How to Fold Jeans & Organize Jeans

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A while back a reader asked me the best way to fold and organize jeans.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried everything when it comes to folding and organizing my jeans. If you’re looking for a simple fold technique, I’ve found the easiest and best option.

These tips also work well if you’re wondering how to fold pants.

This is the best way I’ve found to neatly fold jeans (and to fold pants, too) and save space in a closet. It allows you to organize them so your closet stays nice and neat. 

Whether you have just a few pairs of jeans or many, this folding technique is for you. It allows you to store pants and jeans to best take advantage of your closet space. You can fold and stack them on a shelf. You can fold and place them in a closet or dresser drawer. You can even fold and then roll them to be stacked on a shelf in the closet.

Nothing was working for me.  Hanging jeans takes up a lot of valuable real estate in your closet since jeans tend to be bulky. I particularly hated the stack of folded jeans.  The pair I wanted to wear was never on the top.   I had to do a whole dance to remove the pair I wanted from the stack and then return the stack to its neatly stacked position.  Ugh.  I’ve got a life to live and not enough time to play re-stack the jeans.

Then I realized that I could fold and file my jeans just like I do my t-shirts and linens. to organize them and save space. You know, fold jeans like a professional.

But before you start folding your jeans, take 10 minutes and follow these purging tips for jeans to find which jeans you should really keep, fold and organize. 

5 Reasons to Fold Jeans

1. Jeans don’t tend to wrinkle or stretch out of shape so you can fold them and they’ll still look fresh.
2. If you have limited hanging room, folding jeans makes more space for the clothes that need to be hung up.
3. Folding jeans allows you to store them either in a drawer or on a shelf. 
4. When you fold them, you can file them so it’s easy to quickly see and grab the pair you want. 
5. Folded jeans can be compressed to save space if you have limited closet or clothes storage space. If you do have limited space, start by deciding how many clothes do you really need with this free printable worksheet.

How to Fold and Organize Jeans

1. Lay jeans out on a flat surface. Line up the seams of the legs and the top and bottom of the jeans. Smooth out any large creases.
Lay them out this way to prevent wearing crease line down the front and back of  legs of the jeans.

2. Fold the jeans in half, bringing the right side to the left. Smooth out wrinkles.

Again, do it this way to prevent wearing lines down the legs of your jeans.

Tip – Per a reader’s suggestion, fold the jeans with the back pockets on the outside (in the photo below the pockets are folded in). When you fold the pockets on the outside, it makes it easy to identify each pair of jeans.

3. Fold the jeans in half by bringing the bottom of the leg up to the top of the waistband.  Be sure to smooth out any large wrinkles.

And fold them in half one more time.

When your jeans are folded into this square, you can file them in a bin, box or basket.  Place the jeans with the folded edge up to keep them neater. Filing your folded jeans like this makes them easier to access. 

Get my 37-page How to Fold Clothes ebook now with images and directions for folding all types of clothing.

Expert Tips for Folding Jeans

• For thicker or heavier jeans, you may need to adjust the folding technique slightly to make sure they are not too bulky when folded. Make adjustments in steps 2 and 3 by, for example, example folding the bottom of the pants to the halfway point and then fold up to the waistband. This ends up folding the pair of pants in thirds rather than fourths.
• If you have several pairs of jeans, consider organizing them by color or style to make it easier to find the pair you want to wear.
• If you prefer to hang your jeans, make sure to use hangers with clips or hooks specifically designed for pants to avoid stretching or damaging the fabric.
• When traveling, fold your jeans in the same manner and pack them in your suitcase or bag to save space and keep them neatly organized.

How to Organize Jeans

There are several different ways to store jeans. Once you know them all, you can choose the best way to store jeans for you and your home.

My favorite way to store casual jeans is to fold them and file them, Marie Kondo style, in a box or bin.

Simply place the box of filed jeans on a closet shelf and you’ll be able to easily see and select the pair of jeans you want.

No more wrestling with the stacked pile of jeans. This is the best way I’ve found to fold and organize jeans and to fold pants, too.

More ideas so you can find the right way for your storage space:

1. Some people prefer rolled pants. This allows you to neatly stack the jeans on a shelf.
2. Hang jeans or dress pants on wood or plastic hangers. This is method works well to store pants or jean with a pleat down the front of the pant leg.
3. You can use clip style pant hangers to hang jeans.
4. You can use regular wood hangers placed inside the waistband of the pants. This method works better for jeans or casual pants than dress pants.
5. Clamp style pant hangers also work for jeans. Hanging from the pant hem can work well for pants because the weight of the pants help them hang straight, preventing wrinkles.

More Tips for the Best Way to Fold

You can find all our best clothes organizing and care tips in the table below. You can scroll though the table and look for ideas or search for specific ideas with the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner (on desktop). Click on the topic and then click through the specific article.