Fold Button Up Shirts for Travel – So you’re hitting the road again and want to make sure you’re packing all the necessary clothing for travel.
These should include the basics, such as a few pairs of shorts, jeans, and underwear, as well as a set of formal wear in case you get invited to a wedding or some other elaborate event.
Speaking of formal wear, do you know how to fold button up shirts for travel?
These pieces of clothing can sometimes be a hassle to fold, particularly if you don’t want them to get all wrinkled inside your luggage.
In any case, you shouldn’t have too much trouble folding your button-ups since there are a variety of ways to do so.
You can try folding them together to save space and help prevent wrinkles.
Button-Ups vs. Button-Downs
Wait a minute; you thought this was called a button-down shirt? We understand your confusion.
After all, even though button-ups and button-downs are not interchangeable terms, popular practice often suggests they are the same.
We’re happy to clear the air for you—these shirts are not the same. Well, kind of.
You see, all button-downs are button-ups, but not all button-ups can be called button-downs.
A button-down shirt is one where the collar can be fastened to the shirt via buttons to keep it in place.
So that was what made them different all along?
And to think you always thought these two shirts were exactly the same.
Well, the more important question is, can you fold them in the same way for travel?
The answer is yes, they can.
Apart from the teensy addition of fastening the button-down’s collar to the shirt, you pretty much fold button-down shirts the same way you do all button-ups.
How to Fold Button Up Shirts for Travel
You want to be just as organized away from home as you are at home.
So you’re probably thinking about hanging your dress shirts to avoid those messed-up collars and unattractive wrinkles.
The thing is, traveling can make this challenging to accomplish.
When searching for information on ideal travel practices, you’ll realize that folding your shirts is sometimes the best option.
While you’re at it, you can also educate yourself on the best travel accessories for women.
Women, as well as men who love traveling with women, will find this incredibly helpful in preparing for their next big trip.
Hence, let’s get straight to it; here’s how you fold a crisp button-up shirt before stashing it away in your travel bag.
Set Up the Folding Area
The surface of your folding workspace should be free of any stuck-on dirt that could stick itself onto your shirt.
Make sure it’s spotless before laying down your button-up completely, with the buttons facing down, and the sleeves spread all the way out on each side.
Fold the First Sleeve
Always start with one side first before you move to the other.
Take hold of one side of the shirt and fold it carefully towards the center along with the sleeve.
Then, fold the sleeve back and forth in opposite directions until no part of it is hanging past the shirt’s edges.
When folding a button-up shirt, it’s important to maintain a crisp collar.
You want to be extra careful not to squish this part of the shirt while folding.
Proceed to the Other Sleeve
For the third step, you simply need to do what you need in the second step, but this time, on the other side of the dress shirt.
Once completed, your shirt will now have a long, narrow rectangular shape.
Fold Into a Compact Rectangle
Taking the top portion, or the area where the collar is situated of your now-folded dress shirt, fold it all the way back to the lower hem to create an even more compact rectangular shape.
Make sure your shirt still looks really neat and crisp by this point; otherwise, you may have to redo the folding.
Stash Away Your Shirt
There you have it! If you’re happy with how your folded shirt has turned out, then it’s time to store it away in your suitcase.
Repeat steps 2 to 5 for your other button-ups, including any button-down shirts you may want to pack.
What About Silky Button-Ups?
Now, these dress shirts are a little trickier to fold, given their thinner, more delicate fabric that could easily interfere with the folding process.
Regardless, you would want to do the same thing you did with crisp button-ups but, this time, more carefully.
You’ll also want to tweak a few steps a bit to improve the end result.
Make these slight changes for each step of the folding process:
- Step #1: Shirts should still be laid on a flat surface, but this time around, the buttons should be facing down.
- Step #2: Instead of pulling the sleeve across and toward the center, make sure you pull it across and over the tip of the collar on its side.
- Step #3: Repeat what you did in step #2 on the other sleeve.
- Step #4: Form a small rectangle with your silky button-up in the same way you would with a crisp button-up. However, instead of folding it further to form a smaller and more compact rectangle, roll one end of the shirt carefully towards the other to create a compact cylinder.
That wasn’t too hard now, was it? You should be able to get used to properly folding your silky dress shirts with a bit of practice.
How to Avoid Wrinkles
It goes without saying that wrinkles can mess up the mood of any traveler.
It’s even worse when these unsightly creases appear on your formal button-ups.
Unfortunately, there is no foolproof wrinkle-prevention folding technique that travelers can pick up and apply on their next journey.
What you can do, however, is apply the guidelines above on how to successfully fold dress shirts to ensure that they’ll still look great and, at the very least, end up mostly crease-free when you unpack them.
What Determines Wrinkling
Aside from how you fold your button-ups, other factors also determine their wrinkling and creasing, such as:
Fabric Type
As mentioned, dress shirts with thinner, more delicate fabric are usually more difficult to keep from wrinkling.
No matter how carefully you fold these types of garments, some parts of them will eventually end up creasing inside your luggage.
The Way you Pack Your Clothing
So you’ve folded your crisp button-ups really nicely and are ready to stash them away in your travel bag, but how you end up storing these shirts inside your suitcase, or if you’ve packed them too tightly, will determine whether or not they end up with wrinkles.
If you notice that your packing technique isn’t doing a good enough job of preventing wrinkles, don’t hesitate to make the necessary changes.
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Fold Button Up Shirts for Travel
The application of proper dress shirt folding guidelines and sufficient knowledge on factors that determine the formation of wrinkles should end up giving you, at the very least, a mostly wrinkle-free and ready-to-wear button-up.
Being able to stay on top of travel itineraries and knowing how to fold button up shirts for travel are marks of an experienced globetrotter.
Like any seasoned traveler, you want to be prepared for anything the other side of the world throws at you.