Help me figure out how to keep my dress shirts nice in the office for a bicyce commute.

April 13, 2009 7:39 AM

Help me wear a dress shirt at work while doing a bicycle commute, or, tell me what your favorite garment bag is.

I'm trying to transition to a train/bicycle commute for work. My work place has showers and I have an office to store stuff as long as it looks reasonable. My main concern right now is how to keep nice-looking dress shirts and pants available at work to change into after the ride. My best current idea is to keep a travel garment bag at work hanging from a over-the-door hook, and store my weekly wardrobe there. I don't own a garment bag, but am willing to invest in one. What recommendations do you have for a garment bag or other way to store clothes?

posted by onalark to grab bag (16 comments total)

I used to know someone who had his shirts Laundered near the office and simply hung them behind his door.

I prefer not to pay for laundry and take a freshly ironed shirt, fold carefully is slip it into a hard-cardboard bag (the type clothing shops give you when you buy a shirt) and take a new one to work each day. I find in general it doesn't become that creased on the ride.

I then leave a couple fo suits at work hung in the communal coat hanging cupboard/warddrobe type thing.

Most garment bags are not particularly practical to cycle with.
posted by mary8nne at 7:54 AM on April 13

Sorry, I intend to leave the garment bag at work, and refresh the shirts once a week (by car probably)
posted by onalark at 8:08 AM on April 13

Can you take several folded shirts at once, hang them, and keep a hand-steamer in your office to get out any wrinkles from the folding?
posted by The Deej at 8:09 AM on April 13

I'd consider getting one of those dress shirts that doesn't wrinkle. I know, clip-on tie and all that, but Nordstrom sells shirts of this ilk under the Smartcare label that look like normal white dress shirts - just preternaturally unwrinkled. You could probably fold one up and stuff it in a courier bag and it would look OK at the end of your ride.
posted by zippy at 8:56 AM on April 13 [1 favorite]

When I biked to a dress shirt office I did exactly what you proposed. I bought a weeks worth of shirts and ties and two pairs of pants and kept them in a garment bag hung from my cube. I used a laundry service next to my office and would get them laundered over my breaks (IE: drop off on morning break and pick up on afternoon break once a week). The bag doesn't need to be anything fancy, mostly you just want to keep the dust off and office odours out. Though if you are commuting by car once a week you might want something a bit tougher. I bought the cheapest one I could find in black.
posted by Mitheral at 9:27 AM on April 13

I commuted by bicycle for a long time. One solution is don't ride so fast. If you learn to ride without working up a sweat, you'll be more apt to use the bike for transportation, as opposed to sport. Do you think all those folks in China and Holland are getting an aerobic workout every time they throw their legs over the bar? I remember seeing a business man in Italy. He was riding along in a beautifully tailored suit, chatting on a cell phone. He was not sweating.

If you live in someplace that's blazing hot, humid and/or hilly, my advice sucks.
posted by Carmody'sPrize at 9:32 AM on April 13

If you want a bag you can take too and from work (if you'd like to do laundry at home, for instance), there are bicycle-specific garment bags you can use with a rear rack. A quick google search will turn up other brands.
posted by BlooPen at 9:38 AM on April 13

How long is your commute? What kind of clothing are you wearing? I commute 5.5 miles, and my clothing (business casual, but the shirts wrinkle about as easily as for more formal attire) is in the bag probably 45 minutes between actual commute and shower. I don't see any problems. I have a bottle of wrinkle releaser that I keep in the drawer that I've never actually used. I use a messenger bag usually, occasionally a backpack, so the clothes aren't cinched down or anything. I just loosely fold in the morning and go.

I generally try to leave shoes at the office as they're not fun to carry (dirty, somewhat heavy, and bulky). The lack of shoes might help my clothes keep from wrinkling somewhat. Oh, I prefer not to pack the belt either.

If you're *really* worried about how they'll look, take a page from the typical bike commuter advice section: ride in on the weekend. This is usually done to familiarize yourself with the route, time taken, et cetera, but there's no reason you can't haul a set of clothes in on your test ride to see how they fare.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 11:18 AM on April 13

Fold suit items (no linen!) individually and slide into a plastic bag.
Put bag inside panier with nothing on top so items will not be crushed.
Cycle to work; change; look good.
(I've never had a problem with this, so I'd advise you give it a try and see if this lesser-maintenance solution could work for you too!)
posted by tamarack at 11:19 AM on April 13

To clarify my above: I don't take clothing in a garment bag, I just take what I'm wearing that day in on that day. I don't have to keep track what item of clothing is at what location that way and I'm less likely to forget something, personally.

I realize this solution is not quite the direction you're headed for your solution but it's what I do, and I present it in the hope that it helps you get to something that works.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 11:21 AM on April 13

my friend abe designs and sells really nice pants and other clothes made for cycling in the city and wearing to work: outlier tailored performance clothing. the pants are kind of spendy but look amazing, are very sturdy and great to ride in—you can ride miles to work in them and wear them to a business meeting!
posted by lia at 12:07 PM on April 13

Thanks everybody for the input!

To clarify the details of my work and route:

It's train and bike, I'll be going from the train station to work, the length of the ride is 5.5 miles. It's Westchester County, so possibly a fair amount of rain but I doubt it will be super hot in the morning. Here's the route if anybody is curious.

I have a laptop computer that I've been taking with me to work, but I accept that it may be easier not to be lugging it back and forth on the bicycle, especially if I need to bring clothing with me every day.

I really like the idea of being able to carry my clothes with me if I need to, and the bicycle garment bag (and its cheaper incarnations) look really cool. I don't know the first thing about bicycles, so this is all a bit of a learning experience for me.
posted by onalark at 12:31 PM on April 13

Bike garment bag might be a good way to go. Same with riding slow, though that advice is moot if you ever have to get to work when its raining outside. With a short commute I'd just wear business clothes and ride slow. Something longer; if you have a laundry service that goes to your building, they may be able to pick stuff up weekly, which would be ideal.

If you're looking for a non-bike garment bag and only want to have to buy one, ever, I'd get a Filson.
posted by craven_morhead at 12:59 PM on April 13

I bike about 17kms to work each day, so no way i'm wearing my dress shirt. My last visit in Seattle went to REI and found the Eagle Creek Pack-It folder. Has worked perfectly for me ever since (over 2 years now). I just put it in my backpack

Plenty of options here:

http://www.rei.com/search?search=eagle&cat=4500346&hist=query%2Ceagle^cat%2C4500346%3APacking+Organizers

Good luck!
posted by alchemist at 1:11 AM on April 14

By the way, I bought an Axiom laptop pannier for my commute. It makes carrying the laptop on my bike MUCH more pleasant, and it converts to a normal shoulderbag for normal use. I use a camelbak backpack for water which is more comfortable on the bike than my laptop backpack (and easier to drink from).
posted by Caviar at 8:28 PM on April 14

Very cool, thanks again everyone for all your advice and gadget suggestions :)
posted by onalark at 7:01 AM on April 15