This video is actually POORER than the other videos.

1. It's shot very poorly. Crucial hand actions take place beyond the top of the frame.

2. The narration is so hard to hear and understand that it might as well not be there.

3. This version shows you holding the side of the shirt closest to you, as opposed to the previous version using the far side. That results in the front side of the shirt facing away from you before the final set. To me this seems to make it harder to make the final set. YMMV.

What would make ALL of these videos better would be to have the camera record at least one attempt from behind and over the shoulder of the folder. As they are now, to make them correspond to your own actions, you have to turn them 180 degrees in your head. That was the part that made it a bit difficult for me to learn the technique initially.

Jim C.

I like the Japanese version too! The "English" one is kind of confusing and difficult to follow.

dokidok

The Japanese one flummoxed me for ages, but I found an English version soon afterwards and I've been folding at light speed ever since.

This T-shirt folding thing was the thing that convinced me that Lifehacker might revolutionise my life and it certainly has...

inbetweener

I saw this on digg earlier and now here. I seriously find the original Japanese video better, as you see a neatly folded t-shirt in the end in that one; that inspired me to try that out and it worked great. I don't get it how the Japanese version was not easy to follow.

kaushalmodi

would have been better if the shirt had actually been ironed before hand

Gonzie

I did try that, but it doesn't look that fast to me. I will film and show you "the bulgarian" way of folding shirt for less than 2 seconds.

dokidok

@ryanol: true... if I took a T-shirt out of a dryer, it would be faster to fold them while holding it up in the air by folding the sleeves backwards.

josephers

@holyspidoo: Wait. There was a shirt in that video? I need to go back and watch again.

jarhead

I learned this a while back from the original Japanese video. The instructions seemed fine to me..

deleet

I want his dryer, my laundry never comes out stacked flat and laid out neatly on a table.

ryanol

Are we going to have fold-offs on You Tube then?

Jarick

I had to watch a 108 second video to learn to fold a shirt in two seconds.

bowl443

Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, but this doesn't work.

Andrew

I must have watched that Japanese one 10 times and never got it. Finally, I think I got it.

missdona

@holyspidoo: I can already hear the enraged emails we'd get if we ever posted that. "NSFW! Blah!"

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor

A much better version ;)

[www.metacafe.com]

holyspidoo

The Japanese video was really easy to follow. I couldn't see a problem with it. I've shown this technique to someone in a clothing store one time and they were blown away...lol

da5id_nz

Now they need one on how to iron a shirt in two seconds using only your bare hands.

Andham

It is impressive to see this the first time. I can't wait to show my wife how so she can keep all my shirts nice and neat (kidding).

However its not a "perfect fold since it is asymetrical - perfect would be to have both sleeves inside the horizontal fold... Maybe using one of these:

[ca.youtube.com]

Fierock

The ideal way to fold a T-Shirt is this:
1) Retrieve from dryer
2) roll into a ball
3) throw in laundry basket (carelessly)
4) throw (actually *stuff*) in T-Shirt drawer/on T-Shirt shelf

this same method may be deployed for any item of laundry, moreover it should be done with grim yet reckless abandon.

I have to wonder *why* we seem to insist on impeccably folded laundry. It serves no practical purpose after all, and just costs significant amounts of time to perform.

Finally, if your "significant other" makes some kind of racket about his/her undergarments not being folded in the desired manner, promise that you will remedy the matter during the next laundry cycle. Here's how;
1) Purchase a (large) can of spray starch
2) Dry the laundry only until it's still slightly damp
3) Iron each item while still damp, spray the starch on each garment liberally until T-Shirts and undergarments assume the consistency of a chopping block.
4) Stack and return to the underwear drawer/shelf
5) Consume enormous quantities of adult beverages, and reflect at length on the horror which is about to be unleashed.
6) [optional] HIDE!

bob_the_welder

I bookmarked this just in case things don't work out and I have to take a job at the dry cleaners.

Wait. Nobody dry cleans t-shirts.

Ok. If I ever take a job in a Manilla t-shirt factory.

Beestie