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How to Fold Jackets: Fast, Neat, and Small (Photos + Video)

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Folding jackets is an incredibly useful skill to know whether you’re going out traveling, or if you’re storing the winter jackets away for the season.

In this guide, I’m going to teach you to fold all your jackets. So whether you need to fold your suit jackets or raincoats, I got you covered.

I recommend that you watch the videos first if you can so that you can get an impression of how to do the folds. Then practice the folds a few times by following the written guide and illustrations.

But if you’re unable to do that, feel free to go ahead and check out the illustrations right away.

How to Fold Jackets to Save Space

Folding jackets to save space can be tricky, so you need to practice this fold a few times to fully master it. The fold we are going to do first is the ranger roll which is great for travel too as it won’t fall apart once you’ve folded your jacket.

2 Clever Ways to Fold Jackets (and Save Space)
In this video, I teach you how to fold a hooded jacket (timestamp: 0:28), and a denim jacket to save space (timestamp: 1:54).
  1. Close up all the buttons on your jacket and lay it down flat with the front facing up.
  2. Fold in both arms to the oposite end of the jacket.
  3. Flip the bottom of your jacket inside out and pull it up 5-7 inches.
  4. From both sides, fold the jacket in 1/4 of the total width of the jacket.
  5. From the top of the jacket, roll it down all the way to the bottom.
  6. Lift the jacket up and wrap the inside-out part over the roll to secure it.
  7. Stick your thumbs inside the edes of the roll to adjust the roll.
  8. Place it laying down or standing up in your dresser or luggage.
The ranger-roll can be tricky on tough fabrics like denim, but practice makes perfect.

Check out my guide to rolling up the rest of your clothes to save space here.

How to Fold Hooded Jackets

Hooded jackets are a lot easier to fold than non-hooded ones. This is because we can roll the jacket up into the hood.

  1. Zip up your jacket and place it flat with the back facing up.
  2. Fold both arms in to the oposite side of the sweater.
  3. From both sides, fold the jacket in 1/4 of the total width of the jacket.
  4. From the bottom, roll the jacket up all the way to the base of the hood.
  5. Wrap the hood over the jacket to secure the roll in place.
  6. Bonus: If you have strings on your hood, tighten them and tie a knot.
You can learn to fold your sweaters over in my dedicated guide.

I also wrote a guide on how to stop your leather jackets from staining your other clothes that may interest you.

How to Fold Thick Jackets Like Winter Jackets

Winter jackets are very bulky items, so we are going to focus on folding them to pack them down to as small of a fold as possible.

So whether you’re storing them away, or packing them for a trip this is your best option.

Clever Way to Fold Winter Jackets (and Save Space)
Feel free to check out the video first if you can.
  1. Close up all buttons and zippers and lay the jacket flat with the front facing up.
  2. Fold the hood straight down as flat as possible
  3. Fold in both arms to the oposite end of where they start.
  4. Fold the bottom of the jacket up in half so it meets the bottom of the arms.
  5. Lift the top layer of the opening at the end of your jacket
  6. With your free hand place fold the top (arms and hood part) of your jacket inside the opening at the bottom.
  7. Once you have the top inside, push it all the way to the end and make sure the edges line up inside.
  8. Pull the outer layer of your fold a little forward to make sure everything is secured in place.
In principle, this fold isn’t hard. But because of all the bulk, it can be a bit tricky. If you’re a small person, it can be beneficial to do this together with a friend or family member so you can properly push the top of the jacket inside the bottom at steps 4 and 5.

How to Fold Suit Jackets for Travel

This method for folding suit jackets is fantastic for travel. But for long-term storage, I would avoid folding my suit jackets, as you are better off hanging them.

I recommend out my guide on folding collared shirts and folding pants too, so you can combine the rolls together.

I have added a quick video for you below so you can see how the fold is done in practice.

Clever Suit Folding Trick (for Travel)
  1. Lay the jacket down flat and unbottoned with the back facing up.
  2. Optional: Flip the collar and lapels up.
  3. Turn the left shoulder back and wring the shoulder and torse inside-out, leaving the arm alone.
  4. Pull the right shoulder back and gently place it inside the pocket we created in the left shoulder.
  5. Make sure to put your arm in and line everything up evenly.
  6. From the shoulders, roll the jacket all the way down to the bottom of the jacket.
Check out my guide on how to fold collared shirts to perform combination from the bonus section

How to File-Fold Jackets

File-folding your jackets is going to be the same whether you have a hoodie or a regular jacket. The advantage of file-folding is that you can very neatly stack the jackets next to each other vertically. This gives you a great overview of your jackets.

I would avoid this fold for slippery fabrics like the ones you can find on rainjackets and the like. Then you’re better off doing one of the previous folds in this guide.

  1. Close any zippers and buttons and place the jacket flat with the front facing up.
  2. If you have a hood, fold it down as flat as possible.
  3. Fold in both arms to the oposite side.
  4. From the left side, fold the jacket in 1/3 of the total width of the jacket.
  5. Fold the right side in 1/3 of the total width of the jacket as well so it completely overlaps the folded left side.
  6. From the top, fold the jacket down 1/3 of the total length of the jacket twice.
  7. Place the jacket vertically with the tall side with a single fold facing upwards.
  8. Stack multiple jackets next to each other so they can support each other.

You can also consider investing in something like an organizing system for your dresser to further organize your file-folded clothes. This also adds extra structure for the file-folded clothes to rest on. I use this system from IKEA (Amazon paid link). I can recommend it if you’re looking for a system. In the beginning, you will be fine using a shoebox or something like that as well if you don’t want to spend the money.

If you like the file-folding method, you’re going to love this guide I wrote on file-folding all your other clothes as well.

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