Welcome back to the gentleman's Gazette!In today’s video, we’ll discuss how to pack
a carry-on suitcase for a short business trip.
First of all, if you go with air travel, I suggest you go with a spinner suitcase with
nice wheels that roll very easily so you can maneuver it very easily, but it should also
be stable so you can put a little briefcase or another carry-on item on top of it while
you walk with it.
Packing a small carry-on suitcase is very different from packing a larger spinner suitcase,
so if you want to see how a larger one is packed please check out this video here.
So how do you pack a small carry-on in suitcase?
First of all, put out all the items you want to bring on your trip onto your bed or maybe
on the floor, if the bed is not large enough.
Remove all excessive items and only bring the bare bones you really actually need.
If it's just a one day business trip, you simply need one pair of shoes, and I simply
suggest to wear it.
If it's a two or three day business trip, you want to bring another pair of shoes but
that's it.
I always suggest to go with black cap toe Oxfords, may be Balmoral ones that add a little
decoration, if you have very big feet, maybe a derby shoe is the way to go.
To learn more about the differences, please check out this video here.
If your business trip is not super formal or if you want a second pair of shoes, I suggest
to go with a burgundy pair of shoes because it can easily be dressed up and down.
It's always appropriate and you can wear with anything else you bring in your carry-on suitcase.
To prevent your shoes from soiling up the other clothing items in your suitcase, I always
suggest to go with a shoe bag or a dust bag.
If you can put each shoe in a dust bag, that gives you more flexibility in terms of packing.
At first, I fold my socks and roll them up and put them in my shoes, maybe if you have
space, you can also put your underwear in there, or a rolled belt.
No matter where I travel, I always bring a travel shoe horn because it protects my shoes,
it helps me to get into my shoes at security and I never want to miss it because it's such
a small item that can save you a lot of dollars.
I've struggled many times with a carry-on and a suit and so I tried different techniques
and this is the best one I found.
First, let's start with the pants.
You want to fold them in thirds because that way, it fits into your suitcase.
lay that on the flat side of your carry-on suitcase.
In this video, I'm using a small houndstooth suit simply so you can see better how I fold
it.
If you got a business trip, probably a solid navy suit, or charcoal, or light gray, or
gray suit, are the better way to go.
Second, if you have a three-piece suit with the vest, you simply take the vest,fold it
in half and make sure the top ends align, as well as the bottom tips of the waistcoat,
then you simply just roll it up.
Again, you have a nice little fabric roll, now put the roll aside.
Now, it’s time for the jacket.
Take the left sleeve and pull it inside out, make sure to pull it all the way through.
Now on that same sleeve, go to the shoulder and push it, and fold it inside out, this
creates the perfect shape and it fits right into the opposite shoulder that wasn't folded.
We do this to protect the shoulder so doesn't get crushed and wrinkled.
Now take the rolled-up waistcoat, and stuff it into the shoulder area so it gives it additional
support and prevents it from wrinkling.
Now you fold up the jacket so it lays neatly in the case on top of the pants.
Usually, there's a little gap on top of the shoulder, I use that to roll up some ties
and ideally, knit ties because they're less prone to getting wrinkles.
If you have additional space, you can add some pocket squares there but stay clear of
any heavy items such as a wash bag, or toiletry bag, or maybe your jewelry kit, or chargers,
or anything else that would squish the suit.
It really pays to have a separate compartment in your carry-on suitcase so it doesn't get
stuffed, because if your suit gets crushed chances are, it will wrinkle.
If you have some room, you may want to add a dress shirt.
Folding could have a huge impact on how your clothing wrinkles.
Dress shirts are delicate and wrinkled very easily, therefore, you should fold them and
not roll them.
The best way to do that is to put the shirt flat down with buttons facing on the floor
or the table, fold the sides inwards with sleeves on both sides and fold over the hem
and fold in half or in thirds depending on the size of your suitcase.
Do that with all your shirts and then stack them with the colors opposite from each other
maybe at just one shirt or maximum two shirts on top of the suit because if it's too squished,
you get wrinkles in your shirts and in the suit.
Now, it's time to close that compartment and let's look at the other side of the suitcase.
The socks, underwear, and undershirt, that didn't fit into my shoes now goes in between
the telescope mechanism so we create a somewhat flat surface.
I put in the shoes sideways so they use up as little space as possible.
Maybe if you want to bring a sweater or a cardigan, now is the time to put it in here.
If you want to bring a long sleeve polo shirt for a casual evening outing, I usually roll
it rather than folding it because a.
it's quicker, b.
it saves me space, and c. it's not prone to wrinkling as much as let's say a dress shirt.
If you want to bring any other folded items such as a t-shirt, an undershirt, I would
roll those as well.
Once you've put all the things in, it's time to fill the gaps.
Maybe you want to bring suspenders, they should be rolled up and you can stuff them in a gap.
Usually, somewhere around the shoes, wit a belt, you can also roll it up but if you don't
have enough space anymore, you can simply unroll it and lay it around the edges, that
way, you'll maybe fit even more things into your suitcase.
If you want, you can also bring your watch, maybe you want to bring some cufflinks in
a jewelry case, maybe some collar pins, or collar bars, maybe collar stays, maybe tie
bars, all those things should be in a neat little container, so you don't have to search
for them and they don't get lost.
Of course, it's also handy to have a little travel manicure kit with you just so you look
presentable at your business meeting.
You want a great one made in Germany with high quality stainless steel tools, check
out this one from Fort Belvedere.
You want to add a long pair of casual pants to your wardrobe, I suggest you go with seersucker
because it's lightweight and it doesn't wrinkle.
When it comes to suit material, a great fabric for travel is either a heavy flannel, but
if that's not appropriate for a warm summer, I suggest you go with a fresco wool.
In this video I'm wearing a typical summer travel outfit it consists of a single breasted
jacket made out of a light gray fresco wool which is a little heavier but it has a very
open weave and the yarns are over twisted which also helps to really make it wrinkle
resistant which is perfect if you wear it on a plane or if you have to fold it into
your suitcase I'm wearing it as a combination with a pair of seersucker pants because they
don't wrinkle and they're very lightweight and perfect for summer weather the seersuckers
are from polar Ralph Lauren and the jacket is from A Caraceni in Milan my shirt is a
very light blue which goes well with my seersucker but provides enough contrast to my jacket
and I intentionally didn't wear any cufflinks or metal accessories because it makes it easier
to get through airport security the time wearing is a silk knit tie from four Belvedere I liked
it very much because it has a two-tone Sheen and so depending on the angle of the light
it will always look different it also doesn't wrinkle because it's knitted and the pocket
square picks up those colors of navy blue and red and add a little paisley pattern to
make it different my socks are blue with red and white clocks so it picks up the other
tones of my outfit provides a contrast to my burgundy red shoes which I usually like
to bring on a business trip simply because they are so versatile
If you enjoyed this video make sure to watch the other one on how to pack a large suitcase
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