Packing clothes for moving in Dubai looks like the easy half of the job, and it is usually the half that takes longest. A family flat holds more fabric than anything else in it, spread across hanging rails, chests of drawers, shoe racks by the door and a storeroom box nobody has opened since the last move.
Here is how our crews work through a wardrobe: which garments earn a hanging box, what belongs in a vacuum bag and what must stay out of one, how to keep shoes and leather out of trouble in the humidity, and what should travel in your own suitcase.
Sort Before You Pack, Not After You Unpack
The cheapest garment to move is the one you give away first. Dubai wardrobes fill up in a predictable pattern: the summer half you live in for eight months, a winter half that only appears for a trip abroad, work clothes in heavy rotation, and things bought for one wedding or one desert night. Take everything out by category and be honest about what has not been worn in a year.
Then give the discards somewhere to go before packing day, not after. Charity collection bins and community groups take clean wearable clothes, and no building wants bin bags left by the service area.
- Sort by category: work, summer, winter, occasion, sport
- Try on anything you are unsure about, once, then decide
- Get donation bags out of the flat before packing day
- Count your hanging garments so the crew brings enough boxes
- Keep the good wooden hangers, bin the wire ones
What a Wardrobe Box Actually Does
A wardrobe box is a tall double walled carton with a metal rail fixed across the top. Hanging clothes go from the rail in your bedroom onto the rail in the box, still on their own hangers, and come off the same way at the other end. Nothing creases, and a shirt pressed on Tuesday is wearable on Thursday without another trip to the laundry.
It saves hours too. A packer clears a metre of rail in one movement, where the same garments folded into cartons take three times as long and need ironing afterwards. We size the job from the length of hanging rail rather than the number of bedrooms, so tell the surveyor about a walk in wardrobe or a fitted rail running the full length of a wall. Our packing services include the boxes and the crew who do this all week.
Suits, dresses, abayas, kanduras, uniforms, structured jackets and anything in linen belong on a rail. T shirts, jeans and jumpers do not. A wardrobe box filled with knitwear is an expensive carton doing a cheap job.
Vacuum Bags, and the Clothes That Should Stay Out of Them
Vacuum bags earn their place on the winter half of a Dubai wardrobe. Jumpers, fleeces, ski gear, spare duvets and bed linen compress to a fraction of their size, which matters when the new storeroom is smaller than the old one. Everything goes in clean and completely dry, because damp sealed inside a bag through a Dubai summer comes out smelling of mildew.
Some things should never be compressed. Leather and suede take permanent creases, structured shoulders collapse, silk and fine knitwear mark along the fold lines, and down loses its loft if it is squashed for months. Those pieces go in a wardrobe box, or flat in a carton with tissue in every fold.
- Good in a vacuum bag: knitwear, fleeces, duvets, pillows, linen
- Keep out: leather, suede, silk, structured jackets, beaded pieces
- Clean and bone dry before the bag is sealed
- Write the contents on the outside of every bag
- Store the bags flat rather than folded over at the seal
Folded Clothes, Drawers and the Weight of the Box
Fill small and medium cartons to the top, because a half empty box buckles under whatever is stacked on it. Clothes are light, so a full medium carton is still easy to carry. Towels and linen pad out a box of lighter items, or line one holding something fragile, the same trick we use when packing a kitchen.
A chest of drawers is often quicker left loaded. If the piece is sound we lift the drawers out with the clothes inside, film them shut and carry them separately. That only works for clothes; drawers holding books or paperwork get emptied, because the base gives way once it is lifted. Label every box with the bedroom it is going to and the person it belongs to, not the room it came from.
Shoes, Bags and What Dubai Humidity Does to Leather
Shoes travel in their own boxes or a carton of their own, never loose on top of clothes. Stuff each shoe with paper so it holds its shape, pair them up, and keep smart shoes away from the trainers and sandals that have been outside in the sand. Boots hold their shape standing upright with paper filling the leg.
Handbags are where a careless pack gets expensive. Empty them, pad them lightly so the sides cannot fold inwards, put each one in its own cotton dust bag and stand them side by side rather than stacking them. Never seal leather inside plastic for weeks. The air here carries moisture most of the year, and leather shut in a plastic bag grows mould on the inside, where you will not see it until you unpack.
That includes anything that came home from the laundry under a plastic sleeve. Take the plastic off first, and put a sachet of silica gel in a closed carton of leather goods.
What Stays in Your Own Suitcase
Pack a case for each person as though you were going away for four days, and keep those cases with you rather than on the truck. Wardrobe boxes can be unloaded on time and still stand full in the hall on the first evening while beds are being rebuilt, and nobody wants to be cutting tape at eleven at night hunting for a clean work shirt. Tell the supervisor which corner is a no load zone.
- Three or four days of clothes for every person
- Work clothes or uniform for the first two mornings
- School uniforms, PE kit and the right shoes
- Nightwear, underwear, socks and swimwear
- Jewellery, watches and anything you could not replace
- Toiletries, chargers and one comfortable pair of shoes
Loading Day, Storage and the First Evening
Wardrobe boxes go into the truck standing up, strapped against a wall of the load, and come out first at the other end. They are tall and light, so they tip easily and crush under anything heavy. If you have arranged your own vehicle and only need a crew, our removal service sends the wardrobe boxes, blankets, film and tools with the team, so you are not hunting for cartons the night before.
Leases rarely meet neatly, and hanging clothes are the worst thing to park in a hot empty flat for a fortnight. With moving and storage, wardrobe boxes stay upright and racked instead of stacked, so garments keep hanging until redelivery.
At the new home, hang before you do anything else. Lift each garment onto the rail, flatten the empty boxes and get them out of the bedroom, then start on the folded cartons. Clothes left sealed in a warm room for a week pick up a shut in smell. In a storeroom, keep boxes off the floor and away from the wall that faces outside.
