loafers and a tonal shirt for a wedding in Sicily. Pair the pants with a white button-down and brogues, and you’ve got a foolproof casual Friday getup sorted.

The Details: 97 percent cotton, 3 percent elastane | Jacket: 36S to 46L; Pants: XS to XXL

Best Patterned

Brooks brothers cotton-blend paisley suit.

Brooks Brothers

This bright red paisley will turn heads.

It’s a bold look, but you can pull it off.

If you already have a standard navy, pin-stripe, or khaki suit, maybe it’s time to step up your travel wardrobe with this whimsical option from Brooks Brothers. It’s fun, it’s eye-catching, it’s giving Palm Springs. There’s some stretch for added comfort, and the fit offers a classic slimming cut. It’s easy to split these up as separates, too. In fact, we love the idea of these Cotton-Blend Paisley Suit Pants with a T-shirt or sweater plus low-top sneakers for a fashionable, fuss-free outfit.

But while the suit as whole is certainly a big look, a white button-down shirt will soften the overall impact of the pattern. Or you can always go full throttle, and wear the suit with yellow or blue.

The Details: 78 percent cotton, 10 percent polyester, 10 percent rayon, 2 percent spandex | Pants: 30 to 40, Inseam: 30 to 34; Blazer: 36 to 50, regular, short, long

Tips for Buying a Travel Suit

Pay attention to the pockets and the shoulders.

When buying a suit jacket, two structural details you shouldn’t ignore are the shoulder and pocket construction. Callis states that a softer shoulder “is much more versatile than a more built up, padded shoulder.” He’s partial to jackets with more discreet hip pockets. So if you’re looking to get the most wear out of your blazer, avoid flap pockets as they can read way too formal and business-like. “I also push guys to go for patch hip pockets; they'll look a lot better as a jacket worn independently.

Linen will wrinkle

While you can certainly expect linen to wrinkle, we’re still big fans of packing it for travel due to its breathability and breezy, summer-ready look. We love a linen moment for travel during summer or for warmer destinations, because more than any other fabric, linen seems to capture the joie de vivre of vacation. We just make sure to take our favorite travel steamer with us.

There are countless ways you can pack your travel suit, but one of the most trusted is to put it in a garment bag for extra protection. But that can be a more space-consuming strategy. Callis, however, takes a different approach: he suggests wearing your jacket on the day of travel. “I’ve tried every different way to pack a suit and my favorite method is wearing the jacket on the plane and folding the trousers on the top of my luggage,” he says. “That way the trousers stay creased and I lightly fold up the jacket on my lap.”

Most suit pants are very easy to wear on their own for a more casual outfit. But according to Callis, you need to pay very close attention to the jacket in order to ensure that it can be worn separately from the matching trousers. “Most suit jackets make for poor sport coats because they look too formal,” he says. “That’s why I point guys to a slightly textured, matte fabric for a travel suit. The lack of shine will look a lot better with jeans or chinos.”

For this story, travel writer Chadner Navarro scoured the internet for the best-looking suits he would love to wear while on assignment. As a frequent traveler (for both work and leisure), Navarro never fails to pack at least one blazer in his suitcase. (Though he has also brought two tuxedos on a cruise that featured multiple nights with black-tie dress codes.) To add more expertise to the roundup, he also spoke with Proper Cloth head of design Chris Callis for his expert insight.

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The Best Slim Suits for Men Hold Steady

By Evan Malachosky

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Even at the height of menswear's anything-goes era, the best slim suits for men held steady. Why? Simple: A good suit shouldn’t do any more than you ask of it. What does that mean, exactly? Also simple: A good suit should make you feel like you , but better—more upright, confident, handsome. Which also means it shouldn’t get in your way, in the form of garish patterns, off-kilter proportions, or any unwanted bells and whistles. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—and the suit hasn’t been broken since it was born, at least as we know it now, in the mid- to late-1800s. Sure, that’s a long time ago— Einstein was an infant, electric street lights were barely a thing, etc.—but the core principles remain the same.

The Best Slim Suits for Men, According to GQ

The Era-Defining Pick: J.Crew Ludlow Suit , $675
The Spring Wedding Pick: Banana Republic Malpaso Italian Linen Suit , $600
The Legacy-Making Pick: Celine Homme Wool Suit , $3490
The C-Suite Pick: Tom Ford O'Connor Suit , $6100
The Summer Vacation Pick: Todd Snyder Italian Seersucker Suit , $765

Your suit should flatter, but, above all else, function . Which is why so many of the oversized or overly skinny options on the market today don’t make much sense. (They tend to do neither.) The slim-but-not-skinny suits below bend to modern sensibilities but do not break, giving all you slight fellas exactly what you should be shooting for in your tailoring: the unimpeachable ability to look wholly, effortlessly put-together no matter the circumstances.

So if you're on the hunt for the best slim suits for men, you landed at the right place and the right time: there’s a seemingly endless supply of options at the moment, and your pals at GQ Recommends found the only ones that matter. Pick your favorite, smash the ‘buy’ button, and then dial up your tailor to nail the fining touches.

The Best Era-Defining Slim Suit

Image may contain: Blazer, Clothing, Coat, Jacket, Formal Wear, and Suit

Ludlow Italian Stretch Worsted Wool Slim-Fit Suit Jacket

Image may contain: Clothing, Pants, Jeans, Home Decor, and Linen

Ludlow Italian Stretch Worsted Wool Slim-Fit Suit Pants

Behold the suit that started it all: J.Crew’s ubiquitous Ludlow. For damn-near two decades, it was the default choice for office workers and wedding-goers across the country—and quite literally changed how men dress in the process. When the Ludlow was introduced way back in 2008, pencil-straight suits were all the rage, a la haute fashion options from designers like Hedi Slimane (more on him later) and Raf Simons . But it was J.Crew that made the silhouette palatable, bringing the look to the masses. If, somehow, you've made it this far without a Ludlow, you haven’t enjoyed the sheer bliss of plucking an alarmingly good (and alarmingly affordable) suit right off the rack and wearing it as is, on repeat, to every single formal event from there on out. Without the Ludlow, suits would look a whole lot different today—and your closet would be worse off for it.

Another Great No-Brainer Option : Boglioli (Read more here )

The Best Slim Suit for Spring Weddings

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Banana Republic

Malpaso Italian Linen Suit Jacket

Malpaso Italian Linen Suit Pants

The biggest downside to a slimmer suit? If you're wearing one during the warmest months of the year, you’re less likely to feel the breeze blowing between the drape of your lapel and the upper rung of your (probably unbuttoned) shirt. The secret, then, is to rely on the fabric to do the heavy lifting—you'll want something that’ll keep you air-conditioner-cool in the aisles of an al fresco wedding but still comfortable when the sun sets on it. In other words, you'll want a suit exactly like Banana's Republic's nubby linen number , which is lightweight, laidback, and still looks killer with a crisp button-up and dark knit tie. When the vows have been exchanged and the ceremony's over, swap the dress shirt for a ribbed white tank or a silky camp shirt—the world is your linen-draped oyster.

Another Great Wedding Option : Ralph Lauren (Read more here )

The Best Slim Suit from the Guy Who Made Them a Thing

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Celine Homme

Slim-Fit Worsted Wool-Gabardine Suit Jacket

Slim-Fit Worsted Wool-Gabardine Suit Trousers

To call Hedi Slimane the modern-day forefather of the slim suit is barely hyperbolic. First at Dior Homme and then Saint Laurent, where Slimane served as creative director during a pivotal four years in the 2010s, the French designer took the schlubby silhouettes of the aughts and cut them down to size—ushering in an era of slim-fit dominance in the process. Slimane may have taken his talents to Celine, but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped slingin’ his signature rock-god tailoring. Mercifully, the cut has loosened ever-so-slightly since his days at Saint Laurent, but all the trademark fixings remain: lightly padded shoulders to help you stand a little straighter, knife-sharp creases to help you look a little taller, and an aura of sex appeal less fancy—and less French —brands struggle to approximate. The whole kit will play nice with a vintage tee and derbies , but for best results, wear it exactly as Slimane intended: with a starched white shirt and vertiginous boots .

Another Great Designer Option : Prada (Read more here )

The Best Slim Suit for Power Posing

O'Connor Slim-Fit Puppytooth Wool Suit Jacket

Image may contain: Clothing, Pants, Home Decor, Linen, and Jeans

O'Connor Slim-Fit Puppytooth Wool Suit Trousers

Picture this: It's the morning of a nerve-wracking presentation and you’re striding from the grand lobby of your office building into the elevator, nodding along to the corporate muzak on your way to the top. You step out into the glass-paneled corridor of your floor, colleagues abuzz, coffee a-brewin’. All eyes turn to you, the guy in the razor-sharp slim gray suit, looking for all intents and purposes like you own the whole skyscraper. You nail the presentation; a promotion follows. That, friends, is the power of Tom Ford's megawatt suiting , cut with a Savile Row tailor's eye for precision, and crafted from some of the swankiest fabrics on the planet. The designer's O'Connor suit offers all that and more, thanks to its structured shoulders, calculated length, and subtly rakish puppytooth pattern. Buy one and you'll start looking for excuses to break it out, presentations be damned.

Another Great C-Suite Option : Saman Amel (Read more here )

The Best Slim Suit for Summer Vacations

Todd Snyder

Italian Seersucker Sutton Suit

To non-GQ readers, bringing a suit on vacation might sound a little bizarre. But if you spend your time OOO exclusively in boardshorts, you’re missing out on the rush of saddling up to the hotel bar —ideally one outside, by the water—in a perfectly crisp suit, ordering a Tiki cocktail, and gazing out at the setting sun with the salty breeze blowing across your bare, sunburnt chest. Todd Snyder’s seersucker Sutton suit is the platonic choice to fulfill that fantasy, largely because it explicitly avoids “James Bond in a tropical setting" cosplay. Don't think of it as the fancy European sports car Bond inevitably wrecks fifteen minutes into the movie—think of it as a discreet upmarket sedan, one just as loaded with every available performance upgrade.

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Another Great Vacation Option : Suitsupply (Read more here )

Plus Six More Slim Suits We Love

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Single-Breasted Wool Suit

In a perfect world, if you put “high fashion corporate-core” into one of the newest AI image generators, you’d get this suit: single-breasted, subtly-striped, cut razor-sharp and with approximately zero extraneous details. It’s the perfect shade of black to fit in where black suits do their finest work —funerals and weddings, sure, but also the office, the front row of the latest Prada show , or a family gathering where you plan to flex so hard on your least-favorite cousin he leaves you alone until the next one.

Image may contain: Blazer, Clothing, Coat, Jacket, Formal Wear, Suit, Home Decor, Linen, and Tuxedo

Polo Ralph Lauren

Soft Tailored Chino Suit Jacket

Ralph Lauren

Image may contain: Clothing, Pants, Home Decor, Linen, Jeans, and Stain

Garment-Dyed Stretch Chino Suit Trousers

Other brands have tried, other brands have failed: so goes the story when you try to replicate a signature Ralph Lauren concept. Close to sixty years after Ralph Lauren shocked menswear buyers with his wide, brash ties, the brand that bears his name stands alone in its ability to blend the ultra-casual and the high-end, yielding standout pieces like this lax-yet-cool, unstructured-yet-flattering chino suit, which is soft to the touch, slightly stretchy and, from afar, not all that distinguishable from more standard fare. But it's the details—like a fully-lined interior and a three-button finish—that set Ralph Lauren apart, and keep it on the throne of American fashion. Long may it reign.

Image may contain: Clothing, Formal Wear, Suit, Tuxedo, Coat, Jacket, Blazer, Adult, and Person

Dries Van Noten

Navy Slim-Fit Suit

If you’ve ever dreamed of dressing like the European bodyguard of an incredibly wealthy, low-profile foreign dignitary, Dries has you covered. You know the look: a suit so blue it almost looks black, finished with a certain sheen and worn with a dark dress shirt and black boots to, uh, boot. The legendary Antwerp Six designer takes his cues from that archetype but adds his own flair to the mix, not in the form of unnecessary details or vanity buttons, but in the shape of the suit itself: slim, trim, and positively emanating “fuck-around-and-find-out” energy.

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Slim-Fit Herringbone Wool, Silk and Linen-Blend Twill Suit Jacket

Image may contain: Clothing, Pants, and Jeans

Slim-Fit Pleated Herringbone Wool, Linen and Silk-Blend Twill Suit Trousers

For the sexiest rendition yet of the trusty navy suit, turn to the Swedish tailoring gurus at Saman Amel. Their expertly-cut herringbone number would sync up swell with suede loafers, a strong-collared dress shirt , and a swanky, candlelit dinner overlooking a sweeping seascape. (Not all that hard to find in Sweden, it turns out, despite popular misconception.) Like the garnish on a well-made cocktail, the slightly wider peak lapels offer a welcome dose of rakish energy; the base is fantastic as is, and then you’re left asking, “What is this ?” as you rush to gulp it down. Refreshing, right? That’s this suit, baby. And you in it? A tall, fresh glass of Scandi water, too.

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Brown Wool-Silk-Linen Havana Suit

Spend a little too much time on Cigar-Tok (look it up), and you’ll fall down a deep rabbit hole of videos involving coastal hotels, high ceilings, gold-plated tools, custom matches, and laughably tiny coffee cups. The one upside? The guys in those videos are likely wearing something a lot like Suitsupply’s aptly-named Havana Suit. It’s crafted from a blend of wool, silk, and linen, making it ideal for at least three seasons, and the mid-brown tone with the nubby woven finish elevates it above more anodyne alternatives. Want to stand out at a summer wedding? Wear this.

Image may contain: Clothing, Formal Wear, Suit, Blazer, Coat, Jacket, Tuxedo, Adult, and Person

Milano Solid Slim Fit Suit

Bloomingdale's

A bold blue suit is never a bad idea, especially when it’s as effortlessly cool as the one made by the Italian suiting legends at Boglioli. Whether you rock it with a crisp white tee or a weathered denim shirt, you’ll master the subtle art of both blending in and standing out—a fine balance long understood by a certain British superspy. (Yes, we're talking about Bond…again.) And given the suit’s slim cut, you’ll look slimmer, too, thanks to a duo of flush pockets at both the hips and the chest. This one’s 100% wool, making it a better option for the fall and winter months, but that’s A-OK in our books. After all, what better way to cure your wintertime blues than with a grail-level blue suit?

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IMAGES

How to Pack a Suit
7 Best Travel Suits that Hold Their Form
To Travel Serenely, Travel Light
In six simple steps, we show you how to pack a suit so it fits neatly
How to: Travel with a Suit
To Travel Serenely, Travel Light

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COMMENTS

How to Pack a Suit for Travel Without Wrinkling It
Spread the suit jacket on a flat surface with lapels down. Fold one shoulder to the center midline, with the sleeve back. Fold it back toward the outer edge as needed. Now, turn the other shoulder inside-out. Insert the first shoulder into the "pocket" created. Bring the inside-out sleeve toward the center.
How to pack a suit for travel and avoid wrinkling
There's a good chance that your jacket will be compressed and come out pretty wrinkled. When you arrive at your destination, take out your suit right away and hang it up. Fine quality fabrics are likely to return to their normal lengths. You can also hang your suit up in the shower and give it a bit of a steam.
How to Pack a Suit for Travel (Step By Step Guide)
Fold the jacket thirds, and in thirds again. Slide the folded suit jacket into a packing cube! Start folding the suit pants and zipper them closed. Hold up the travel suit pants. Fold them exactly in half. Fold in the crease seam. Start the suit pants thirds-folding. Fold up another third, and finalize.
How to bring a suit on a plane (and look like a total boss doing it)
Try to place your bag on top of any other luggage in the bin. 2. Pack it in your suitcase. As long as you pack carefully, you can put your suit in a regular suitcase. Here's how: First, pack the suitcase with your other clothing. Then, turn your suit inside-out. Place one shoulder of the jacket into the other shoulder.
How to Fold and Pack Your Suit the Right Way
Step 1. Grab the suit jacket and pop those shoulders inside out. No need to be delicate here. Step 2. Fold it in half so the lapels touch. Step 3. Fold it again. Step 4. Throw it in your bag.
Master How to Fold and Pack a Suit in a Suitcase
Step 1: Fold the trousers horizontally and lay them on a flat surface. Step 2: Turn the suit jacket inside-out and pull it closed so the lapels meet. Step 3: Place the jacket on top of the trousers. Step 4:Take the bottom third of the jacket and fold it upwards. Then, take the top third of the jacket and fold it down — similar to how you ...
Learn How to Pack a Suit Like a Road Warrior
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:
How to Travel with a Suit: Essential Tips and Tricks
What is the best way to pack a suit for travel? To pack a suit for travel, use a garment bag to prevent wrinkles. Fold the suit jacket vertically and place it in the garment bag with the sleeves inside out. Pack the pants separately by folding them in half and stacking them. Fill any empty space with soft items to prevent shifting during travel.
How to Pack Your Suit for Travel
We recommend packing an important suit (think weddings) in your carry-on, just in case your checked bag is lost. 1. Lay suit face down on a flat surface. 2. Fold left shoulder back. 3. Turn right shoulder inside out, then tuck left shoulder into the right. 4. Fold in half lengthwise, then fold horizontally.
How to pack and fold a suit for travel
3 best ways to pack and fold a suit for travel. Method 1 - fastest and simplest way to fold a suit jacket for luggage; Method 2 - reduces creasing as no foldings of the suit is required ; Method 3 - best way to fold a suit for travel with a duffel bag; Method 1 - how to fold a suit for travel in six seconds. Step 1: Put your suit jacket ...
How to Pack a Suit When Traveling
There are plenty of opinions on the best way to pack your suit when traveling. No matter which option you decide works best for you, just remember that the fewer folds your suit jacket has to endure, the better. The Inside-Out Method. With the inside-out method of packing a suit, turn your suit pants and jackets inside out, then fold as needed.
How to Pack a Suit Into a Suitcase: 5 Simple Methods
The entire length of the lapel should be lined up. [6] 5. Fold the bottom and top of the jacket. Fold the top part of the suit jacket to the middle of the suit and then fold the bottom portion of the jacket over it. Your suit jacket should now be a flat cube that can easily fit in a suitcase. Method 3.
How to Fold a Suit for Travel (with Pictures)
2. Fold the edges of the shirt inward. Make two vertical folds along the back of the shirt to bring the edges of the shirt roughly one sleeve-length inward. Straighten the edges of the shirt so that they are uniform and parallel. 3. Fold the sleeves down along the new edges.
How to pack a suit when you're traveling light
Step 1: It's a good idea to wear a lightweight suit for travel — something like linen is very comfortable to wear and creases in an elegant rather than a rumpled way, so that's always a good ...
How to carry your Suit on a Plane: No Wrinkles and Shrinking
Fold the pants along the seam and place them in the suitcase without folding. Fold the shirt along the crease with the back side facing inwards. Cross fold the sleeves inwards without causing a fold line. Lastly, take the coat and place clothing inside the shoulder section before folding it along the crease.
How to Easily Pack a Suit & Not Wrinkle It
The foolproof way to pack your suit jacket and pants without wrinkling them.Subscribe to Travel + Leisure - http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_us...
How to Pack a Suit in a Carry On in 2024
To distill this article into its main points: Fold, don't roll, your shirt. Lay the shirt on a flat surface and fold the arms into the middle, halfway up the sleeves. Fold in each side 3 inches and then fold the shirt in half from the bottom once, and again for a tighter fold.
How to Pack a Suit Jacket (The Right Way)
Rubbing a dryer sheet on your suit jacket will coat it with an antistatic compound that neutralizes and prevents the buildup of static electricity. Use a Garment Bag. The safest way to transport a suit jacket is to use a garment bag. Avoid placing your suit jacket in a suitcase or similar piece of luggage. Instead, place it in a garment bag.
Best Ways to Travel with a Suit & Jacket
Pack like a man with these suit, sport coat packing tips to save space, avoid wrinkles and look stylish from MensWearhouse.com.View the full article to learn...
How to Fly with a Suit
Fold It Lengthwise. First, lay your suit jacket flat on a bed or other surface. Then, fold the sleeves in, so they're lying parallel to the body of the jacket. Next, fold the jacket in half, lengthwise. Now it's time to fold the pants. Start by folding them in half, lengthwise.
3 Simple Ways To Fold A Suit Jacket
A neatly folded jacket not only saves you precious minutes but also eliminates the need for last-minute steaming or ironing. Suit Jacket Fold #1 - Tucked-Shoulder Fold. This fold distributes pressure in a suitcase from being applied to folds and seams. This one does involve a large fold down the center of the jacket.
How to Fold and Pack a Suit The Right Way
How to fold a blazer, jacket or suit, the right way. Simple steps to ensure your tailored jackets arrive wrinkle-free.Still haven't subscribed to GQ on YouTu...
The 12 Best Travel Suits for Men of 2024
Best Cotton: J. Crew Ludlow Slim-fit Suit Jacket at Jcrew.com (See Price) Jump to Review. Best Size-inclusive: Bonobos Jetsetter Italian Wool Suit at Bonobos.com (See Price) Jump to Review. Best ...
11 Best Slim Suits for Men 2024: Svelte Tailoring at Every Budget
The Best Slim Suits for Men, According to GQ. The Era-Defining Pick: J.Crew Ludlow Suit, $675. The Spring Wedding Pick: Banana Republic Malpaso Italian Linen Suit, $600. The Legacy-Making Pick ...

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How to Pack a Suit for Travel (Step By Step Guide)

Take inventory of your travel suit components first

How to pack a suit

Step 1: Lay flat & button the suit jacket

Step 2: Fold the suit jacket in half

Step 3: Fold both suit jacket sleeves in

Step 4: Fold the jacket thirds, and in thirds again

Step 5: Slide the folded suit jacket into a packing cube!

Step 6: Start folding the suit pants and zipper them closed

Step 7: Hold up the travel suit pants

Step 8: Fold them exactly in half

Step 9: Fold in the crease seam

Step 10: Start the suit pants thirds-folding

Step 11: Fold up another third, and finalize

Step 12: Slide the folded suit pants a travel packing cube

How to pack a suit in a backpack

Keep improving on your travel suit-packing skills

Invest in a wrinkle-free travel suit (and wrinkle-free dress shirts)

Last idea for avoiding wrinkles: wear your suit instead of packing it

Best ways to pack your travel suit, a conclusion

How to bring a suit on a plane (and look like a total boss doing it)

The best (and safest) ways to bring a suit on a plane

1. Use a high-quality hanging bag

2. Pack it in your suitcase

3. Roll it up

4. Wear it (like a boss)

Products to make traveling with a suit easier

Hanging bag

Anti-wrinkle spray

One final tip (for when all else fails)

Other stuff you might like:

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Scott (SANspotter)

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How to Pack a Suit in a Carry-On Bag

Choose the Right Carry-On Bag

Conserve Space

How to Pack Dress Shoes

How to Fold a Suit

How to Fold a Dress Shirt

Investing in a Garment Bag

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A Final Note About Packing a Suit

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Maintaining Your Suit While Traveling

Optimizing Suit Storage in Your Luggage

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How to Pack Your Suit for Travel

Garment Bag

Packed In Luggage

Option C: In The Black Tux Box