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Formal occasions often mean donning a suit or a blazer. But if you have to pack them in your luggage you risk creasing, wrinkling and even ruining the shape of your smart jacket further down the road. 

Watch our video above to see the nifty trick for folding your suit to avoid unsightly creases or irreversible damage to your jacket when travelling.

Keep scrolling for our step-by-step instructions, expert tips on the best way to iron your formal wear without ruining it and advice on how to treat stains.

Take a look at our clothes steamer reviews to see which remove creases effortlessly and make useful travel companions

You might need a few tries to perfect the suit jacket fold technique, but once you've mastered it you'll be surprised at how effective it is. 

Here's how it's done:

Check out the best washing powders and laundry detergents to keep your clothes clean without fading the colour

You may be hesitant about whether you can iron your suit jacket if there are creases, but the good news is you absolutely can – as long as you're very careful.

The most important step is to check the care labels as some clothes can't be ironed. Find this out before you start ironing so you don't cause irreversible damage. 

The label on the inside of your jacket will tell you which material the suit is made from, whether it can be ironed and if so, what the recommended temperature must be.

A press cloth – such as a clean cotton tea towel – is a good way to protect delicate fabric from direct heat. If you don't have a cloth you could consider ironing the jacket inside out, but be careful to adjust the temperature for the inner lining.

When ironing out creases, you may find the best technique is to target exactly where they are and lightly press down to flatten the material rather than sliding the iron. 

If you're particularly nervous about your suit, you can try using only the steam from the iron by hovering the iron just above the wrinkles.

If the entire jacket needs ironing then start on the back first and try to smooth out any creases by hand. Spray the material lightly with water and press the crumples out with the iron and then move to another spot. 

Using a similar action, iron the front two sides and glide over the lapels. Avoid ironing over any padding. Once finished hang your jacket up and gravity will take care of the rest. 

Follow our guide on how to iron your clothes for more help and advice. If you don't have an iron, try hanging your suit in the bathroom while you take a long, steamy shower. This won't give you the same crispness as ironing, but your clothes will be a little less wrinkled than before.

Take a look at our steam iron reviews  to see which impress in our tough lab tests. 

If you accidentally spill food or drink down the front of your suit jacket don't panic because there are some excellent stain removers.

We put nine popular fabric and clothes stain removers from Astonish, Dr Beckmann, HG and others to the test against stubborn stains including red wine, curry sauce, tomato ketchup, melted chocolate and blood on both cotton blend and wool blend fabrics.

We also investigated six popular home remedies: baking soda, lemon juice, white vinegar, washing-up liquid, salt and meat tenderiser powder.

Two of the branded stain removers worked brilliantly and cost less than £3.50, and the other seven we tested were almost as good. Not all home remedies work on every type of stain so only baking soda, lemon juice and washing-up liquid were used for all four stains. 

White vinegar was tested against blood and curry stains, salt took on red wine, blood and curry stains, and meat tenderiser powder went up against blood. While all home remedies worked to varying degrees, washing-up liquid was easily the best all-round stain remover.  

Whatever method you use to remove stains from your suit jacket remember to test it first on a small patch to ensure it doesn't damage or discolour your clothing. 

Spilt a stubborn stain on your favourite outfit? Don't panic, read our best stain removers for clothes and fabrics .