Fold or Roll? The packing debate rolls* on…

The internet is full of videos of different packing styles and exhortions to roll or fold your clothes. It’s a debate that (and I’m not going to beat around the bush here) is largely pointless because, well, you do you and we mainly tend to stay in our comfort zones. However, there’s a certain ASMR pleasure to watching people pack so here is my take on folding and rolling…

The packing cube

I have a sneaking love of the packing cube for bigger trips - I tend to iron my clothes to the correct dimensions to get them in, stacking them all neatly to create a multilayer brick of outfits. Granted, the creases are not ideal but it’s like a little archeological dig for treasure every time you undo that zip. They fit well into a suitcase and are easily transferred out into drawers (or just out of the suitcase so you can see what you have).

However, packing cubes are much less efficient once you get into shorter trips and minimalist packing. They need to be full to compress their contents so if you’ve just got a shirt and some underwear the items don’t necessarily stay in place. They’re also not quite so handy if you’ve just got a day bag, rucksack or duffel to pack (where they tend to runkle down to the bottom of the bag like a damp socks working their way into the toes of wellies … I’ve been there).

Rolling away

For a mini-adventure, carefully curated capsule collection or just a night away, rolling will ensure your clothes are compact, reduce creasing and generally keep them in good shape. The internet is full of immensely satisfying videos of clothes being rolled and organised whether for suitcases, trips or just into drawers.

Not just rolling though - there are the enhanced rolling fans - American navy style. They upgrade your rolling so it’s kept in place with a tuck. It’s the upscale version of rolling your socks and tucking them into the cuff of one of them, which is, admittedly, the most practical way to keep socks together. The extension of this is creating your own ‘cuff’ from the item of clothing. Which is also hugely gratifying visually.

It’s also going to keep them together more securely so that you can put them into a bag - when just rolling them will be liable to unfurl.

It’s not something I do though - I like my cuffs to stay elasticated and if you stretch them too much they risk becoming baggy. Not everything is the right shape for this technique either, and you have to get into advanced origami to make it work at times.

Which is where the Fold+Rºll comes in.

The Fold+Rºll is a simple and quick way to create a roll of clothes without stretching any part of them. You can pop them in a rucksack, overnight bag or cabin luggage for short work trips and a change of clothes into or out of the work day.

Just like rolling them it will keep them compressed and reduce wrinkles - with the added benefit of protecting them from sandwich crumbs and other unwelcome bag-dwellers.

So, folding or rolling? In a rather conciliatory way, I like both. I particularly like when you can fold and roll though ;-)

Keep rolling!

Beate & Jess**

*sorry. OK not very sorry…

** Jess likes rolling. Unfortunately her life goals are different and involving rolling in things rather than keeping them clean.