Tips for folding clothes for commuting

Farmer_John

Hi all,

I'm about to start cycling to work and wondered if anyone could offer any tips on the following?

1. I need to be spic and span at work but there isn't an iron or anything like that in our changing area. How do you stop your clothes getting creased in transit?

2. I haven't got anywhere to store wet stuff or a towell, but also need to travel with my gear and laptop during the working day. What do you pack your wet gear into so you can carry it round?

3. For blokes - any tips on what to put in a simple / compact wash bag?

Thanks!

Farmer John.

NFMC

Clothes...you're best off rolling your shirt rather than folding it. I can get a shirt into my back pocket of my cycling jacket and shake it out with no creases at all.

Rolling's best for when you go on hols as well.

DonDaddyD

Farmer_John wrote:

Hi all,

I'm about to start cycling to work and wondered if anyone could offer any tips on the following?

1. I need to be spic and span at work but there isn't an iron or anything like that in our changing area. How do you stop your clothes getting creased in transit?

2. I haven't got anywhere to store wet stuff or a towell, but also need to travel with my gear and laptop during the working day. What do you pack your wet gear into so you can carry it round?

3. For blokes - any tips on what to put in a simple / compact wash bag?

Thanks!

Farmer John.

These answers are based on the response I got asking the same thing:

1. Apparantly Rolling clothes is the future.

2. Cycle Jersey should dry quickly. Anything else behind the PC or underneath/on a radiator.

3. I use to carry, moisturiser, deoderant, hair brush and facial wipes amongst other things. Keep them in a drawer under your desk.

(It would help if you gave details of your place at work i.e. Office, Big Field etc that way we know what you have to use as a resource)

andy jackson

I think this has been covered before,

I tend to roll, ( a tip learnt in scouts!)

I use a backpack which has loads of space so things are not crammed in,

and leave as much stuff in the office!

make friends with the guys in estates/maintainence and find out where the boiler room is!

Andy

linsen

Trek towels (form an outdoor shop like Blacks or Cotswold outdoor) dry in no time at all, and though they are pricey they are brilliant, and they don't get smelly quickly either. I hang mine over the back of my chair and it's dry in an hour.
Can you take clothes to work one day in the car and just bring them home when worn?

Citizen Smith

1. I actually fold my shirts as follows:
- Button up shirt.
- Lay shirt on floor (buttons first)
- Fold right arm back across rear of shirt at 90 degrees (depending on the way your shirt is stitched, this will also mean part of the front panel is folded back as well, then fold arm back the opposite way and back again in thirds(ish) (like a zig-zag).
- Repeat with left arm.
- Then fold shirt in half upwards from the rear.
- Then fold in half sideways, with buttons showing.

Takes a little of time but you can get quite quick and leaves pretty much no creases. Tightness is key....Huzzah!

2. In a plastic bag.

3. Travel sized deodorant and shampoo/conditioner.

BoardinBob

My solution is to take my clean clothes into the office at the weekend by car. I'm "business casual" Monday to Thursday so I do my washing on a Friday night then pop a couple of pairs of chinos and 4 shirts into a suit bag and drop them into the office at the weekend. It's only 15 minutes by car and I've got my own locker in the changing rooms so all my gear stays there.

Each day it's a case of taking in underwear in the morning and bringing my shirt home at night.

But top tips for folding...

Make sure you use fabric softener when washing and air dry rather than tumble dry. I always thought fabric softener was the equivalent of conditioner for your hair and only something girls used but I recently started using it and the difference it makes is unbelievable. Clothes are a thousand times easier to iron and they stay relatively crease free.

Iron stuff the night before and leave them hanging. Don't fold the stuff till it's cool, ideally the next morning

woodford2barbican

Try one of these, I use it for trousers & shirt folded round grundies, socks & vest.

http://www.penrithsurvival.com/penrith_ ... id/5232801

Mr_Cellophane

Roll your clothes then ...



It means you will have to wait for the cleaners before you can go home though.

Farmer_John

(It would help if you gave details of your place at work i.e. Office, Big Field etc that way we know what you have to use as a resource)

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm sort of office based in that I go into one office, will get changed in a changing room and then have to walk to client sites between 15 and 20 mins away from there - I don't have access to a changing area or anywhere to store a bike on the client site.[/quote]

gb155

+1 on the rolling

JGS

1. Fabric softner and rolling are the way I usually manage it, make sure that you roll them just before you set out and you minimise the time they spend trying to crease themselves. Also if you are at a point where you are buying new shirts either get really thin cotton ones or the "Easy Iron" / "Non-crease" ones. These are a bit more resistant to creasing.

2. Zip lock bags are usually my fave, but drying it on a radiator / back of the pc usually helps. Use cycling gear that has great wicking qualities and usually it should dry in minutes rather than hours.

3. I use: 2 in 1 Shower gel / Shampoo, small roll-on deodorant and a small towel. When I get home I have a good shower with nice products and use the minimum to "get clean" at work. If you don't want to lug stuff about, buy it during your lunch hour and stick it in your desk.

Clever Pun

for shirts

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-fold-a-shirt

fatherted

We ( four of us ) made friends with Facilities Management.
We have three showers, an iron and hangers for clothes
and a tumble dryer. Most of us bring shirts and underwear to
work and dryclean trousers when required.
Tesco deliver our food for the week mid morning on mondays.

RufusA

+1 for the Eagle Creek Pack-It recommendation.

I found with carrying a laptop, any amount of rolling, folding, clever stuff would end in a heap of creases once the laptop had bounced around on it.

The Pack-It 15 is a similar size to my laptop, and both slip nicely in to pannier for easy, painless and crease free commuting.

As for the rest, good quick drying clothes, a coat hanger and small "travel" samples of things in a pencil case. Luckily I don't use too much in the way of products!

Rufus.

jinnan_tonnix

We haven't anywhere official to keep gear either.

Try and find a store room. I've bugged management and they've agreed to let use use the cleaner's store-room for storage, which has a radiator. I bought a slimline airer which I use to dry my cycling gear (towel, cycling shirt and trousers and jacket). The gear usually dries quite nicely by the home-time.

I rotate towels once a week.

Keep two sets of strides and shirts in the room so it doesn't look like you're wearing the same stuff all the time. This will last me a week.

I keep a pair of shoes permanently at work.

For the 'sweaty stuff', I just bung the kecks and socks in a carrier bag then straight into the rucksack.

It'll be lots of trial and error, but you will find something that works.

Try two cycling t-shirts if one doesn't quite dry by home time.

For shirts, coat hangers will do the trick - any creases will fall out after a while on the hanger.


I had some of those roll-up lock bags for Christmas. These will be handy to keep stuff dry if I get caught in the rain on the way in.

coffeecup

the eagle creek Pack-It 15is the way to go

i take 3 - 4 shirts in at a time and then don't have to carry anything else on the other days. If you travel light, you travel fast

i tend to be out at clients for a few months at a time and leave a suit or two there, shoes, ties, toiletries, towel, etc...

wash bag is soap, toothbrush, deodorant and a towel (changed every week.. or so)

if you're carrying a laptop everywhere, everyday i think you need panniers. Pack all stuff in plastic bags to waterproof it.

wet gear's a problem......you need to get creative

Sewinman

Clever Pun wrote:

for shirts

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-fold-a-shirt

Tried this and it worked a treat.

dodd@struth.freeserve.co.

I'm slightly worried that the boys are taking more in their wash bag than me!
Travel towel is a god send though! Wipes and D.O. - but when I run in I shower!
And I roll and have a pair of 'work' shoes although I always forget to change into them and end up wearing my trainers all day!

Mrs_Ragbrutty

For a towel use one of these.
http://www.simplyswim.com/ProductDetail ... ckID=18818
You can get smaller ones, they are very effcient. I have several, I use them for all sorts, swimming; running; the gym; getting dry after getting wet duh. They fold up and fit in your back pocket.

PS - it's NOT the body chammy type. You use it dry.

Washing - if you can cope with Lush, they do some great little hair and body shampoos that come in their own tin and are gentle on your skin.
https://www.lush.co.uk/index.php?option ... &Itemid=80

Although I love baby wipes they are great for getting grease off stuff, I would never use one on my body let alone that of a baby. What do they have in them? Cleans the drains at 50 yds I know that.

M&S Ultimate easycare non-iron shirt - screw them up throw them around the room, let the cat or dog or both sleep on them, they still look good... if you don't mind muddy paw prints that is.
Failing that, get a taste for trendy pre-creased linen.

eyes like marbles

i have a drawer with hairdryer brush deoderant cereal long life milk soup oat cakes emergency underwear blah blah blah, i roll my clothes for the daily stuff, keep permanent footwear there and a jacket. luckily i have a heater near my desk in winter but in summer and i get soaked i have to carry the wet stuff home so also store an emergency shorts/top at work for the bike. we dont have showers so its a stand up wash and dry with paper towels ( still i'm clean after, wash my hair in the sink if i feel i need to despite a shower when i get up!) and the clean clothes help me feel just right, i try to make trousers do 2 days when i can but all the rest has to be changed and carried daily. easy care whatever you can get, i haven't found a fabric softener my skin doesn't react with so any suggestions are welcomed there if it would help me farther still.


and breathe

symo

I have a great shower/changing area. However on the subject of creases.

You'll see me rollin'
They hatin
But you won't catch me on your fixie.
Won't catch me riding fixie
Won't catch me riding fixie

Just to say I roll my shirts and trousers after I have ironed then on arrival at work put them in the shower room for a quick steam whilst I shower.