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How to Get the Ugly Wrinkles Out of A Suit When You Travel

on 7/19/17 by Miguel A. Suro
4 Comments

Over the last couple of years of rather frequent business travel, I have learned a thing or two. I know how to drink for free at some airports, and how to pick the best seat on a plane. One thing that I’ve always found problematic, though, is the way business clothes get wrinkled in suitcases. Here’s how to get wrinkles out.

Table of Contents

  • How to Get the Wrinkles Out of A Business Suit When You Travel
    • Pack it This Way
    • Steam It in the Shower
    • Smooth It Out With the Hotel Iron (Carefully!)
    • You Can Also Bring Your Own Travel Steamer

How to Get the Wrinkles Out of A Business Suit When You Travel

How to Get the Ugly Wrinkles Out of A Suit When You Travel

Pack it This Way

So I have one of those carry-on bags that have a special fold-out thingamajig to put business suits in, where you lay the fold-out device on a surface and then secure the suit and fold it back in. Take a look:

 

Fully open

Closed but not folded up

 

Folded up and tucked away

This getup works pretty well, and is much better than just folding a suit and stuffing it in the bag. However, it does not work well enough, and the suit does come out wrinkly at your destination. I am not a man who conducts business while wrinkly.

Seeing my dilemma, the original road warrior (my father), taught me a neat trick.

Steam It in the Shower

So here’s how to get wrinkles out: a few hours before going to bed in your hotel room, go into the bathroom, and turn on the shower and sink on the hottest possible setting. Then, step outside, close the door, and continue with your engagements. Watch some Property Brothers, reach out and call somebody, or amuse yourself in some other way.

After about 10 minutes, the bathroom should be loaded with steam. At that time, take your suits and hang them on the shower rod, and leave the bathroom again (or you can hang them before the bathroom steams up, however you want). Wait about 20 minutes, and then turn off the water, retrieve your suits, and hang them in the closet for a few hours or overnight.

This is not a perfect solution to remove the wrinkles from a business suit (you won’t look like Dapper Dan), but it works pretty well.

Smooth It Out With the Hotel Iron (Carefully!)

You can smooth out the remaining wrinkles with the steam function of the hotel iron (but test and inspect the iron first, because some can be dirty or have gummed-up steam ports). If you need a perfect solution, you’ll have to pay for hotel or outside dry cleaning.

You Can Also Bring Your Own Travel Steamer

If you have the space, you can also bring your own trusted travel steamer to get those tough final wrinkles.

Updated on 11/14/2019

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Life Hacks & Tips, Travel

About Miguel A. Suro

I'm Miguel A. Suro, a Miami dad, attorney, journalist, and entrepreneur devoted to helping you live well for less. I've been seen on the NY Times, CNBC, NBC News, and more. Get to know us on:

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Comments

  1. Tim Kim @ Tub of Cash says

    July 20, 2017 at 5:44 pm

    Great idea! But oh man it hurts a bit to think of all that water wasted XD Maybe it’s just me 😛 Nonetheless, I guess you’d be getting your money’s worth for that room!

    Reply
    • The Rich Miser says

      July 20, 2017 at 6:07 pm

      Hey Tim! It’s certainly a big use of water, but I guess the only other alternative would be to manually steam it using the hotel iron’s steam function. Hotel irons are frequently low-quality and don’t work well, though. They can also sometimes eject little pieces of crud from the steam ports and mess up the suit.

      Using the shower method, if the suit is not too wrinkled, less time will work. I’m on a business trip right now, and just got great results with 10 minutes of steam.

      I will definitely update the post if I find a more efficient method.

  2. Mustard Seed Money says

    July 25, 2017 at 5:26 pm

    That’s a great tip on using the shower. Plus after getting off the plane I always want to jump in the shower to rinse off. Airplanes are a box of germs with that recycled air 🙂

    Reply
    • The Rich Miser says

      July 25, 2017 at 5:39 pm

      Thank you, it has worked well for me!

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