Packing a suitcase is all about personal preference. Would you rather fit more clothes into your bag, or make sure they don’t come out wrinkled? Are you all about organization, or do you not mind a little suitcase chaos if it means not having to check a bag on your flight?
Everyone has an opinion. Some say you should roll your clothes, others recommend folding them, origami-like, into a bundle. Others swear by tools like packing cubes or compression bags. But there has to be an answer—which method is the most space-efficient? Which best prevents wrinkles?—so I tested out various packing strategies to determine the most efficient way to pack your clothes.
How I tested our suitcase packing methods
To perform these tests, I packed five days’ worth of clothes for an adult and a child using the methods described below. Then, to provide a standard by which to compare each method’s space savings or usage, I tested how many additional T-shirts could be stuff into the carry-on. I also added a few dress shirts and pairs of khakis for each method to evaluate potential wrinkle issues.
It’s an informal test, but in the end, I found that each packing method (or style) has its merits and disadvantages. Sorry, rollers, folders and bundlers: there’s no one packing technique to rule them all.
Folding: Quick and easy (but not necessary space-efficient)
It seems like most people pack by simply folding their clothes and stacking them in their suitcases. After all, it’s how most people put away laundry in their drawers (or leave them in their laundry baskets).
Doing this usually means you’ve got clothing rectangles or squares of various sizes, which leaves inefficient space gaps unless you arrange those various rectangles to tightly fill in each layer of the suitcase. It’s a packing puzzle. However, if your clothes are roughly the same size, or if you’re packing mostly summer clothes, it’s not as much of a Tetris problem. Generally, though, maximizing space means moving folded clothing pieces where they fit best, not necessarily in the order you want to use them.
Alternatively, you could layer your folded clothes by outfit (e.g., pants and shirt for the last day of your trip on the bottom of your suitcase, pants and shirt for the second-to-last day on top of that, and so on). This also wastes valuable space, but it’s better for organization.
For the first test, I folded clothes and grouped them into planned outfits, stacking them on top of each other. Then filled the extra spaces with folded T-shirts.
The results:
Space: I was able to pack 16 T-shirts on top of the baseline level of clothes with the folded T-shirt method.
Wrinkles: After packing, the khaki shorts had noticeable creases where it was folded, as did the dress shirt.
This isn’t a particularly space-saving strategy, but it’s one we’re all familiar with. Folding might make sense if you tend to unpack your clothes at your destination; just move them from luggage to drawer in one swoop.
The filing method: More space, but wrinkles remain
The alternative is a folded front-to-back method, like this filing method, stacking clothes so they’re like files in drawers, and filling the drawer from front to back. Instead of digging through horizontal layers of clothing, it’s easier to see the clothing pieces you want. So I tried it for luggage packing too.
The results:
Space: I was able to pack an additional 22 T-shirts using the front-to-back folded T-shirt method, and probably could have squeezed in even more. Stacking this way enables you to add more clothes depth-wise and also makes use of room on the sides.
Wrinkles: Since the clothes were folded the same, I didn’t notice any wrinkling differences between “filing” clothes this way or stacking them in the suitcase.
Bundling: Best for sets of wrinkle-prone clothes
Bundling might be the most clever way to pack your clothes. You layer them strategically all in a bunch and fold into one big wrinkle-free, origami-like package. The main idea is that by placing your most wrinkle-prone clothes at the outer layer of the bundle and wrapping them around clothes you’re okay with being wrinkled (undergarments and socks, for example), you’ll have fewer wrinkles and make better use of your space.
In theory, it’s great, but it doesn’t make sense in all scenarios. For this hypothetical trip, I had only T-shirts and shorts for the trip, so I couldn’t take advantage of long sleeves and pants to wrap all our clothes in. It’s also a pain to have all your clothes bundled when you need one specific garment near the center of the bundle.
That said, bundling is great for organizing outfits that tend to wrinkle..
The results:
Space: 18 additional T-shirts. The bundled package of clothes actually looked like it took up more luggage real estate than regularly folded and stacked clothes. Your success with this method will depend on how well you fold your clothes into each other.
Wrinkles: The dress clothes that were packed with the bundle method were the least wrinkled of the bunch.
Rolling: The best way to maximize space, but not necessarily reduce wrinkles
When I started rolling clothes, it was obvious there would be a ton more space available than folding. Even if you don’t master the military style of T-shirt rolling, rolling really does makes clothes more compact, compared to regular folding.
The problem is, you can stack these rolls of shirts and pants and whatnots to take up all your luggage space, but it’s harder to pick out your outfit when you’re living out of your suitcase. Also, although many people say rolling reduces wrinkles, the tests indicate rolling can create new creases if you’re not a clothes-rolling pro.
The results:
Space: A whopping 31 additional T-shirts. Because of their small, narrow shapes, you can fit more clothes this way.
Wrinkles: Maybe I’m bad at rolling clothes, but it seems that there are more opportunities for wrinkling with rolling than with folding (see the photo above).
Compression packs: Great for bulky items
You know those so-called space bags that tell you they can triple your storage space by sucking the air out of the bag? I tried them too. Specifically, space saver bags like these. You put your clothes in them and roll the bag to get the air out, no vacuum required.
In reality, I had a hard time rolling the Ziploc-like bags to flatten the clothes. It seems you can only do a few clothing pieces at a time, so you’d have to buy a lot of bags to cover all your travel clothes.
However, with bulky items like blankets or coats that would still take up too much space when folded or rolled, these bags are worth the investment.
Also, the bags are handy to have on a trip to dump dirty laundry into. You’re probably not going to re-roll or carefully fold all your used clothes in your suitcase, but in a storage bag, you can roll them up to make the used clothes take as little space as possible (and make more room for souvenirs).
The results:
Space: 16 additional T-shirts. I didn’t see any space savings over regular folding, probably because I didn’t have bulky items to compress and could only compress a few items of clothing in each bag.
Wrinkles: I squeezed the hell out of those clothes while trying to compress the bag, but didn’t see any additional wrinkles with this method.
Packing cubes: Great when combined with other methods
Finally, I tried packing cubes. Not space-saving, but great for organization.
Packing cubes won’t save you space in your luggage; in fact, they’ll add to your space usage. Some people say they prevent wrinkling, since clothes won’t shift around as much when they’re contained in these mesh containers, but that wasn’t our experience.
Packing cubes are great for one thing, but one very important thing: Keeping your clothes organized. Rolling your clothes is the most space-saving option, but you won’t necessarily be able to keep your outfits organized together with this method. Folding clothes together is more natural and logical, but it’s not as space efficient. Bundling works, but it’s a pain to get specific pieces of clothes out.
Packing cubes solve all these problems. Whether you want to stuff as much as possible in your suitcase or bundle your clothes for the least amount of wrinkles, packing cubes let you use your preferred method and also organize your packed clothes. They’ll help you keep your sanity whichever method you choose above.
Although I didn’t try them, there are similar products available like garment folders, which allow you to fold and file away several articles of clothing with (apparently) minimal wrinkles. These fit inside most carry-on suitcases and could be a particularly good option for business travelers who need wrinkle-free clothing but don’t want to bother with a travel iron (or plugging in the one at the hotel).
The best method: All of the above?
In the end, the best way to pack is probably a mix of all of these: use the bundling method to keep your large wrinkle-prone items neat, roll everything you can to fill the empty spaces and use space bags to shrink down puffy items. Add some packing cubes to the mix for better organization, and you’ll have a perfectly packed suitcase no matter what you’re wearing.
This story was originally published on 9/11/15 and was updated on 7/2/19 and 9/15/23 to provide more thorough and current information and adhere to Lifehacker style.