Linen is the fabric of summer. It’s thin, lightweight and on-trend.
But travellers share a common frustration when packing and wearing linen items on holiday thanks to the material’s incredible ability to crease and wrinkle.
To help solve this frustrating problem, luggage expert Jacob Wedderburn-Day from Stasher gives his top hacks for wrinkle-free linen, helping you stay looking crisp, cool and elegant on holiday and not like you’ve slept in your clothes.
How to correctly pack linen
If you’re looking to avoid the crinkles from the get-go, then these packing tips will save you a lot of hassle when you arrive at your holiday destination:
1. Iron before you go
Give your linen clothes their best shot at staying wrinkle-free by ironing them before putting them in your suitcase. Make sure to leave them to cool first.
2. Try the collar and belt trick
3. Roll your clothes
Linen shirts are a summer staple. To help hold the collar’s form when packing, coil a belt into a loose circle wide enough to fit inside the neck of your shirt.
Rolling your clothes saves space and minimises wrinkles. It’s as simple to do as it sounds. Line the seams of the item together and do a neat single fold. Then roll your item up, not too tightly, and find a neat little nook in the suitcase.
4. Use zip locks bags
All you need to do is gently fold linen clothes once or twice and slide them into a large zip lock bag. This eliminates the friction between clothes, making it less likely for them to rumple up and crease. Don’t overfill.
Empty zip lock bags can then double up as laundry bags for your journey home.
5. ‘Bundle fold’ your clothes
Start with the items that are least likely to crease, like a pair of socks and underwear, and wrap them in the middle of a t-shirt. Do this continuously with your holiday wardrobe leaving linen items last. By keeping your linen items wrapped around a tight bundle of clothes, they’re less likely to crease.
How to look after linen on holiday
You’ve made it on holiday, but linen-care doesn’t stop yet. Here’s what you should do when you arrive at your accommodation and during your break:
6. Hang linen ASAP
Living out of your suitcase is a bad idea if you plan on looking good in linen. Any creases or wrinkles will naturally drop out if you are quick to hang your clothes when you arrive. Keep a space between each piece in the wardrobe, too.
7. No iron, no problem
If your hotel lacks an iron or it isn’t doing the trick, don’t fret.
Hanging linen in a steamy bathroom during a shower will loosen any lingering wrinkles. Alternatively, soak a clean towel in warm water, ring it out and place it over your linen item for a few minutes before hanging to dry or blasting it with the hair dryer.
For any outer crinkles, you can use hair straighteners for a fast and easy solution.
8. Use wrinkle releaser
Let chemistry help. Wrinkle sprays act by relaxing the fibres, loosening any creases before you go out and while on-the-go. Simply aim it at the wrinkle, spray and pull the material taught. Magic.
9. Wear it right
Linen will inevitably crease up as you wear it. But there are things you can do to avoid looking dishevelled.
If your linen shirt gets wrinkled at the bottom, tuck it in or tie it at the front to hide the crumples. If you want to wear it more relaxed, unbutton it when you sit down so the front part doesn’t puddle in your lap. The same goes for a linen jacket, or even better, hang it over a chair.
Images: Unsplash
