I traveled to eight out-of-town weddings in 2023. Each time, I packed a suit into my carry-on bag.
It did not go well.
No matter which suit-packing method I used, the result was almost always the same: I would arrive at my hotel and begin to unpack, only for the most important and least replaceable item of clothing to emerge from my bag a rumpled mess.
I don’t want to dwell on the wrinkles. To paraphrase Thomas Edison, I didn’t fail eight times at packing my suit but merely discovered eight different ways not to pack a suit.
The biggest lesson I learned from my year of suit-packing travel is to invest in a quality garment bag.
But sometimes that’s impractical, especially if you’re an economy flier who can’t always depend on having access to the airplane closet.
In search of a solution, I spoke with Tom and Claire Mahon, the husband-and-wife team who run Redmayne, a bespoke tailor in the UK that first opened its doors in 1860. (Tom used to make suits for King Charles back when his royal highness was the prince of Wales.)
The folks at Redmayne are suit-packing experts: Half of their orders are shipped internationally to customers who expect clothes to look good on arrival, and Tom himself travels to trunk shows and fittings with his own suits.
Here’s their advice on how to pack a suit into your carry-on bag so you arrive wrinkle-free.
