Stuffing everything tightly into a suitcase is something we’re all guilty of when trying to beat hefty airline luggage fees, but it still comes at a price. Clothing, particularly items made from summery linen and cotton blends, is prone to creasing when its not hung up. Some holidaymakers accept defeat while others reach for the iron on holiday, but who really wants to do that?
There’s a simple tip that promises easy and efficient packing without the risk of severely wrinkled clothes. Advice from travel expert Lydia Mansel of Travel + Leisure suggests ditching packing cubes for a few plastic bags. Lydia’s rationale is that clothing won’t get pushed into creases or crevices of your bag in transit.
She said: “You know the large plastic bags you come home with from the dry cleaner? Instead of stuffing them in your trash or recycling can, save them.”
The bags aren’t exclusive to dry cleaners or tailors, they are just plain plastic garment bags designed to protect clothing items from dust, dirt, and other contaminants during transport and storage.
If you don’t have any you can use bin bags or liners; the bigger the better.
The actual packing part is easy. Just fold each piece of clothing as usual and place it inside a separate bag before placing it in your suitcase or duffel bag, said Lydia.
She explained: “This tactic works because the bags will slide against each other, meaning your cotton t-shirts and breezy linen pants won’t get stuck and inevitably cause deep creases and messy wrinkles while in transit.”
You can roll linen items to reduce deep creases, but note that they may be wrinkled all over if rolled too tightly.
If you don’t want to use plastic bags then you can try layering tissue paper between clothes. Lay a sheet of tissue paper flat on a surface, then place the item flat on top, followed by another sheet of paper.
Carefully fold the item in the two layers of tissue paper. Loosely rolling items in the paper is very effective, according to travel experts.
However you choose to fold your items, Lydia notes that the most important part of this tip is that the clothes don’t move from their original position when packed.
Keeping items close together in the bags will minimise movement and stop creases.
This travel secret isn’t fentirely fool-proof as clothing will inevitably crease when folded. But Lydia notes that “it will reduce the number and severity of creases”.
It makes them easier to naturally iron out by simply laying items out flat or hanging them up swiftly after arriving to your accomodation.
