Yes, There Is a Best Way to Fold Your Shirts. This Is It

[Celerity]

https://gearpatrol.com/2020/05/12/how-to-fold-your-clothes/



I have an extensive career in retail. The retail floor is where I cut my teeth, doing countless fit-and-feels, brushing up on reams of product knowledge and styling clients from head to toe. I oscillated between big-box department stores and boutiques, learning the ins and outs of the business. Among the many lessons I learned (and there are many), one which I’m most grateful for is also one of the most mundane — how to fold a shirt.

It’s no argument that knowing how to count a till, order supplies or just treat people (customer service) are more useful. Maybe it’s a pet peeve of mine after years of conditioning myself to straighten and finger space. Or perhaps I find it therapeutic — but, it’s probably mutually inclusive. Knowing the proper way to fold a shirt is valuable, whether it’s for your closet or to merchandise your brick and mortar store. It keeps both drawers and shelves orderly and easily accessible. It’s also visually easier on the eye. That mound of clothes that’s languishing in your chair? That’s a problem. That may sound like parental nagging, but the research backs it up. We identify with our homes, and when our space is messy, cluttered and cramped, it can lead to a diminished state of well-being, difficulty processing thoughts and even poorer eating habits. This is where a good folding technique can help.

Unbeknownst to me, this method is very similar to Marie Kondo’s famous filing method of folding clothes. Step by step, it’s the same thing, save two differences. The first is the use of a folding board. If you’ve ever wondered how retail stores get their clothes to look so neat, it’s because they’re using a folding board. A folding board not only helps guide where the garment should be folded, but also keeps every garment consistently sized. Without it, straightening and lining up stacks can be difficult. There are plenty of contraptions with various panels and hinges to help guide you through the folding process, but what most retail stores actually use is just a simple rigid rectangle. Often, it’s just a clipboard. But, you don’t even really need to buy a folding board or clipboard. A piece of cardboard cut into a 9″ by 12″ rectangle will work just fine.

While this method is nice if you like to see your clothes on a table or shelf, most of us likely keep our clothes in drawers if they’re not a hanger. That’s the second difference between this method and Kondo’s. Kondo goes one step further and folds her clothes an additional time so that the clothes can actually stand up. This allows the clothes to be filed into a drawer and be easily seen all at once without having to dig through stacks to find the right garment.

How to Fold Your Shirt

Step 1.

snip

[Rorey]

1. What is this "folding" of which you speak?

The only things I ever fold is underwear. I'm too lazy to fold shirts, unless they're going in a suitcase.

[Celerity]

3. many travel a tonne (or did pre-COVID-19) nt

[Rorey]

5. If I ever travel again

If I ever have the opportunity to travel again, I'm going to try that Downy fabric softener that's supposed to prevent your clothes from getting wrinkled.

[csziggy]

6. When my sister travels she just takes along her normal clothing storage - a laundry basket

Unless she is flying, she collects a trip's worth of clothes in one of the baskets where her clothes normally lilve, sorts out enough clothes for the trip and throws it in the back of her car.

There are many advantages - generally a nice assortment of clothes are already in one of her baskets, it's very portable, and if the trip is long enough to need to wash things, she has a basket to put them into! I doubt she folds stuff whether at home or on a trip. That would involve stopping long enough to do it and she never stays still. She takes after our Mom - one of my brothers in law said Mom was like the Energizer Bunny since she never stopped.

[Rorey]

7. Whatever works for her

I guess I kind of have OCD when it comes to laundry.

When life was more hectic for me, there were times that I'd often just leave things in the dryer and pull them out as needed. These days that would make me nervous.

[AJT]

2. There's no way I would go to all of that trouble to fold a shirt

unless I only owned one shirt.

[True Blue American]

4. Yes, I have seen that folding board many times.

Never had to use it. I could use one for my sweaters and blouses. Know the basics but never looks the same.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. Shirts get folded? What's next? Fitted sheets?

Hangers. They work.

[denbot]

9. Folding, my people have no word for this "folding" concept.

We do have 50 words for digging a shirt out of the hamper..

[Wounded Bear]

10. Are you kidding? I hang up my T-shirts so I don't have to fold them...

[LuckyCharms]

11. Jeez! I need a cigarette after that video.